My Pitch for the Future of Star Wars

  So the other day I was on the Star Wars fan forums website theforce.net and there was a thread on there asking fans to speculate what Star Wars content set after The Rise of Skywalker might be like. Some of the comments from other users on there inspired me to come up with a hypothetical roadmap for various post-Skywalker Saga projects. I shared my outline on the forum and a few people there said they liked what I had in mind, so I figured I might as well share all of my ideas here too. Keep in mind that I do not expect Lucasfilm to actually do any of this stuff. This is all just for fun.

Before we begin, though, allow me to clarify a few things. First of all; I think Star Wars has outgrown the “trilogy structure,” at this point. I have some ideas for three shows as well as three live-action films, but each project would theoretically stand on it’s own, so that they could be made in almost any order (some may not have to even be made at all). Furthermore, the only sequel trilogy characters I have ideas for are Rey, Finn and (to a lesser extent) Rose. Nothing against the other characters. I just don’t know where their stories can go. Also, I know John Boyega said in mid 2020 that he was done with Star Wars, but he has since walked back on those comments and recently said he was open to returning. For some reason the press didn’t really run with that story, though (probably because it doesn’t fit the narrative of “Disney ruined Star Wars”).

With that all being said, here’s my pitch for what post-Rise of Skywalker content could look like. Part of me actually still feels that all of this is stupid, but I’m gonna share it anyway, so here it goes:

ANIMATED SHOW 1

Working title:

Star Wars: Regions of the Galaxy

Rough idea: 

Starts a few years after The Rise of Skywalker. There’s no galactic-wide government of any kind anymore. The Resistance managed to gain control of the Core Region of the galaxy and have since evolved into The Core Republic. Other parts of the galaxy are controlled by other factions (Mandalorians, crime syndicates, maybe even new versions of stuff like the Nihil and Nightsisters, etc.). So I guess if this “Age” needed a name it would be “Age of Divide” or something like that. There are no remnants of the Sith, Knights of Ren, Empire, First Order or Final Order whatsoever. The closest we get to that is whatever Thrawn has going on in the Unknown Regions (assuming he’s even still alive by this point). I also like the idea of one of the factions experimenting with cloning again, maybe even perfecting force-sensitive clones. But that’s not essential. I also like the droid revolt idea (mentioned by someone else on the forum).

Rey and Finn are restarting the Jedi order in two different ways; one of them is gathering small children like Broom Boy and training them slowly in a school-like environment, and the other is speed-training about half-a-dozen or so other adults and they’re all going on adventures (sometimes together and sometimes apart) in a Knights-of-the-Round-Table type of fashion. 

Right now I’m leaning towards Finn being the one mainly training the adults (and show Rey training him beforehand through flashbacks). I want to use this show as an opportunity to “move him further along.” Maybe he rekindles the flame he briefly had with Rose on Crait and takes her last name (or finally finds out what his real name was). Maybe he meets one or more of the ghosts. You get the idea. He’s “the field agent” and Rey is “the Yoda.” And not that it matters, but as far as saber colors go, I always thought green would suit Finn.

I wouldn’t have a central conflict or war or anything driving the show forward like that. Just keep it loose and episodic. The main purpose of this show is just worldbuilding and laying the groundwork for the future.

LIVE-ACTION MOVIE 1

Working title: 

Star Wars: Alliance

Rough idea: 

It’s been like five or ten years now since The Rise of Skywalker. If Lucasfilm wants they can make this movie first and then make the show described above afterwards to “fill in the gaps” between The Rise of Skywalker and this.

In short; characters from the sequel trilogy team up with characters from The Mandalorian and its “sister shows.” So it’s basically a crossover, of sorts, between the Skywalker Saga and the Mandoverse. I think that would be a neat way to bring back sequel trilogy characters (mainly Rey) in a live-action movie without undoing the idea of The Rise of Skywalker being the end of the Skywalker Saga. It’s not really what I would want, personally, but it would probably put butts in seats, which is what Disney is thinking about.

I would have Rey team up with Din Djarin specifically (who I assume is ruling Mandalore at this point), to really emphasize this “crossover” idea as much as possible. I know he’d be like 70-75 at this point, so maybe keep his helmet on the whole time and just have Pedro Pascal limp around and say something along the lines of “I may be old but I still got a few tricks up my sleeve,” just not in those exact words (cause that would be stupid). Alternatively, just have him “sitting around” and have Rey instead pair up with Sabine, who would probably also need to be played by a different actress at this point, or at least keep her helmet on the whole time too.

The main conflict would involve an outside-galaxy threat. Let’s just say the Grysk, for now (assuming the Mandoverse “big storytelling event” that Lucasfilm talked about doesn’t involve them first). For context; the Grysk are a new alien race that have been loosely mentioned in recent books as “a half-myth,” and they haven’t really been officially detected yet. Apparently they may or may not come from a different galaxy, and are described as “invaders.” The old Expanded Universe novels (now called Legends) had something similar to this.

I don’t know if I would flat-out say they come from a different galaxy, though. I would just “loosely imply” it, if that makes sense. Either way, the Jedi find out about the Grysk so they have to split up to go recruit all the other political factions outside of The Core Republic. It’s not the end of the Age of Divide, just a brief unification against this new exterior threat, is all.

