Dave Filoni’s reign over Star Wars live-action television, often dubbed the Mando-verse, is leading to something huge. In addition to The Mandalorian and its spinoffs like Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett, the Clone Wars creator is gearing up for a live-action Star Wars movie that will wrap up the many plotlines he’s introducing on television.
But with Rebels villain Thrawn serving as the main threat in Ahsoka, what bigger villain could be used in the movie? The answer could lie in Star Wars history, and the Clone Wars cutting room floor.
The Yuuzhan Vong are essentially the White Walkers of Star Wars: a massive otherworldly threat that threatened to annihilate a universe prone to infighting. They were introduced in 1999 at a pivotal point in Star Wars literature, as the franchise moved from Bantam Spectra to Del Rey Books.
Lost Legends is an Inverse series about the forgotten lore of our favorite stories.
They’re a villain unlike any other. Monstrous and alien even by Star Wars standards, they’re unable to be detected through the Force. But their most unique element is their technology. They shun any mechanical weapons, preferring to adapt themselves biologically and create creatures for use as weapons. One day they show up and just start conquering everything.
Over four years, readers learned about the massive Yuuzhan Vong War ripping through the galaxy. The conflict killed trillions, including Chewbacca. The Yuuzhan Vong’s genetically engineered weapons were vicious, and they even developed a monster designed to hunt Jedi.
They were eventually defeated by an alliance between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, the surviving Mandalorians, a federation of Jedi led by Luke Skywalker, and other allied forces. Skywalker exposed the true leader of the invaders, a Force-sensitive Yuuzhan Vong, and when he was bested the remaining Yuuzhan Vong were forced to surrender.
The Yuuzhan Vong were a polarizing era of old Star Wars media — they killed Chewbacca and completely rewrote galactic history — but they could present a major opportunity for the future of Star Wars.
While the old Legends timeline is now non-canonical, the Yuuzhan Vong were actually made canon in a different way. In Timothy Zahn’s 2018 novel Thrawn: Alliances, a new species named the Grysk were introduced as a canonical parallel to the Yuuzhan Vong. While they weren’t immune to the Force and didn’t use genetically engineered weapons, they still threatened the entire galaxy — including the Chiss, Grand Admiral Thrawn’s species.
Furthermore, the Yuuhzahn Vong were almost featured in an episode of The Clone Wars. Though their storyline was abandoned, we do have concept art, proving that Dave Filoni is aware of the massive role the species played in Star Wars history.
The Yuuhzahn Vong or the Grysk would be the perfect villain for Filoni’s Star Wars movie. Thrawn has a history with a threat of this level, and a conquest by an outside force would be the perfect way to build on the events of the Mando-verse without repeating the mistakes of the sequel trilogy and reviving the Galactic Empire yet again.
A massive franchise finale needs a massive villain like the White Walkers. The Mando-verse could replicate Game of Throne’s strategy with an overpowered existential threat. If Ahsoka is able to defeat Thrawn in her upcoming series, the Yuuhzahn Vong may be the only worthy threat left. Ahsoka could have to work with Thrawn, the tactically brilliant villain she just defeated... or rue killing him.
