While George Lucas’ idea for the Star Wars series Underworld never happened, one iconic SyFy space opera did bring this same concept to life outside the iconic sci-fi franchise. Although the Star Wars series Skeleton Crew could be called the franchise’s own spin on Stranger Things, there are not many Star Wars shows that feel indebted to other entries into the genre. With such a rich fictional universe full of existing lore, Star Wars shows have plenty of material already available.
That said, in terms of genre and tone, one could argue that shows like Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord represent an attempt to diversify the genres within the world of the iconic sci-fi saga. Much like the Star Wars prequel Rogue One was a gritty, unexpectedly brutal war movie set in the world of Star Wars, Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord resembles a dark crime drama that happens to be set in the world of Star Wars as much as it does The Phantom Menace or A New Hope.
Similarly, Lucas’s unrealized vision for the series Star Wars: Underworld would have seen the series move, in the writer/director’s own words, away from the “action-adventure films from the ’30s” and toward the more morally ambiguous “film noir movies from the ’40s.” Although this show never happened thanks to its massive proposed budget, SyFy’s Killjoys did fulfill the promise of Star Wars: Underworld with its morally murky blend of thrills, mystery, and sci-fi action.
Syfy’s Killjoys Is Similar In Premise To George Lucas’ Unmade Star Wars: Underworld Idea
Star Wars: Underworld was scrapped after Lucas sold the franchise to Disney, but the show was intended to be a dark live-action show aimed at older viewers. The more mature series was set to take place in the criminal underworld of Coruscant, taking place between the end of the prequel trilogy and the beginning of the original movies. Featuring characters like Palpatine, Han Solo, and Boba Fett, Star Wars: Underworld sounded like a gritty, darker reinvention of the franchise.
However, fans of SyFy’s Killjoys may have noted that the show also sounds fairly similar to that five-season hit from 2015. Starring Hannah John-Kamen, Luke MacFarlane, and Aaron Ashmore, Killjoys followed the amoral bounty hunters Dutch, D’avin, and John as they traveled across the Quad, a system of four planets and moons, searching for criminals on behalf of the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition.
Since the antiheroes of Killjoys were ostensibly working for the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition, they had a sworn duty to stay out of any conflicts they encountered. Of course, as a space opera that started after the Battlestar Galactica reboot, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and The Expanse, Killjoys wasn’t content to ignore politics entirely, so the show’s main characters often found themselves involved in all manner of morally complex tangles.
That said, the tone of the SyFy show owed as much to the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone as it did to the philosophical ruminations of the Battlestar Galactica reboot. The main characters of Killjoys often unapologetically shot first and asked questions never, making the SyFy a fun answer to the question of what Star Wars would be like if every character was Han Solo.
Killjoys Proves Star Wars: Underworld Was A Big Opportunity Missed
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On one hand, the fact that viewers got 50 great episodes of Killjoys is worth celebrating on its own merits, especially when its obvious forebear Firefly lasted only 14 episodes and is still waiting for that long-rumored revival. That said, on the other hand, Killjoys also proves just how much untapped potential Star Wars: Underworld‘s premise had.
When the SyFy show was able to have so much fun and tell such inventive, compelling stories in an entirely unfamiliar setting, it is hard not to wonder just how great the same idea might have played out in the world of the Star Wars franchise. Sadly, Killjoys is seemingly as close to Star Wars: Underworld as fans will ever get.
Killjoys
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