Star Wars: 10 Expanded Universe Starships You Didn't Know Were Canon Again

When the Expanded Universe was dumped from canon many fans were miffed, to say the least. Not only had beloved characters, planets and locations been rudely shunted aside, so too had many of the starships that made Star Wars unique. The result was a less cluttered universe, yes, but also one far less interesting.

But Disney has slowly but surely begun to reintroduce these iconic spacecraft. Star Wars Rebels saw the emphatic return of the TIE Defender starfighter and the Interdictor-class Star Destroyer, while Rogue One’s new Hammerhead Corvettes bear an uncanny resemblance to Knights of the Old Republic’s Hammerhead-class cruisers.

And these are not the only examples. Across the breadth of Disney Star Wars, some seriously big name Expanded Universe (now known as Legends, and hereafter referred to as the EU) starships have been popping up in the most obscure of places, but unless you’re a super fan with a near religious devotion to the franchise there’s a good chance you’ve missed them.

Well, fear not, because here are ten starships EU fans have been begging to see, from the E-wing to the Lady Luck and the legendary Assault Gunboat itself, finally restored to their rightful place in Star Wars canon.

Caution: mild spoilers ahead.

Star Wars has always had a bit of a starfighter problem: be it in the films or video games, capital ship weapons consistently struggle to target these small, agile spacecraft, trading millions of credits and thousands of lives for the cost of a few well-placed torpedoes.

The EU attempted to address this problem with the Lancer-class frigate. Fitted with nimble laser cannons rather than turbolasers, the type was intended to function as a fleet escort, neutralizing Rebel fighters while the larger Star Destroyers focused on ship-to-ship combat. Unfortunately the Lancer-class was slow, meaning starfighters could easily outrun it, and lacking any capital-grade weaponry even light rebel cruisers were a serious threat.

It took a military genius like Grand Admiral Thrawn to finally find a proper use for them, successfully deploying the class on targeted raids against new Republic worlds that relied on starfighters, rather than capital ships, for defence.

Canonically, Poe Dameron encounters the type when tangling with a First Order fleet in Before the Awakening, an anthology book which focuses on the lives of Finn, Rey and Poe before the events of The Force Awakens.