10 Things You Need To Know About The Star Wars Spin-Off Movies

8. They're Going To Be Origin Stories

While Yoda may not be the star of either film, there's certainly some credence to the idea that the stand-alone films will be tracing out the past of already beloved characters. The thought of spin-offs has got every Star Wars fan and their equally obsessed kids/parents theorising over what stories these new movies can tell. Surely they'll get round to The Knights Of The Old Republic at some point, and it's only a matter of time before a Spinal Tap-esque documentary on the Mos Eisley Cantina's very own Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, right? Well, maybe in 2030. For now it seems the scope isn't as broad as the simple spin-off moniker suggests. When talking with Variety in 2013, Disney CFO Jay Rasulo referred to the non-Episode movies as "origin story films", revealing they're going to be fleshing out the backstories of established characters, rather than dealing with random events in the wider galaxy. This of course makes perfect sense from both a creative and business standpoint - for all the visual splendour, Star Wars is a franchise built on its characters, and focusing on iconic ones ensures there's something for less-obsessive fans to latch onto. It's a little disappointing something further reaching won't be attempted in the near future, but, hey, more Star Wars is still more Star Wars.