This is Why You're Wrong about Rey

### Should Lucasfilm Have Used Mara Jade Instead of Rey? A Deep Dive into the Controversy

In a recent live stream, Chris Pirillo sparked a heated discussion when he addressed whether Lucasfilm should have used Mara Jade instead of Rey in the *Star Wars* sequel trilogy. While this topic is bound to upset many fans, Pirillo offers a compelling argument for why he believes Lucasfilm made the right choice by going with Rey.

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#### The Short Answer: Why Chris Thinks Rey Was the Right Choice

Pirillo’s stance is clear: he believes Lucasfilm was correct in choosing Rey over Mara Jade. His reasoning? It was about creative freedom. By introducing a new character, Lucasfilm had the liberty to craft a fresh narrative without being constrained by pre-existing lore or expectations tied to Mara Jade.

However, Pirillo acknowledges that there are valid arguments for both sides. While many fans adored Mara Jade and wanted to see her in the *Star Wars* films, he points out that she was part of the Expanded Universe (now known as Legends), which carries its own baggage.

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#### The Legend vs. Canon Debate

Pirillo delves into the contentious relationship between Legends and canon. He recalls how discussions about these topics often lead to strong reactions among fans, with some passionately defending their love for Legends content.

For Pirillo, his personal connection to *Star Wars* was limited to the films—*A New Hope*, *The Empire Strikes Back*, and *Return of the Jedi*. Beyond that, he didn’t delve deeply into books, comics, or games. This perspective shaped his view that the core storytelling needed a clean slate.

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#### The Problem with Pre-Existing Characters

One of the key issues Pirillo highlights is the challenge of introducing a character with an established backstory. Mara Jade, for instance, had a rich history in Legends, complete with details about her personality, appearance, and even what she ate for breakfast (yes, really). If Lucasfilm had used her as a central character, any deviation from that lore could have led to backlash.

In contrast, Rey was a blank slate. She allowed the filmmakers to create a fresh story without the weight of preconceived expectations.

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#### The Case for Familiarity

Pirillo admits he wouldn’t have minded seeing Mara Jade in the *Star Wars* films. However, he speculates that most moviegoers unfamiliar with Legends characters would have found her confusing. For example, many fans didn’t realize that Jyn Erso from *Rogue One* was not Rey, even though both films exist in the same galaxy.

This highlights a challenge Disney faces: balancing familiarity for long-time fans with accessibility for newcomers.

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#### The Example of Grand Admiral Thrawn

Pirillo uses Grand Admiral Thrawn as an example of how Legends characters can be reintroduced successfully. While he enjoyed seeing Thrawn in *Rebels*, he believes the character could have been introduced earlier in the series. For him, Thrawn’s presence didn’t carry the same baggage because his backstory wasn’t widely known.

This makes Pirillo wonder: If Lucasfilm had chosen Mara Jade, would fans who weren’t familiar with her have understood or appreciated her role?

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#### The Importance of Creative Freedom

Pirillo emphasizes that Disney needed creative control over *Star Wars* to ensure a cohesive and unified narrative. By focusing on canon, they could build a solid foundation for future storytelling without being tied to the vast—and often conflicting—Legends material.

He acknowledges the value of Legends but believes it should remain separate from the main storyline. This approach allows Disney to prioritize clarity and consistency for both long-time fans and new audiences.

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#### Conclusion: Let’s Agree to Disagree

Pirillo closes by acknowledging that this is a controversial topic, and he expects disagreement. However, he remains confident that Lucasfilm made the right choice by introducing Rey rather than Mara Jade.

Ultimately, Pirillo’s argument boils down to this: While Mara Jade might have been a great character for some, Rey gave Lucasfilm the freedom to tell a new story—one that could resonate with a broader audience.