Also, just to be a bit more “thematic” with the idea of divisions and factions, I would have Rey and Finn start to not get along at this point, because they have different ideas on how the Jedi should continue to evolve. They manage to put their differences aside for the climax of the movie, of course, but the very end of the story hints that the Jedi of the future may have similar differences, which they accept. This is to hint that the Jedi in centuries from now may be separated into several different factions with no centralization.

ANIMATED SHOW 2

Working title:

Star Wars: Fallout

Rough idea:

The purpose of this show would be to explore how the galaxy deals with the ongoing aftermath of the Grysk invasion. At this point I would start to move the sequel trilogy characters to the background, and focus on new heroes instead.

LIVE-ACTION MINISERIES

Working title:

Star Wars: Unity

Rough idea:

The purpose of this project would be to bring Rey and Finn back one more time after not having seen them again for a while, for a “farewell.” I imagine them being middle-aged at this point, and imply that they’ve now been fully estranged from one another for at least a few years. They each have their own isolated Jedi orders now (a further sign of what’s to come). Both characters are put in a position where they have to come together one last time. They both die together in a self-sacrificial way at the end of the miniseries, but they clearly forgive one another and are good friends again in the final moments. Their Jedi orders have a newfound respect for one another after this, but continue to remain separate.

        I understand the idea of Rey and Finn dying at the same time may sound pretty dark for Star Wars standards, but my gut tells me it would make sense. They started their “Jedi journeys” together, so might as well also end together, right? Also, the reason I would want this to be a live-action miniseries instead of a film is because I feel like doing this particular story as a film would feel too much like “Skywalker Saga Episode 10,” which I’m trying to avoid cause I still want The Rise of Skywalker to feel like an ending.

LIVE-ACTION MOVIE 2

Working title:

Star Wars: Jedi Legacy

Rough idea:

Set like a thousand years later, the Jedi have evolved into several different factions with no centralization, and each faction has a slightly different philosophy from one another. Meanwhile, the political factions are all unified back together now, and call themselves The Alliance (as a reference to the film described above). So this would be the “Age of Alliance.” Basically everyone hates the Jedi for not being able to get along now. This is where the Sith would come back, in some fashion. I would bring back Matt Smith’s “Sith King” character (an amalgamation of all dead Sith) that got cut from The Rise of Skywalker, and maybe have him act a little like Palpatine, to imply that good ol’ Sheev is “still in there somewhere.” As expected, all the different Jedi factions realize they gotta come together, but in order to do so, they need to dig deep and figure out secrets about how the Jedi first began “thousands of generations ago,” which leads us to…

LIVE-ACTION MOVIE 3

Working title:

Star Wars: Jedi Origins

Rough idea:

Okay, this one doesn’t actually take place after The Rise of Skywalker, but rather thousands of generations before anything we know from canon Star Wars. That said, it would still be “spiritually connected,” in a sense, to the film described above. It would basically be the Dawn of the Jedi comics from Legends, but as a movie. I know there’s rumors that this is what Taika Waititi’s film is gonna be. We’ll see what happens, I guess…

Alright, that’s all I got!

Peace!

Related: Fiction Repository

DUNE: Battle of the Adaptations

  A couple of weeks ago, director Denis Villeneuve’s long-awaited adaptation of the Frank Herbet sci-fi novel Dune (or the first half of it, at least) was finally released in theaters here in the US, and as of this writing, I finally had a chance to see it over the weekend. In the days leading up to the screening, I decided to immerse myself into Dune lore by watching all of the previous adaptations, as well as the 2013 documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, about a canceled film adaptation of the story from the 1970’s that would’ve been made by Chile’s favorite surrealist, Alejandro Jodorowsky. I had also wanted to read the book, but didn’t find the time (been busy lately), so instead I looked up some notes and talked to several people I know who happened to have read it in the past.

So now that I’ve done my homework (or as much of it as I can, up until this point), I thought it would be fun to compare all the different cinematic adaptations of the book that we’ve had thus far, and explain which version I think is the ideal one, and why.

With that being said, let’s go ride some sandworms…

David Lynch’s Dune (1984)

Background: When experimental filmmaker and cult hero David Lynch was first approached to adapt Dune, he hadn’t even read it. The fact that he even agreed to do it is a bit of a shock, since he had just turned down directing Return of the Jedi because George Lucas showed him a picture of Chewbacca and it “gave him a headache.” What won him over was the fact that the studio promised to fund his next film, Blue Velvet, once Dune was complete. After working his way through the book, Lynch wrote the screenplay all on his own, which itself is pretty impressive, since he wasn’t even familiar with the source material beforehand. Once filming had wrapped, Lynch put together a rough cut that was about four or five hours long, and proposed splitting all the footage into two separate movies. Since this wasn’t the norm at the time, the studio rejected his proposal, and instead trimmed all of his footage down to a single two-hour film that ended up bombing both critically and financially upon release. Needless to say, Lynch didn’t take this well, and says he still regrets ever getting involved with Dune to this very day.

Greatest Strength: As flawed as it may be, it’s nice to have a version of this entire story that can be digested in just two hours. It’s extremely hard to follow if you’re a newbie to the Dune lore, of course, but for “seasoned veterans,” it’s a convenient way of reliving the tale without having to invest too much time into it (again).

