4 Years Later, Star Wars Just Canonized The Franchise’s Biggest Failure

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Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesStar Wars is known for its huge ventures that bring the franchise to life. There are books, comics, video games, movies, and TV shows, but if you want the most immersive experience possible, there’s only one option: Galaxy’s Edge, the “Star Wars Land” in Disneyland in California and Hollywood Studios in Disney World in Florida. There, you can wander the streets of Batuu, drink blue milk, and even pilot the Millennium Falcon. But for a short stint in 2022 and 2023, there was an even more immersive — and much more expensive — way to live the Star Wars: the Galactic Starcruiser, a three-day, two-night adventure where guests were in-universe passengers on the Halcyon, a pleasure cruiser where Han and Leia canonically spent their honeymoon. Disney put a lot into this new venture, including tie-in comics and in-depth lore, but the hefty price tag and rumors of broken gameplay resulted in the attraction closing after only 19 months. Now, years later, this failure is getting an explanation, just like everything else in the hotel. The Galactic Starcruiser featured an in-universe floor show during dinner starring “galactic superstar” Gaya. | Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesLucasfilm Publishing recently released Eyes Like Stars, a YA romance book set in the world of Star Wars. It may seem like a frivolous love story, but there are some fascinating canon reveals, like the fact that Palpatine’s famous bas-relief sculpture in his office was actually taken from a Sith temple on Malachor. But one of the most interesting reveals actually relates to the Galactic Starcruiser. One character mentions the Chandrila Star Line, the in-universe cruise company that operates the Halcyon, and another character responds that “Rumor had it that they were about to close up shop due to budget cuts.” So the closure of the Galactic Starcruiser is being explained as an in-universe failure of the Chandrila Star Line as a whole. Perhaps that’s a bit too on-the-nose, considering how actual Disney employees lost their jobs because of the Starcruiser’s failure, but it is a very fun way to reference the strange business model of this “immersive adventure.”RIP, the Chandrila Star Line. | ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty ImagesThere may not have been an in-universe four-hour-long video essay breaking down the failures of the Chandrila Star Line like Jenny Nicholson’s epic YouTube masterwork, but it may be comforting for some fans to know that this was a limited-edition vacation in the Star Wars universe just as it was for us. It turns out, a weekend-long cruise that stops in Batuu of all places is a weird idea in the Star Wars universe as much as it is in ours, so really, the Starcruiser closing is the most canon-accurate thing that could happen. Just don’t think about it too hard. Star Wars: Eyes Like Stars is now available for purchase.