While the extended universe of Star Wars was officially removed from canon in order to give Star Wars: The Force Awakens more room to work, that also means there is a lot of canon that the movies now need to create themselves. At the same time, there are only so many ideas under the sun, so it’s not surprising that a new group of Star Wars characters look to have the same name as characters that already existed.
A new trademark filing from Lucasfilm includes the name Shadow Trooper. According to TMZ the trademark filing is in regards to product merchandising, which is actually where a lot of spoiler detail seems to be coming from for many franchises. What’s interesting is that this isn’t the first time we’ve heard the name Shadow Trooper in the post-Disney Star Wars universe. They are also playable characters within EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront video game. In that game, they are essentially black versions of the classic white Stormtrooper.
If accurate, this information matches up with recent details we’ve heard regarding characters that reportedly appear in the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One. Some new footage of the next film was shown at the recent Disney stockholders meeting that included the black Stormtroopers. They were then referred to as Death Troopers, but the name wasn’t confirmed at the time.
The name Shadow Trooper, or Shadowtrooper, has actually been used multiple times in the Star Wars extended universe in the past. In the Jedi Knight video games they were troopers capable of using the dark side of the force, as well as wielding lightsabers. In an interesting coincidence, those games dealt with a character named Kyle Katarn, who at one point in the games, is actually involved in plan to steal the original Death Star plans, the same focus of Star Wars: Rogue One. Here’s their version of the character.
It will be interesting to see if the Shadow Trooper from Star Wars: Battlefront was actually a tease of the character that we’ll see in Star Wars: Rogue One, or simply another coincidence. As the game came out shortly before Star Wars: The Force Awakens,and included some elements that were part of the new film, it’s certainly possible that there are more canonical elements in it.
What do you think of this apparent new Shadow Trooper? How do you think they’ll fit into Star Wars: Rogue One?