Greatest Weakness: This isn’t really a true Dune adaptation, per se, but rather David Lynch’s “reimagining” of it. If you’re a fan of his unique style in general, that may not be too bothersome for you, but those looking for something more “in-line” with the book can expect to be disappointed. Personally, I’m someone who considers themes to be the most important aspect of any story, and what I find fascinating about the original Dune novel (what I understand from it, at least) is that it deconstructs the theme of “what it means to be a messiah.” In other words, it critiques “the hero’s journey,” before Star Wars even made “the hero’s journey” cool. That’s why that book was so ahead of its time, and why it still holds up now. None of those things are anywhere to be found in this film version, though. Did Lynch overlook these details? Or did he omit them intentionally due to external constraints? We’ll likely never know. That said, if you treat this film as its own thing, and if you’re able to get past how rushed it all feels, it’s actually not that bad. While I’m slowly becoming a fan of the source material, I’m also a fan of Lynch as a director, and can appreciate his unique “taste” that he put into this project (weirding modules and all!). Hell, even Herbert himself said he liked the movie and didn’t mind the artistic liberties that it took.

Alan Smithee’s Dune: Extended Edition (1988)

Background: This is actually just a three-hour version of the Lynch film, with about an hour’s worth of deleted scenes added back in, first broadcasted on television in two parts. By this point, however, Lynch himself had long since disowned the project, and therefore asked for this new cut to give the directorial credit to “Alan Smithee” (a name often used by filmmakers who are ashamed of their own work). For the writing credit, Lynch used “Judas Booth” (a combination of Judas Iscariot and John Wilkes Booth).

Greatest Strength: Obviously, it’s a lot less rushed and more coherent than the theatrical version, meaning certain plot holes are now resolved, while Lynch’s sense of charming zaniness is still maintained. That said, the movie still fails to emulate many of the unique themes from the book.

Greatest Weakness: One of the biggest differences between the theatrical cut and this version is the beginning. Instead of the monologue from the Emperor’s daughter (which itself is already awkward if you’re not familiar with the book), we’re treated to a seven-minute long worldbuilding narration that uses concept art to try to get viewers to better understand how exactly this fictional universe works. While I admire the effort, I personally find worldbuilding of this scale to often be one of the least important aspects of telling a story (at least cinematically). When I don’t understand how a world works, I’m usually fine with just correcting things in my head using “the Star Wars excuse” (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a.k.a “this doesn’t need to make any sense”). The book definitely deserves praise for just how dense its own lore is, but I have yet to see worldbuilding of that magnitude done well in a cinematic format (even the new 2021 adaptation omitted some of these details).

John Harrison’s Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000)

Background: Around the turn of the millennium, the infamous Sci-Fi channel (known today as Syfy) teamed up with director John Harrison to take a crack at Dune in the form of a TV miniseries. With book fans still burned over the Lynch version(s), Sci-Fi was determined to create an on-screen take more accurate to the source material, even going as far as to name the project Frank Herbert’s Dune to emphasize this.

Greatest Strength: As of right now, this is still the most faithful adaptation of the book, though Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune: Part Two will likely render this one as mostly obsolete. Nevertheless, this take managed to finally capture the core themes of the original story accurately, among other factors (Chani is more likable and closer to her book counterpart here than in either Lynch cut, for instance). That said, I feel this adaptation might’ve been a little too faithful. It’s a common saying that not everything always translates well between mediums, and this is a solid example of that. For instance, the names “Mahdi” and “Maud’Dib” are very frequently used interchangeably for Paul, which may read well, but when having to hear the dialogue instead, I often found myself struggling to know which of those two names were actually being said. Paul also comes across as way more “flat” here, which I know was intentional for the book, but doesn’t really work on screen (the weird casting choice for him didn’t help either, no offense to that actor). That all being said, the miniseries does take a few artistic liberties that allow it to have a bit of its own “identity.” The biggest example of that being the subplot that was added for the Emperor’s daughter, which makes her a more fleshed-out character (though Lady Margot is cut, as a result). Rabban also gets a bit more to do here too, and it all works to further emphasize the “chess game structure” of the story, even if it drags a bit.

Greatest Weakness: As one would expect from a Sci-Fi Channel project, this miniseries was made on a budget of almost nothing, so it looks awful. The sets are trash, the costumes are trash, the effects are trash… I can go on. I suppose one cool feature was how all the night scenes had both blue and green lighting, since the two moons of Arrakis are supposed to be blue and green, respectively. Sadly, it’s still not enough to salvage the overall visuals. I’ve heard people say that this adaptation is best when you pretend it’s just a stage play that just so happened to have a camera in front of it. Seeing it that way definitely helped, but not by much. Thankfully, the 2003 sequel miniseries, which combined the second and third books together, is a vast improvement visually.

