With Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order becoming such an overwhelming critical and commercial success, many of the game's biggest fans began to reflect on one of the franchise's other beloved titles, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Released in 2008, the title had some of the best action sequences in any Star Wars video game adaptation to date, with its complex physics system allowing players to toss around pretty much any item they could find in the environment at insane speeds using the force.
More importantly, it also contributed a brilliant Star Wars story that followed the adventure of a young apprentice of Darth Vader named Starkiller, who quickly became a beloved protagonist with a lot of fan support. It's for this reason that many were upset when Disney's acquisition of the franchise rendered all the series' extended lore as no longer canon, meaning Starkiller's story of redemption and eventual revenge against his former mentor was treated as if having never actually happened.
Luckily, however, fans on Reddit have devised a way for Disney to bring Starkiller back into the fold, by merging his story with some significant new lore the company has introduced. As fans of the Rebels TV show and Fallen Order are no doubt aware, a new major part of Star Wars canon between the third and fourth episodes is the presence of the Inquisitors: a squad of highly-trained Jedi hunters that wield lightsabers and force powers. Reddit user not-MrH-11 has suggested that the character could return in juncture with this new addition to the story, speculating that "Starkiller [could be] the new grand Inquisitor while maintaining his position as Vader's secret apprentice." They've even drafted up what that scenario might look like, providing a piece of artwork depicting Starkiller as a Grand Inquisitor.
Starkiller as the new grand Inquisitor while maintaining his position as Vader's secret apprentice from StarWars
Comments underneath the Reddit user's post seem to be really behind the idea as well, with one stating "If Disney ever added him to canon I’d expect this to be how it’s done." Another poses an interesting idea, claiming "He should be a main antagonist in Jedi: Fallen Order 2 in this form," while a third jokingly muses, "I mean the first order named a whole base after him, so they've got to make him canon at some point!"
Seen as Starkiller is such fan-favorite character, it makes sense that Disney could attempt to insert him back into the canon in a similar manner to how they did Thrawn in Star Wars: Rebels. With a Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sequel heavily-rumored to be on its way, perhaps Star Killer's return could be more seamlessly interwoven than originally thought.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is available now on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.