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Whether you agree or disagree, one thing is certain: The debate over *Star Wars* lore and creative direction isn’t slowing down anytime soon. May the force be with you always!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello galaxy i'm chris pirillo in the live stream last night someone asked if i thought that lucasfilm should have used mara jade instead of rey specifically in the sequel trilogy and there's a lot to unpack there i understand that i'm probably going to upset a great many people but i may get a few people to agree with me along the way so stick with me on this path i am going to give you the short answer yes i believe that lucasfilm was right to go with rey over mara jade why because it was a new character and i understand the argument can be made yeah but it's a new character we all loved mara jade we knew mara jade we wanted to see mara jade who's we what do you mean they blew up the death star what's an aluminum falcon who's they so it's you someone who was invested lightly or heavily in eu the expanded universe or legends as it's now known this is very contentious i didn't realize it would be as contentious but every time i bring up legends versus canon people get upset i believe that the best way for lucasfilm to have creative freedom with the sequel trilogy and i'm not sitting here and making the argument that it couldn't have been done better because you know what it was done and what it is it is and enjoy it for what it is don't get mad for what it isn't so would they have been wise to go into the sequel trilogy with a character that was known in legends and was a main character at least maine enough that many people knew who mara jade was i didn't read a lot of those books i didn't read a lot of the comics i didn't play a lot of those games i just didn't get exposed to them all that frequently i knew that star wars books and star wars content was being produced but like a book of people who are out there today and back then the only star wars to me was the star wars that i saw in film a new hope empire strikes back in return of the jedi everything else was star wars ish even in reading the books that i did read and i didn't read many i enjoyed them but differently like i i i felt a connection with the characters that i knew and wanted to appreciate the characters that i didn't know within the star wars universe but there was just something missing for me and by the way it's still true today and i'll be getting to that in another video talking about the high republic and how i feel i may be missing out on some aspects of it that i enjoy the aspects of star wars fandom not to take away from what the high republic is not to take away from what legends is no one's changing those stories they are what they are but for disney to have the freedom could you imagine them having the same kind of freedom with a character that you had already constructed in your mind you knew what she looked like you knew what she acted like you knew what she was you knew what she did you know what she ate for breakfast and if they deviated from any of that despite them having creative control oh man you want to talk about an uproar oh there there would have been like so much uh anger tossed at disney more than they get today more because they would have taken something that was uh with baggage mara jade has baggage ray was someone no one knew anything about at all and you know what i don't mind would i have minded if lucasfilm used mara jade instead of right no i wouldn't have i knew of mara jade like many knew of mara jade but i tell you there are probably and i don't have any kind of data to back this up but i'm guessing that most people who have seen the star wars films have no idea who mara jade is at all it would be like an inside joke or needing no backstory for a character in order to understand and appreciate the moment that's sometimes what is missing from a lot of superhero films like because there are people who are you know so steeped in lore and legends to use that word in a different context in this case that they know that character versus someone who's only just watching a movie and many people who watch star wars movies don't even realize that rogue one wasn't rey jyn was not rey like you know and rey was not jin and even though these movies were interspersed they were two completely different timelines in the same galaxy this is one challenge that disney has really yet to overcome i hope they will and i'm pretty sure they will with their plans but if they would have taken a character that that has that strong of a presence in name recognition and thrust her into the line like him or her into a central role in a film it could have been it could have been good it could have been fantastic i'm not going to say it it would have been better you can't prove a negative don't even try i don't want to hear it the other things i don't want to hear are the arguments that i've had i'm not going to say arguments that's a bit extreme discussions shall we say uh i was at uh a party not long after the release of the force awakens like weeks after discussing with a local collector and you know the the merits of the film and and and what did you think about the force awakens what'd you think about this and what'd you think about that and he was going off on all sorts of of tangents that were star wars-y but he was saying things that just they didn't add up like i couldn't make sense what he was saying like i i mean i understand galactic basic as much as the next geek but it's it was it was still star wars-ish and i had to stop him at one point because he said something