Frank Pavich’s Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013)

Background: As mentioned above, surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to get a Dune adaptation off the ground in the 1970’s, but things fell apart. This documentary by Frank Pavich is the closest glimpse we have to what that movie would’ve been like. Things got out of hand pretty fast. Salvador Dali, who would’ve played the Emperor, demanded to be paid $100,000 an hour, while Orson Welles, who would’ve played Baron Harkonnen, demanded to have expensive gourmet dinners cooked for him every single night as part of the movie’s budget. Jodorowsky himself was guilty of some of this disaster too. He casted his own son as the lead, despite the boy only being twelve at the time, and put him through two years worth of martial arts training for six hours a day. Jodo also demanded that the studio allow him to make the final cut of the movie ten hours long. Needless to say, the project died right then and there, but it wasn’t a total waste. During the pre-production period, over three-thousand pieces of concept art were produced and put together as a hardcover book that got passed around Hollywood for the next few years, influencing many of the sci-fi and fantasy films that took the world by storm in the late 70’s and early 80’s. That very same artbook actually sold for over $42,000 at an auction just a few years ago. Jodo himself would also go on to use many of his ideas for Dune in several graphic novels about his own original characters.

Greatest Strength: This entire movie would’ve been very different from the book, and the ending in particular was going to be something not seen in the source material at all. Paul was going to die, and then his consciousness was going to be split into a million pieces, all of which would then be “absorbed” by everyone else on Arrakis. The idea here being that in order for Paul to fulfill the prophecy of the chosen one, he would need to sacrifice himself so that everyone else could instead be the chosen one “in his place.” So, like the book, this adaptation would have been all about deconstructing the hero’s journey on a thematic scale. It just, you know, would’ve done it in a completely different way that would’ve destroyed all possibilities for any of the sequels to ever be adapted… Funny enough, after Paul’s soul gets split up like that, Arrakis was gonna somehow magically travel all over the universe at light speed, turning all dead planets it passes into lush environments full of life, before exploding into a supernova. In other words, Arrakis was going to die so that all other planets could have life, just like how this movie project itself needed to die in order to give life to Alien, The Fifth Element, etc.

Greatest Weakness: Well, in case it wasn’t already obvious, this isn’t really Dune. I understand that it’s important to take some creative license when adapting someone else’s work, but after so many changes, you might as well just make it your own intellectual property instead. Herbert himself was actually somewhat involved with the development process of this project, and like with Lynch later on, he apparently didn’t mind any of these crazy changes that Jodo wanted to make. That being said, having the original creator’s stamp of approval isn’t really enough, in my opinion. Fans of the book initially tore Lynch’s movie apart. If they had gotten this movie instead, we probably would’ve seen riots on the streets…

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune aka Dune: Part One (2021)

Background: Originally intended to be released in 2020, but delayed an entire year due to a certain pandemic, this adaptation is something of a passion project for Villeneuve, as he had been reading the book repeatedly ever since he was 14. Like Lynch before him, Denis requested that the studio allow him to split the adaptation across two separate films. This time, they agreed, but there was a catch: Part Two would only be approved if Part One did well at the box office first. Thankfully, that proved to be the case, and Part Two is now scheduled for an October 2023 release (my gut is telling me that it’ll be delayed a bit, though), and Denis himself hopes to round off his movie trilogy with an adaptation of the second book, Dune Messiah.

Greatest Strength: So far, Villeneuve has been pretty faithful to the book and it’s themes, and I imagine that’ll continue in Part Two (I doubt we’ll get that orgy scene, though). That and the fact that this movie looks and sounds great and is well-acted pretty much makes this the definitive version, as long as Part Two is able to “round the story out” accordingly. While part of me misses the “dirtiness” of the Lynch version, I would still take this one overall. Furthermore, I’ve seen some people say that Part One doesn’t stand on its own enough, which I personally disagree with. I thought centering that film around Paul and Jessica surviving alone in the desert and culminating with their inauguration into the Fremen was a smart move (that final line from Chani was stupid though, and the fact that Gurney and Thufir both just disappear from the plot was annoying). As a side note, I also liked how this version emphasized how not all of Paul’s visions come true. That helped this film to stand on its own while still maintaining a bit of tension, in my opinion.

Greatest Weakness: So if you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know that I criticized Villeneuve for that temper tantrum he threw last year about his film having a theatrical release and a streaming release at the same time as one another. While I enjoyed this movie way more than I expected to, I still stand by everything I said in that post earlier this year. The guy was acting like people wouldn’t have the option to see it in theaters, which wasn’t the case at all. I understand his frustration with how the hybrid release almost killed his chances of getting to make Part Two, and agree that it was shitty of WB to not at least warn him in advance, but nevertheless, safety comes first. Nothing in life is a guarantee until it actually happens anyways. Hell, maybe the lowered expectations actually helped convince WB to green-light the second half! Besides, I saw the film in theaters with a friend, just to have an excuse to get out and socialize, and while I enjoyed the experience, there was nothing that made me say to myself “Oh my god, I’m so glad I saw this in theaters!!” A bigger screen and surround sound doesn’t really mean anything to me these days. If a movie is good, it’s good, regardless of where and how I see it.

And that’s about all I got! Looking forward to Dune: Part Two.

Peace!

