There aren't many franchises that can claim a specific date as a holiday, but Star Wars is no common franchise. May 4 - that is, May the Fourth - is celebrated each year as the day for Star Wars fans to let their Force flag fly. Now, The Walking Dead has found a way to honor Star Wars on its special day, and it involves an image that is either totally awesome or incredibly uncomfortable. Check it out!
In The Walking Dead's tweet in honor of Star Wars, we have Daryl as Han Solo, Michonne as Kylo Ren, Maggie as Princess Leia in a war room, and Sasha as Luke. On the one hand, all of those Walking Dead folks are awesome and totally deserve to be cast as major Star Wars characters for a badass tribute on Star Wars Day. On the other hand, when you think about it, the picks are... a little bit dark.
Given the events of The Force Awakens, Daryl is in the place of a dead guy (R.I.P. forever, Han Solo), and Michonne is doubling the villain who killed him. Maggie is in the mix as Princess Leia, who was played by an actress who died not too long ago. Luke is still alive in the Star Wars universe, but the Walking Dead image has a dead woman in his place. We have fictional death, villainy, real life death, and fictional death again. That's somewhat less awesome.
Of course, it's entirely possible that the image was created long before Carrie Fisher died at the end of 2016, and the odds are pretty good that it came together before Sasha died last month. Who knows? Maybe it was made before The Force Awakens actually debuted, and we didn't know that Han would pull an Obi-Wan and be murdered by a masked person with a red lightsaber. A few years ago, the pic would have been totally badass and not at all tragic. Of course, I'd be on board with Michonne building herself a lightsaber katana in The Walking Dead Season 8 and shredding her way through the Saviors, so who am I to poke holes?
Whether the tribute is awesome or uncomfortable is definitely up for debate, but the one thing I can say for sure is that it was pretty great to see one great franchise paying tribute to another on its special day. Happy May the Fourth to us all!
We here at CinemaBlend have celebrated Star Wars Day in our own ways. Drop by our list of 6 Star Wars TV shows that should debut after Rebels ends, and take a gander at our breakdown of 6 valuable life lessons kids should learn from Star Wars. Don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well.