that a character did something that i know the character didn't necessarily do in canon and i said wait wait are you are are you talking from a position of legends and he said well yes this is the problem with legends and canon and this is why i feel strongly disney made the right decision because there was so much material produced before disney got a hold of the ip and that's just the way it is whether you like it or not it is it is what it is and there were many fantastic stories and many fantastic characters and many fantastic ships and and and and everything and some of those have been pulled into canon grand admiral thrawn being a prime example in rebels but thrawn became the main villain not necessarily a central character in rebels but evolved to be one of the main characters i i kind of wish thrawn would have been introduced at the beginning of the series rather than at the end or towards the end i shouldn't say the very end still it was a character that i knew about like on the fringes of star wars growing up beyond the films but it was still a character i can enjoy seeing in rebels on the screen it didn't necessarily have that baggage though for me i was able to understand the character pretty quickly cunning ruthless and imperial to his core uh and i i didn't know his backstory and i feared that if i knew about thrawn's backstory non-canon backstory i'm not talking about the throng comic arc the very brief run of that i'm talking about his story from legends if i knew his backstory i feel rebels would have been disappointing for me because i feel me personally that i would have seen him through all the other material that i'd read before so i understand that it's next to impossible for a lot of people to shelve that part of their brain the legends or eu and just move forward with canon but it is what it is and no one's going to go back and change eu or legends no one's taking those stories away no one's even saying they're bad because they're not obviously they are not you care about them deeply but most people who are going to enjoy star wars today and moving forward and we're talking about beyond the books beyond the table games beyond the comics uh they they they need something that that is is uh solid footing underneath and that is why canon need that needed to happen because disney needed more control over the storytelling and they did the right thing and they're doing the right thing by pulling from legends when they see fit i've got no problem with the way it's playing out i'm sure we disagree i ain't trying to step on anybody's toes i'm not saying you're not a star wars fan any more than somebody else i'm just saying you're a fan of legends and eu i'm not it's star wars-ish but it's not canon which is ostensibly star wars now that i've talked about this controversial topic what do you think should disney have done mara jade over rey let's disagree because i'm sure we will uh and even if we don't may the force be with you alwayshello galaxy i'm chris pirillo in the live stream last night someone asked if i thought that lucasfilm should have used mara jade instead of rey specifically in the sequel trilogy and there's a lot to unpack there i understand that i'm probably going to upset a great many people but i may get a few people to agree with me along the way so stick with me on this path i am going to give you the short answer yes i believe that lucasfilm was right to go with rey over mara jade why because it was a new character and i understand the argument can be made yeah but it's a new character we all loved mara jade we knew mara jade we wanted to see mara jade who's we what do you mean they blew up the death star what's an aluminum falcon who's they so it's you someone who was invested lightly or heavily in eu the expanded universe or legends as it's now known this is very contentious i didn't realize it would be as contentious but every time i bring up legends versus canon people get upset i believe that the best way for lucasfilm to have creative freedom with the sequel trilogy and i'm not sitting here and making the argument that it couldn't have been done better because you know what it was done and what it is it is and enjoy it for what it is don't get mad for what it isn't so would they have been wise to go into the sequel trilogy with a character that was known in legends and was a main character at least maine enough that many people knew who mara jade was i didn't read a lot of those books i didn't read a lot of the comics i didn't play a lot of those games i just didn't get exposed to them all that frequently i knew that star wars books and star wars content was being produced but like a book of people who are out there today and back then the only star wars to me was the star wars that i saw in film a new hope empire strikes back in return of the jedi everything else was star wars ish even in reading the books that i did read and i didn't read many i enjoyed them but differently like i i i felt a connection with the characters that i knew and wanted to appreciate the characters that i didn't know within the star wars universe but there was just something missing for me and by the way it's still true today and i'll be getting to that in another video talking about the high republic and how i feel i may be missing out on some aspects of it that i enjoy the aspects of star wars fandom not to take away from what the high republic is not to take away from what legends is no one's changing those stories they are what they are but for disney to have the freedom could you imagine them having the same kind of freedom with a character that you had already constructed in your mind you knew what