2024 UPDATE: Just saw Dune: Part Two. It wasn’t as accurate of an adaptation as I thought it would be, but quite frankly, it’s all the better for it. Besides, people who want a nearly-book-accurate version can stick to the 2000 miniseries (as long as they don’t mind the bad acting and “no budget” look). Whereas people who want a big-budget, “modernized” version of the story now have the Denis films to embrace, and people who prioritize the “weirdness” of the source material can stick to David Lynch. Those of you who want a version that somehow does all three of those things are out of luck, but maybe in like 30 years they’ll do another miniseries version with a Game of Thrones-level budget, or maybe by that point AI will be advanced enough that everyone can just make their own versions…

About My New Sci-Fi/Fantasy Story Collection

  So at the beginning of this year I released my debut story collection Little Life Lessons: Fifty-Five Super Short Stories and wrote a blog post explaining how it came to be. At the end of that post, I mentioned that I had ideas for similar collections, and that I would begin to work on those. Since then, however, I realized it made more sense to combine all of those ideas into just one anthology… And I’ve now done just that!

Ladies and gentlemen, my sophomore effort, Real Enough: Forty Short Stories & Poems, is now available on Amazon. And just like last time, I thought I’d take the opportunity to make a blog post announcing it.

Unlike Little Life Lessons, which told stories loosely based on my own life and observations of the world, Real Enough consists entirely of science fiction and fantasy entries, split into four sections (Low Fantasy, Sci-Fi On Earth, Sci-Fi In Space, High Fantasy). As you may have noticed from the subtitle, some of these entries (exactly half, as a matter of fact) are actually poems.  All four sections of the book alternate back and forth between prose and poetry. As I mentioned at the end of my post announcing Little Life Lessons, I had wanted to also start experimenting with poetry, and quickly saw an opportunity to express some of my sci-fi/fantasy ideas in the form of narrative poems, rather than prose.

While I’m proud of all forty entries, there are a few in particular that are longer than most. I call these the “flagship stories” of the book:

Soon

Highway to Avalon

Racing Death

Survivortown

Sunrise Order

Next Star Over

The Prince of the Island

Long Gone Magic

And just like last time, the process didn’t go perfectly. With the last book, the italics got lost. This time around, the last line of almost every poem was shifted to the side instead of being centered (all of the poems are supposed to be centered). When I saw that, I said to myself “Eh, screw it. Let people think it’s a stylistic choice or something.” There were also some other errors (extra blank pages at the end, extra margin spacing all around, a few typos in the story Soon, etc.). As I said shortly after I released Little Life Lessons, not everything is going to go according to plan, and as an independent author, you’re gonna have to be okay with that…

Honestly, I don’t have much else to say beyond that. I want to let the book speak for itself, after all! The question now is; what will I do next? And the answer is… I don’t know. I definitely want to keep this blog alive, and might even start posting here more frequently again. As far as other books go though, I think I might take a bit of a break now, before figuring out where to go from here…

In the meantime, if you choose to purchase Real Enough, I would like to thank you. Writing sci-fi/fantasy is something I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a little kid, so I hope you enjoy reading this book, just as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it…

Peace!

The 2020 Rock Comeback That Could Have Been: Top 12 Tours We Lost

  In late 2019, something interesting happened in the world of rock n’ roll…

A bunch of big bands who hadn’t been active in many years started announcing reunion tours and/or co-headlining tours with other big bands. While reunions and co-headlining treks were nothing new by this point, it certainly seemed like an unusually large amount of them were about to happen all at once. For people like me, this was a pretty huge deal! I knew deep down that the reason for it all was just because the world economy was better than ever at the time, and all of these dinosaur-aged, nostalgia-act has-beens wanted to take advantage of that. But I didn’t care! I was just happy that a bunch of bands that I admired were coming back and/or teaming up in new and unique ways.

And then of course, 2020 happened, and I think you know the rest of the story from there…

Some of these would-be rock revival tours have since been canceled, while others have been delayed indefinitely. Maybe they’ll still happen someday, or maybe not. That being said, whatever the future holds, I thought it would be fun to take some time to look at all of those 2020 rock comeback tours that could have been, and also evaluate what the future could hold for all of these different acts, and what they’re all doing in the meantime. Think of this as a sort of “what if” and “what can still be” glimpse, if you will…

Also, for what it’s worth; I know that artists of pretty much all other genres were impacted by the pandemic as well, but I’m not really as passionate about other genres in the way that I am about rock music in particular (and I don’t even listen to much music at all these days, to be fair). I have respect for all of those different styles of music, for sure, but they just don’t really “get me going” in the way that rock does (bar a few exceptions, of course). I used to be a snob about that sorta thing, but these days I try to keep more of an open mind. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll actually like another genre more than rock n’ roll. But alas, today is not that day…

So, without further ado, here are the Top 12 rock comeback tours of 2020 that never were! Starting with…

12.Kiss Farewell Tour (For Real This Time…?)

