Star Wars is now officially a TV-first franchise. It’s been over five years since a Star Wars movie has premiered in theaters, but on Disney+, the franchise is just getting started. Between prestige live action shows, animated series, and anthological experiments, Star Wars has never felt more varied and exciting. It’s almost like TV is Star Wars’ new home base — even the next feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, is a spinoff of a TV show.
But despite all the new forays into the medium, there’s one TV genre Star Wars has yet to get quite right. However, that could all change with the next series.
Variety reports that Carlton Cuse, best known as the co-showrunner for Lost, is developing a Star Wars show alongside his son, Nick Cuse. Outside of Lost, Cuse has also served as the showrunner for Bates Motel, Colony, Locke & Key, and recent Netflix medical series Pulse. Nick Cuse has written for multiple series including The Leftovers, Watchmen, and Station Eleven.
While we don’t have any details about what this series could be about, their involvement in a Star Wars series suggests the franchise is trying to conquer one of the most lauded TV formats: the “mystery box” show. The term was coined by J.J. Abrams while working on Lost, in reference to how a series can keep a central mystery going for seasons and keep audiences enthralled because of the possibility the “box” — the story — holds.
Lost is considered the ur-mystery-box-show, but there are plenty that have followed in its footsteps. Damon Lindelof, Cuse’s co-showrunner on Lost, oversaw The Leftovers and Watchmen, both shows that managed to replicate that feeling, but more recent shows like Dark, From, and Yellowjackets have also been described with the term.
Star Wars attempted the mystery box show with its experimental series The Acolyte, which was set in the final days of the High Republic, an era that hadn’t been touched by Star Wars canon yet. It had so many recurring mysteries, from the identity of “the Stranger” to the true motivations of the Jedi, to the master plan behind Darth Plagueis’ surprise involvement.
Unfortunately, before the series had a chance to really crack open the mystery box and explore the complicated lore of this new era, the series was canceled, leaving the story forever ending with a cliffhanger.
While Season 2 of The Acolyte may not be happening, perhaps this series can do what it didn’t get the chance to: tell a multi-season, complex story with an intriguing central mystery, something fans can come back to year after year, just as they did with Lost over two decades ago.
