P-47Thunderbolt:
Nytwyng:
From a practical business standpoint, it becomes a question of why a new series, movie, etc should get that Star Wars (or Marvel, or DC, or Harry Potter, or whatever) branding if you’re not going to be using the pieces on the board.
Well, season 1 of The Mandalorian sure did pretty well for being completely unconnected to preexisting characters. As for “pieces on the board,” the Star Wars setting is itself a piece on the board. It isn’t like something set on Earth, where there’s nothing tying it to the property. By its very nature it is inextricably connected to Star Wars. “Pieces on the board” can apply to species, planets, cultures, equipment, etc., not just characters.
Something Star Wars does very well is equipment and vehicles. Those are things you’d expect to see in a variety of places because they aren’t unique, but they’d also be fairly rare. So seeing a YT-1300 in the background adds to the worldbuilding, as does introducing new gear and new equipment. It’s a big place; there will be many varieties of just about any piece of gear you could ever hope to want.
And just to reiterate, I’m not against connections. I’m against the unnecessary connections and against overconnected stories. Sometimes, a story by its very nature will be connected to others. That’s fine. Again, I’m against the excesses.
Like I’ve said throughout, there are good reasons why characters would encounter each other Cade Bane as “the best bounty hunter in the galaxy” is a good example, as is Bo Katan in the second season of The Mandalorian (though I have my issues with that. That’s a discussion for another time, however).
But when you overdo it, or rely too much on coincidence to make it happen, it detracts from the worldbuilding, and it detracts substantially.
Of course, mileage varies on what is “unnecessary” or “overdone.”
Otherwise, may as well just file off the serial numbers and make it an “original” Netflix project. Y’know…like Zack Snyder’s doing with his rejected Star Wars pitch.