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So, in terms of Star Wars, much of what is and is not canon is potentially in doubt.

See Disney takes a chainsaw to the Star Wars expanded universe for further info on this.

Now, from what I've read elsewhere, the expectation is that all post-RotJ events will be nuked from orbit: they will no longer be canon. The reasoning behind that expectation is to allow the Episode 7 script to be freely written without any concerns about whether or not it will clash with EU material.

Update : Per this post on Starwars.Com, the new canon levels have now been fully confirmed:

While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.

While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe. For example, elements of the EU are included in Star Wars Rebels. The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems are story elements in the new animated series, and all these ideas find their origins in roleplaying game material published in the 1980s.

In the light of this development, should we be looking to revisit the Star Wars questions on this site? We have many questions which have answers based on material which was in canon at the time they were asked, but which may no longer be in canon in the future. In other words - we have many questions with potentially wrong answers.

Is now the time to start discussing this issue? Is now the time to start thinking about how we handle any future Star Wars questions? Do we need to go back over past questions?

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  • Right now, it's a bit premature - we just have rumors. When we have better official picture from Leland Chee, Matthew's answer seems a good approach
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Jan 18, 2014 at 6:25
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    Frankly, this is what you get for thinking that "canon" ever meant anything.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Jan 20, 2014 at 17:37
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    The thing is that none of the EU stuff ever was really canon. It was all permitted, but that's not really the same thing. From the beginning, the understood rule was that George could come in and just wipe out/negate anything ever done/said in the EU at any time.
    – phantom42
    Jan 21, 2014 at 17:01
  • @phantom42 - the same is true in Catholic canon
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Jan 21, 2014 at 22:06
  • @DVK coincidentally, when I worked as a lab instructor at a college, we called it "Finger of God Syndrome." Every thing in the class/labs were running smoothly and then the professor would randomly change requirements/instructions without telling us, screwing everything up - and just leave us to deal with the fallout.
    – phantom42
    Jan 22, 2014 at 14:39
  • @darthsatan - I think we need to revisit this issue. The new canon rules have been in place for 6+ months now and I'm still coming across incorrect answers heavily upvoted and marked as accepted.
    – Valorum
    Dec 20, 2014 at 13:23
  • @Richard - my answer to this Meta question still (6 months or not) is 100% accurate: "In reality, SOME of EU will be switch to be non-canon... while SOME of it will instead be elevated to full "flat" canon... and we don't know which is which yet"
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Dec 20, 2014 at 13:41
  • @Richard - also, all those putatively "incorrect" answers can be easily fixed by adding "pre-Disney" to the word canon. Sorry, but the body of specfiction work that the question AND answer was about didn't just disappear because Disney bought the rights.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Dec 20, 2014 at 13:45
  • @DVK - That's true, but we'd then need a second question with the same wording but "post-disney" appended to the question...
    – Valorum
    Dec 20, 2014 at 14:26
  • @Richard - not really. I have a pretty good (if I do say so myself) proposal on how to handle this, but want an answer to my new "did disney disavow Legends as canon" question before I post it.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Dec 20, 2014 at 14:35

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Seems to me that only what the movies actually touch on will need to be revised. And the EU will still exist, so any old answers that need to be can simply have information added rather than removed, with only slight editing required. "Post Ep. VI, X is now canon. Prior to Ep. VII, <all of the old answer>."

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I'm a huge fan of the EU as another (admittedly lower) level of canon, but I'm well aware there are large differences in opinions. Obviously some things won't be touched on, like Matthew Read pointed out, and they don't require revision.

However, I'd propose identifying things sort of how many comics are split up (different story arcs). Just identify the answers as "Disney Universe" and "Lucas Universe", if there are conflicting canon stories. If only one universe touches on the character / event, then just add a note: This material is drawn from the Disney Star Wars Universe.

I suspect wookiepedia will adopt a similar separation.

