Fan-Favorite Star Wars Character Getting His Own Series?
This article is more than 2 years old
While there’s still a very vocal slice of Star Wars fandom that will seemingly never abandon the idea that Disney has ruined the franchise, there is one undeniable good the company has brought to the mythos: they’ve proven unafraid to bring characters from canonical animated series to live-action. Ever since Forrest Whitaker was cast as Saw Gerrera in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we’ve seen a growing number of characters make the jump from animated productions like The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels to live-action series and films. According to a new rumor, the leap between mediums is about to get even wider — Cal Kestis of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be getting his own Disney+ live-action series.
According to insider Kristian Harloff (via Star Wars News Net) Cameron Monaghan has been cast as his video game character Cal Kestis in an upcoming Disney+ show. Harloff says he heard the rumor from a source he trusts and that “There’s no production dates set, but my source tells me that this is happening.” You can watch Harloff’s full video on the rumor below.
Jedi-on-the-run Cal Kestis was introduced in the 2019 adventure video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The character is voiced by Cameron Monaghan and — just as was done with Sam Witwer in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games — his look in the game is modeled after that of the actor. The game proved to be a huge success and its sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, was announced last month during Star Wars Celebration. You can see the teaser for the sequel below.
So what are the chances this rumor is true and we’ll actually get to see Cal Kestis in a live-action series? Well, as Harloff more or less says, considering the character’s popularity one might argue Lucasfilm and Disney would be leaving money on the table if they didn’t at least make the attempt to develop a live-action project for the character. Kestis is a beloved hero and he’s already attached to an actor whose time in series like Gotham and Shameless has built him a following outside of gamers.
Not to mention that it seems like the easiest way for any live-action Star Wars project to get some good word-of-mouth from the fans is to take a character from other media and bring them into live-action. The live-action debuts of Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano and Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan on The Mandalorian, for example, were both met with waves of fan love. Even in what is arguably the most poorly received of the live-action Disney+ series so far — The Book of Boba Fett — the appearances of characters from other media such as Black Krrsantan and Cad Bane were met with near-universal approval.
So far, the only reason to think the Cal Kestis rumor couldn’t be true is that one might argue it would cause havoc for the game storyline. In other words, what happens if/when the third game comes out and some players haven’t seen the series? They shouldn’t have to subscribe to Disney+ just to get caught up on the story. But there are plenty of ways to get around such issues. For example, who’s to say a Cal Kestis live-action series would have to be set in the same time period as the games?