she looked like you knew what she acted like you knew what she was you knew what she did you know what she ate for breakfast and if they deviated from any of that despite them having creative control oh man you want to talk about an uproar oh there there would have been like so much uh anger tossed at disney more than they get today more because they would have taken something that was uh with baggage mara jade has baggage ray was someone no one knew anything about at all and you know what i don't mind would i have minded if lucasfilm used mara jade instead of right no i wouldn't have i knew of mara jade like many knew of mara jade but i tell you there are probably and i don't have any kind of data to back this up but i'm guessing that most people who have seen the star wars films have no idea who mara jade is at all it would be like an inside joke or needing no backstory for a character in order to understand and appreciate the moment that's sometimes what is missing from a lot of superhero films like because there are people who are you know so steeped in lore and legends to use that word in a different context in this case that they know that character versus someone who's only just watching a movie and many people who watch star wars movies don't even realize that rogue one wasn't rey jyn was not rey like you know and rey was not jin and even though these movies were interspersed they were two completely different timelines in the same galaxy this is one challenge that disney has really yet to overcome i hope they will and i'm pretty sure they will with their plans but if they would have taken a character that that has that strong of a presence in name recognition and thrust her into the line like him or her into a central role in a film it could have been it could have been good it could have been fantastic i'm not going to say it it would have been better you can't prove a negative don't even try i don't want to hear it the other things i don't want to hear are the arguments that i've had i'm not going to say arguments that's a bit extreme discussions shall we say uh i was at uh a party not long after the release of the force awakens like weeks after discussing with a local collector and you know the the merits of the film and and and what did you think about the force awakens what'd you think about this and what'd you think about that and he was going off on all sorts of of tangents that were star wars-y but he was saying things that just they didn't add up like i couldn't make sense what he was saying like i i mean i understand galactic basic as much as the next geek but it's it was it was still star wars-ish and i had to stop him at one point because he said something that a character did something that i know the character didn't necessarily do in canon and i said wait wait are you are are you talking from a position of legends and he said well yes this is the problem with legends and canon and this is why i feel strongly disney made the right decision because there was so much material produced before disney got a hold of the ip and that's just the way it is whether you like it or not it is it is what it is and there were many fantastic stories and many fantastic characters and many fantastic ships and and and and everything and some of those have been pulled into canon grand admiral thrawn being a prime example in rebels but thrawn became the main villain not necessarily a central character in rebels but evolved to be one of the main characters i i kind of wish thrawn would have been introduced at the beginning of the series rather than at the end or towards the end i shouldn't say the very end still it was a character that i knew about like on the fringes of star wars growing up beyond the films but it was still a character i can enjoy seeing in rebels on the screen it didn't necessarily have that baggage though for me i was able to understand the character pretty quickly cunning ruthless and imperial to his core uh and i i didn't know his backstory and i feared that if i knew about thrawn's backstory non-canon backstory i'm not talking about the throng comic arc the very brief run of that i'm talking about his story from legends if i knew his backstory i feel rebels would have been disappointing for me because i feel me personally that i would have seen him through all the other material that i'd read before so i understand that it's next to impossible for a lot of people to shelve that part of their brain the legends or eu and just move forward with canon but it is what it is and no one's going to go back and change eu or legends no one's taking those stories away no one's even saying they're bad because they're not obviously they are not you care about them deeply but most people who are going to enjoy star wars today and moving forward and we're talking about beyond the books beyond the table games beyond the comics uh they they they need something that that is is uh solid footing underneath and that is why canon need that needed to happen because disney needed more control over the storytelling and they did the right thing and they're doing the right thing by pulling from legends when they see fit i've got no problem with the way it's playing out i'm sure we disagree i ain't trying to step on anybody's toes i'm not saying you're not a star wars fan any more than somebody else i'm just saying you're a fan of legends and eu i'm not it's star wars-ish but it's not canon which is ostensibly star wars now that i've talked about this controversial topic what do you think should disney have done mara jade over rey let's disagree because i'm sure we will uh and even if we don't may the force be with you always\n"