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  • Doesn't matter what Wookiepedia does. What Leland Chee does is what matter.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Jan 21, 2014 at 22:09
  • @DVK - that's true (assuming he still holds his old time, which I assume he does), but we really have no way of knowing that, but I think Wookiepedia will do it this way, so I added it since it's relevant in some way
    – The Fallen
    Jan 22, 2014 at 0:19
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Your question is based on imprecise information.

You said: the expectation is that all post-RotJ events will be nuked from orbit: they will no longer be canon.

In reality, SOME of EU will be switch to be non-canon... while SOME of it will instead be elevated to full "flat" canon... and we don't know which is which yet.

The story group, he explained, "has a hand in all facets of Star Wars storytelling, including movies, TV, games and publishing." When asked what the change meant, he wrote that "a primary goal" was to ensure that there was no hierarchy between the movies and spinoff material, but instead one cohesive canon across the entire franchise, adding that "more so than ever, the canon field will serve us internally simply for classification rather than setting hierarchy." (src)

Having said that, let's address your actual questions:

Should we be looking to revisit the Star Wars questions on this site?

Potentially. On a per-question basis. This is no different than revisiting old questions in any topic with changing and evolving canon - including Star Wars pre-Disney.

We have many questions which have answers based on material which was in canon at the time they were asked, but which may no longer be in canon in the future. In other words - we have many questions with potentially wrong answers.

Correct. However, as of right now, we don't know what those questions are yet.

Is now the time to start discussing this issue?

Maybe. We don't have enough information. But we can decide on a generic approach (see @SSumner's answer and @Matthew Read's answer for general approaches that don't depend on the extent of the changes).

Is now the time to start thinking about how we handle any future Star Wars questions?

No, there shouldn't be any difference in how we treat future vs. past questions.

Do we need to go back over past questions?

Yes. But not until canon is firmed up which will likely take a WHILE.

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  • Now that the canon is firmed up, should we now revisit this question?
    – Valorum
    Dec 20, 2014 at 13:17
  • @Richard - I'd say no. The policy has been made clear, which is to say all they said is the old stuff didn't happen...until we decide that it did in the new universe. The policy seems to be working now
    – The Fallen
    Feb 7, 2015 at 22:12
  • @SSumner - I think the fact that the new canon has been fully articulated (or at least as well as we could possibly hope), it actually makes it a lot easier to discern what our next step should be.
    – Valorum
    Feb 7, 2015 at 22:26
  • @Richard - but do we need to take any next steps? I mean, there will still be questions on the Legends storylines, and we seem to be handling those by just clarifying the Legends status. And any new material is fully canon, so we just treat that like we have the old (when it was canon)
    – The Fallen
    Feb 7, 2015 at 22:38
  • @SSumner - Over the next few months, I shall be encouraging users to view the canon guide I created as well as revisiting any answers they've made to Star Wars questions.
    – Valorum
    Feb 7, 2015 at 22:41
  • @Richard - the thing is, almost nothing yet has contradicted Legends canon - and I don't feel it is necessary to add a "this is Legends canon only* (especially for the many questions that deal with EU characters primarily)
    – The Fallen
    Feb 7, 2015 at 23:06
  • @SSumner - The films regularly contradict the old EU canon. Unless the new films contain Yuuzhan Vong, they'll completely invalidate everything written post ROTJ
    – Valorum
    Feb 7, 2015 at 23:09
  • @Richard - What films contradict the old EU canon? And since the films haven't been released yet, you can't say that. Plus, the YV War took place some 25 years post ROTJ - a new film won't necessarily invalidate everything post ROTJ
    – The Fallen
    Feb 7, 2015 at 23:15
  • @SSumner - We shall see, won't we. * taps nose knowingly... *
    – Valorum
    Feb 7, 2015 at 23:22
  • -__- Not saying that large parts of the EU won't be wiped away (I highly doubt the YV War will remain, as it's probably the single most pivotal group of events in the EU), but I don't think it will auto-invalidate everything
    – The Fallen
    Feb 7, 2015 at 23:24

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