After an extremely humorous video broke the news that Warwick Davis was officially signed on for participation in Star Wars: Episode VII, there was a huge lightbulb that went off over the collective heads of fans. A question so big, it could affect how most fans see the future of the Star Wars saga before they even see the next film: are the Ewoks coming back?
On the one hand, the Star Wars universe hasn't been known to linger on one planet or race for too long, as the tapestry is so rich that there's a multitude of stories that could be told. To stay with the Ewok race on the forest moon of Endor would be a little bit of a stretch, considering that the Death Star and the Empire are of little to no power at this point in the Star Wars universe. Not to mention, the lingering fan reaction to the Ewoks has ranged from "meh" to vehemently against the cuddly little soldiers.
On the other hand though, J.J. Abrams is a huge enough fan of the original Star Wars trilogy that he's been slowly but surely pulling from the Star Wars canon and cherry picking what he wants to pay homage to, as well as what he wants to discard. To say that Abrams wouldn't want to revisit the last site of the final battle against the Empire would be almost counter-intuitive to his nostalgic tendencies, and it stands as equal a chance to recur in Star Wars: Episode VII as any other element from the original films. If John Williams and 35mm film can make it into Star Wars: Episode VII, then why not the Ewoks?
Personally, I'm going to come down on the side of the Ewoks not returning. While they were cute and cuddly 30-something years ago in Return Of The Jedi, they've played their course in the Star Wars universe. If they return, it'll probably be some sort of walk on, and that can easily be done with some sort of special effects magic. Warwick Davis' hiring onto Star Wars: Episode VII is being treated as big news, so it would stand to be assumed that his role will be a substantial one. Otherwise, why advertise it at all? Do you see fans clamoring for an epilogue to Wicket's life story? They barely remember the standalone Ewok films, much less care about what happens next.
Odds are that Warwick Davis is coming back to the Star Wars fold as a new character/creature that we've never seen before. With this new piece in play, the next generation of Star Wars magic will begin to unfold, and whether we'll welcome or fear the implications of this new character will be left open for interpretation until we get some more information.
In either case, it's good to see Davis coming back to one of the most iconic film series on his resume, and it's also good to see that he's still got that sharp sense of humor about him. Fingers crossed he gets to bring some of that to Star Wars: Episode VII, which opens on December 18th, 2015.
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