By: Grant Vance ~Staff Writer~

It’s been a long, long time since the world has been treated to a new film in the “Star Wars” universe. Although there have been ways of getting a fix, such as the popular “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” series, video games and literature, these last nine years have felt like a summer in Mustafar all the same. Luckily, the wait is over and Lucasfilm is making its comeback in full force – pun intended – with an expansive movement of multimedia.

First, fans are wondering what to expect from the new franchise. The studio has already announced a new trilogy, so what else does it have up its canonical Jedi robes? As announced last week through an official statement made by Kathleen Kennedy, head of Disney Lucasfilm, the studio has huge plans for the franchise.

The current plan for the “Star Wars” universe is to build its own official expanded universe through different forms of media, such as spin-off films, novels, comic books and video games. This may not seem very exciting, but there is a catch. Before, all of the different novels and video games written were not official canon.

This is considered the “expanded universe” and has officially been condemned to the unholy depths of the non-canon graveyard. There is hope for fans of the expanded universe, however, as it is now being considered a legend and will influence the new Lucasfilm-sanctioned universe in several ways, one of which has already been confirmed through early footage and advertising for “Star Wars: Rebels,” a new animated series on Disney XD. Nevertheless, the official canon still only consists of the first two trilogies containing episodes I-VI, and the animated “Clone

Wars” series. Audiences understand that there will be “Star Wars” material, but exactly what is being kept far away in Lucasfilm’s corporate Jedi temple? So far, fans know that Episode VII, currently being directed by J.J. Abrams, is going to be released in 2015. In addition, fans have a prequel novel accompanying the “Star Wars: Rebels” series,

plus a director for the newly unveiled Episode VIII, “Breaking Bad” alumnus Rian Johnson and two new directors hired for untitled spin-off projects (“Godzilla”’s Gareth Edwards and “Chronicle”’s Josh Trank, respectively).

It seems that Lucasfilm is being very smart about all of its future moves, and there will be no shortage of “Star Wars” in the near future. The main trilogy is exciting, but the addition of experience-enhancing sub-material is a whole extra level of fervor and excitement. Finding something Star Wars-related will soon be easier than shooting wamp rats in a T-16 back on Tatooine.