In 1996, the original Kiss line-up reunited. Then in 2000, they embarked on a farewell tour (“The Last Kiss” Tour), saying that they “wanted to go out on a high.” Pretty much as soon as the tour was over, founding members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons replaced guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss with hired hands, even giving them the same makeup designs and everything! Further touring and recording resumed not too long after that, and this infamous new line-up of Kiss still continues to this very day. I suppose the 2000 tour was still a “farewell” to the original line-up, at least. Nevertheless, if Paul and Gene’s goal was to “go out on a high,” they certainly failed (and that’s coming from someone who actually likes 2012’s Monster album). The group kicked off a new farewell tour in 2019 (dubbed “The End of the Road”), and were caught lip syncing at pretty much every single show right up until the pandemic shut everything down. Currently, the Europe leg has been rescheduled to early summer, which means it’ll probably be delayed by yet another year (they’re already confirmed for Download Fest 2022 in the UK anyways). Same can probably be said for the South America leg in the fall. The late summer North America leg and the winter Oceania leg might still happen though, if I had to guess. I suppose if you’re a diehard fan and don’t mind lip syncing then it’s worth going to see the band while you still can. For the rest of us, though? Hard pass…

11.Motley Crue Reunion Tour (w/ Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts)

When Motley Crue completed their 35th anniversary tour in 2015, they claimed that all four members had signed a contract promising that they would never perform live under the Motley Crue name ever again. Then their 40th anniversary came around in 2020, and it was announced that they’d be embarking on a massive trek of stadiums (simply titled “The Stadium Tour”), alongside three other household names. In short, they admitted that the whole contract thing was bullshit (but we all knew that anyway). On one hand, I think it’s shitty that they didn’t stick to their word, despite the fact that everyone saw it coming from a mile away. On the other hand, this tour intrigues me just because of it’s rather unique nature alone. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a non-festival rock tour of this magnitude. Four massive bands from the annals of rock history, touring gargantuan football stadiums across America. If you’re just looking for nothing but a good time (pun intended) and want to pretend like you’re back in 1989, I’d say it’s worth checking out. I’m probably gonna pass though, as I feel that Crue has aged rather poorly. All of the summer 2020 dates have been rescheduled to 2021, from June to September to be exact. My guess is that at least the first five or six shows might still get canceled and/or delayed again though, while the post-Fourth of July shows probably have a better chance of happening still…

10.Guns N’ Roses “Next Chapter” Tour (w/ The Smashing Pumpkins and Gary Clark Jr.)

After 23 years of estrangement (pun intended), Axl Rose and Slash buried the hatchet and embarked on their big reunion tour from early 2016 all the way until late 2019. No new music came during this time, apart from a handful of old demos that the band dusted off in mid 2018 for the 30th anniversary of Appetite for Destruction. It seemed like 2020 would finally bring about a new era for the band though, as the upcoming tour was being labeled as “the next chapter,” with slogans such as “the next chapter is about to begin” scattered all over the marketing. The band actually did the first show of the tour in Mexico, in mid March, right when the coronavirus was officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Needless to say, the rest of the tour was postponed indefinitely and the band flew home right after that. Interestingly enough though, during the soundcheck right before the Mexico gig, the band rehearsed a new song called Hard School (the demo of which leaked a few months prior, along with many other unreleased songs). Even Axl took part in that rehearsal (which he rarely does). Who knows? Maybe they really were finally on the verge of something new…

As of now, the South America leg of the tour is canceled entirely, while the Europe leg is delayed to summer 2022 (after having already been delayed from summer 2020 to summer 2021). The North America and Oceania legs are still scheduled for the fall/winter of this year (after also suffering a year-long delay). Those will probably still happen. Not sure about new music, though. Wouldn’t be surprised if the band has just given up at this point, knowing them. And if that’s the case, I don’t really care anymore. If they wanna just be a nostalgia act from now on, fine by me. I got to see them when the reunion started in 2016, so I don’t really need to see them again (unless new music really does happen, or even just another boxset of old demos for the Use Your Illusion 30th anniversary). I actually had tickets to see them in 2020, but that’s only because The Smashing Pumpkins were gonna be the opening act, and I thought it’d be cool to see both bands together (even though I already saw The Pumpkins in 2018 as well). That being said, The Pumpkins have since dropped out of the tour entirely (to focus on their upcoming 33-song double album, a “sequel” to Mellon Collie and Machina), so I refunded my tickets. Not a major loss for me, so it’s whatever.

9.Hella Mega Tour (Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy)

From what I can tell, Green Day is one of the most divisive bands of all time. Some people love them, and some people absolutely loathe them. Personally, I’m somewhere in the middle. I like their popular albums, 1994’s Dookie and 2004’s American Idiot, but don’t really care for anything else, apart from the occasional single here and there. Apparently they made their most recent main album, 2020’s Father of All Motherfuckers, a bad album on purpose, cause it was the last record they were contracted to deliver to a major label. While I admire the “statement” there, I think making bad music on purpose is still a pretty shallow thing to do, but that’s just me. They also recently released the album Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So!, the sequel to 2003’s Money Money 2020, both under the pseudonym The Network (one of many pseudonyms which they use). 2020 also saw the release of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s first ever solo album, No Fun Mondays. Seems like Green Day enjoys escaping the stigma of their own name every now and then, which I can understand, though I still think Father of All was a mistake (I heard parts of it when it first came out, and it was a tough listen). Weezer is another band where I’ve only listened to a few of their records in full. That being said, I admire their persistence. They released an acoustic album earlier this year called OK Human, and are about to release a new electric album in a few weeks from now called Van Weezer (notice the theme?). I never paid attention to Fall Out Boy, so I won’t comment on them one way or the other. As far the dates go; the Asia and Oceania legs have been canceled entirely (the latter of which is surprising, cause Oceania is actually doing okay right now), while the Europe leg has been delayed to early summer 2021 (half of the shows are still missing new dates though) and the North America leg has been delayed to late summer 2021. My prediction is that the Europe shows will get delayed again, if not canceled entirely. The North America shows are probably the only ones that’ll still happen. A world tour downgraded to a domestic tour. Sad, but it is what it is…

8.My Chemical Romance Reunion Tour

I don’t actually know much about this band, other than that they have a pretty big fanbase, so I imagine a ton of people must’ve been pretty thrilled when they announced their reunion after a decade of inactivity. Sadly, they only got around to playing one show before the pandemic kicked into high gear. All of the other shows are delayed to 2022 now (after being delayed to 2021 first, of course). No sign of new music from these guys either, as far as I know, though I imagine that’s because frontman Gerard Way is busy working on the third season of Umbrella Academy, among his other writing projects.

