I was talking to a friend of mine who like me is a fan of the pre-disney expanded universe books and comic books and I was telling him that when Disney bought it, they could've easily made their own stuff but at the same time hire some authors to keep writing stories in the EU/Legends universe. Also, since they knew they were doing a streaming service they could've adapted some EU books to do non-canon animated movies like DC has done.
He told me that the problem with that is that it would make Disney look very bad if they did an animated mini-series or movie adaptation of something like Heir to the Empire or New Jedi Order and people enjoy those much more than the sequel trilogies. I figured that since Disney owns the rights to it they wouldn't care since they get the money.
In hindsight it is probably best Disney didn't try to bastardize the EU with an adaptation although they are doing Heir to the Empire I hear.
Do you think that would've made them look bad to have an EU adaptation on their streaming service that was more popular than what disney star wars produces?
I still will never understand why they didn't at least continue it. They had a built-in fanbase, and you need the hardcore fans because normies will leave once the next popular thing comes around.
Star Wars was bought under a bad pretense. It was sold by Iger to Disney as shoring up an appeal package to male audiences (same as the Marvel acquisition was) because Disney had a self-image of owning the young female market with their Princesses while having little to appeal to the audience they were missing.
But Iger found in Kathleen Kennedy a kindred political actor. She told him all the things he wanted to hear, and herself had a plan for furthering an agenda and narrative that he liked, but it was the complete fucking opposite of "appeal to young boys." For Iger, nothing made more sense than to let the contractually obligated 'protector' of the franchise that Lucas himself installed, to have her way when she was telling him everything he wanted to hear. It was like a massive gift had fallen into his lap.
Iger had undisguised aspirations for a bid for President on the Democrat ticket and pushing any and every Left-friendly agenda with his stewardship of a media mega-giant was a great way to set that up.
Kennedy had more than just Left-friendly messaging on her mind though. She is and remains one of the biggest egomaniacs you will ever find. She felt personally affronted to go unrecognized for her 30 years in Hollywood as the unsung hero of every great story ever told. She truly and actually believed she was personally responsible for the success of Star Wars in the 80s. She believed she was personally responsible for the success of Indiana Jones. Gremlins. Those were all hers, and her genius had been overshadowed by undeserving others. So this was her chance to prove it.
She decanonized the EU for this reason. She had to be in total ownership of what came next, and what was allowed to be 'real' for all time. Disney's favored official excuse to 'create room' for their own stories is HER reason, and she sold this reason to Iger, and it appealed to his ego as well.
Irony on irony has manifested in the meantime. Giving Disney a "male appeal" franchise to compliment all their female-led franchises, morphed into "widening the appeal of the historically male" Star Wars instead. Undoing the whole reason Disney plunked unreasonable cash on the acquisition.
The fact that it all blew up in their faces is just the final comeuppance. Pride goes before a Fall.
To your question: it is about the bruised ego and pride of a small group of power players.
My only disagreement with this is that Disney does have the young boy market. If you're a kid under 10 you love Disney. But kids under 10 don't really pay the bills. So they need Disney adults who are overwhelmingly girls and will spend stupid money on disney. Like the type of people whose only vacation every year is to disney. What the fucked up with is they thought that disney adults were going to instantly love star wars but didn't realize that the disney adult crowd doesn't give a shit about star wars because it doesn't sync up with the same vibes.