7.The Rolling Stones Tour (Yes, They’re Still Around)

Imagine traveling back in time to 1962, when The Rolling Stones first formed, and telling them “In the year 2020, you guys will have to delay an entire tour leg due to a global plague. And yes, you guys are still around in 2020.” What makes this even more interesting is the fact that the band had already been touring consistently for a few years leading up to the pandemic. As a matter of fact, they only had one leg left to go, in North America. As of now, that leg is still in limbo. No dates have been rescheduled yet, but no cancellations have happened either. If I had to guess though, I think we’ve really seen the last of The Stones on stage this time. At their age, and with the paranoid world we live in now, I really can’t see these guys playing live ever again, apart from maybe a big 60th anniversary show in the UK next year. But as sad as that may be, the fact that they were able to tour for 57 years (with some years off here and there, of course) is nothing to balk at! Plus, they released a new covid-inspired single last year, along with some old demos that never saw a proper release until now. The band also recently hinted at a new album on their social media pages. Assuming that really does come to fruition, it’ll be their first new studio record since 2005’s A Bigger Bang (not counting the 2016 covers collection Blue & Lonesome). So at least there’s that to hopefully still look forward to!

6.Aerosmith Vegas Residency, Anniversary Show and Farewell Tour

When the pandemic hit, Aerosmith were in the middle of a series of residency shows in Las Vegas, which itself was part of their supposed farewell tour that’s been going on since 2017, but still has no real end in sight. The band was also scheduled to play a big 50th anniversary show in their hometown of Boston in the fall of 2020, but that show has since been pushed out an entire year, while the remaining Vegas shows are still in limbo, and all other shows have been pushed all the way out to summer 2022. This all happened at an interesting time for the band, as they had just patched things up with original drummer Joey Kramer, whom they had kicked out of the band a year prior after he had been with them nonstop for 49 years (I don’t know the specifics of the drama there). They also were apparently about to start work on a new album, their first since 2012’s Music from Another Dimension, but I’m not sure if that’s still happening or not. As far as touring goes; my guess is that the Vegas residency is toast now, but all of the other dates will probably still happen (though they’ll likely be Aerosmith’s last).

5.Genesis Reunion Tour

At the beginning of 2020, literally right before the world went to shit, Genesis reunited and announced a small run of UK shows for the fall. It would have been their first time touring since 2006-2007 (which itself was their first time touring since 2000). The band has since delayed all of the shows by an entire year (smart move). Frontman Phil Collins recently said that there’s no plans for new music, but added “never say never.” Collins himself hasn’t done a record with the band since 1991’s We Can’t Dance, and the only other record they’ve done without him is 1997’s lackluster Calling All Stations. New music would be interesting, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

4.Faith No More Reunion Tour (w/ Korn)

In 2009, Faith No More reunited and toured for the first time since 1998. Then in 2015, they released the album Sol Invictus (their first record since 1997’s Album of the Year). For awhile, it seemed like the band was really here to stay this time. But then in 2016, after performing a pair of small shows with original vocalist Chuck Mosely, the group faded away once again. Mosely then died in 2017, while primary vocalist Mike Patton moved on to various other projects (like he always does). Then in late 2019, the band shocked their fanbase by announcing yet another reunion tour for 2020, with Korn as their co-headlining act. Interestingly enough, around this same time, Patton also reunited with his other big band, Mr. Bungle, who have since released their first studio album since 1999 (with another album potentially on the way now too). Sadly, things haven’t worked out as well for Faith No More. The tour with Korn has been canceled entirely now (apart from two shows next month), and the string of European festival dates they have booked for this summer are likely to be canceled too (if I have to guess). The Oceania leg of their tour is scheduled for early 2022. My bet is that this is the only leg that’ll still happen (at least for now). No sign of new music either. I could be wrong, but it seems like Patton just sees Faith No More as “the touring band that pays my bills,” while Mr. Bungle serves as his true creative outlet.

3.Red Hot Chili Peppers Classic Line-Up Reunion Tour

In 2007, after the Red Hot Chili Peppers completed the tour for their 2006 double album Stadium Arcadium, classic-era guitarist John Frusciante began to drift away from the group. It wasn’t the first time, as he had already been out of the band once before, from 1992 to 1998. He confirmed his second departure in 2009, and was replaced by Josh Klinghoffer, a longtime friend of Frusciante’s who had already been serving as a touring member since 2007. Apparently Frusciante saw this as a betrayal, and his friendship with Klinghoffer has been strained ever since. The band went on to make two more studio albums, I’m With You (2011) and The Getaway (2016), as well as one b-side album, I’m Beside You (2013). While all of these records were a modest success, none of them were ever able to reach the heights of the Frusciante-era stuff. So it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that when Frusciante expressed interest in returning once more in late 2019, the band relieved Klinghoffer of his duties. Personally, I really liked Josh. He seemed like a nice guy in interviews, and I felt he really came into his own as a guitarist by the time the band got to The Getaway. He was apparently going to tour with Pearl Jam as a solo act, before the pandemic hit (he even collaborated with them a bit). Hopefully that still happens, once the world is back to (mostly) normal. I wish him well.

That being said, John Frusciante is fucking John Frusciante. There’s just no one else like him. He truly is one of the most unique guitarists of all time. So if there’s an opportunity for the band to bring him back so that they can make a true follow-up to Stadium Arcadium, then I say they should go for it! They’re not getting any younger, so it’s now or never! Out of all the potential future rock albums and/or tours, this is easily the one I’m most excited for, by far. The band did actually manage to play a one-off show last year (their first with Frusciante since 2007), but were then forced to cancel the string of Europe and North America festival dates they had on the books. Currently, there are no rescheduled dates on their roster, but it seems like the new album is coming along, so at least we have that to look forward to! Also, for what it’s worth: Yes, I know the Chili Peppers and Faith No More have feuded with each other often in the past. I didn’t mean to put them right next to one another on this list. That was just a coincidence.

2.Rage Against the Machine Reunion Tour (w/ Run the Jewels)

In 2000, Rage Against the Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha quit the group to work on a solo album which, believe it or not, he’s still working on to this very day. In the meantime, the remaining members went on to form Audioslave with Chris Cornell (RIP), and the short-lived, ill-fated Prophets of Rage not too long after that. RATM has actually already reunited once before, from 2007 to 2011, but they only did a handful of shows each of those years. The 2020 tour would’ve been their first “proper” tour in twenty years (hence why it’s so high on this list). Once the pandemic hit, all shows were pushed out to 2021, and now 2022. I’m sure all of the dates will still happen, eventually, as I have a feeling the only reason de la Rocha reunited with the rest of the band in the first place is because he needs the money. I doubt new music will happen though, but I’m sure the shows will still be full of energy.

1.AC/DC Classic Line-Up Reunion Tour

The album-and-touring cycle for AC/DC’s 2014 record Rock or Bust was turbulent, to say the least. First, before work on the album even started, founding member and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young was forced to leave the band in 2013, after being diagnosed with dementia. His nephew Stevie ended up taking his place (Malcolm, sadly, succumbed to his illness and died in 2017). Then in 2014, just after the album was released, longtime drummer Phil Rudd was charged with possession of illegal drugs and attempted murder (yikes!). He was quickly replaced with Chris Slade, who had already served as the band’s drummer from 1989-1994, when Rudd was out of the group due to other drug-related issues at the time. Then in early 2016, when the Rock or Bust Tour still had two more legs to go, singer Brian Johnson blew out his eardrums after standing too close to racing vehicles without hearing protection. The smart thing for the band to do would’ve been to just cancel the rest of the tour at that point, but as lead guitarist and central member Angus Young put it: “You can’t call the album Rock or Bust, and then bust!” In an interesting turn of events, the band recruited Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose to fill in on vocal duties for the remaining dates, right when the Guns N’ Roses reunion tour had just started as well! For the next few months, Rose alternated back and forth between both bands, until all of the remaining AC/DC shows were complete. Immediately after, longtime bassist Cliff Williams announced his retirement, saying that the band “didn’t feel right” anymore due to all of the sudden line-up changes that had occurred from 2013-2016. 

For awhile, it seemed like the AC/DC story was over. Then in 2017, Johnson was able to get his hearing restored after meeting a doctor who had been developing new hearing technology with a group of scientists. Later that year, he appeared on stage with Muse to prove that he was back to performance-ready shape. Then in 2018, Rudd was cleared of all charges. How? I don’t know! But not too long after that, all four classic surviving members (Brian, Angus, Cliff, Phil) and Stevie were spotted entering a studio in Vancouver. Throughout all of 2019, there were rumblings of a new album on the way. The big rumor was that it would drop in early 2020, around the 40th anniversary of the legendary Back in Black album. Then, of course, the pandemic happened, and it was radio-silence for the next several months after that. Finally, towards the end of the year, the new record, titled Power Up, saw the light of day! The band confirmed shortly thereafter that they had wanted to tour in support of it, but that everything was now up in the air due to the pandemic, and they didn’t want to sit on the new music any longer. Shame about the tour, really. Hopefully they can play at least one or a few shows in their homeland of Australia. They owe it to themselves and their diehards to celebrate at least one last time, especially after such a triumphant return…

    Well, that’s all I got!

Peace!

UPDATE: In a similar vein to this post, it’s funny how a bunch of bands broke up or retired from touring in 2024 (Rage Against the Machine, Hall & Oates, Jeff Lynn’s ELO, Jane’s Addiction, REO Speedwagon, Aerosmith, Sum 41, etc.). Furthermore, it’s also funny how a bunch of bands changed drummers in 2025 (Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, The Who, Kiss, Oasis, Rush, etc.).

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