Hyperspace Theories

Hyperspace Theories
  • 4.5 (13)
  • TV & FILM
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

On Hyperspace Theories the team from FANgirl Blog discuss elements that impact Star Wars storytelling. Each month hosts Tricia Barr, BJ Priester and Kay Serna take a deep dive into creative individuals who impact the franchise, from George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy to William Shakespeare and Hayao Miyazaki, then break down storytelling from worldbuilding to character development. Tricia Barr is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars, the definitive guide to Star Wars from DK Publishing, featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine and author of the award-winning space opera WYNDE. BJ Priester is editor of FANgirl Blog; his writings on the Heroine's Journey is widely referenced by educators. Kay Serna writes book and movie reviews for FANgirl and is a regular on Disney Vault Talk's Rebel Yell.

  1. JAN 29

    Lucasfilm's New Era Officially Begins

    On January 15, 2026, Lucasfilm formally announced that Kathleen Kennedy is "stepping down" as president of the company. Dave Filoni will take on the role of President and Chief Creative Officer. Lynwen Brennan, who for the past two years has held the title of "President & General Manager, Lucasfilm Business" alongside Kennedy, will continue in that role as "Co-President" with Filoni. On this episode of Hyperspace Theories, recorded days later, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester discuss the implications of this long-anticipated transition in the highest levels of Lucasfilm's leadership. We begin with a brief recap of the other Star Wars news stories in the preceding ten days, which had implicitly suggested that a major change would be imminent. We then unpack the press release from Lucasfilm, and what it represents as an official communication from a division of a publicly traded multi-national corporation. Next, we consider the additional information provided by source journalistic reporting from the major Hollywood trade publications – Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Wrap – as well as Matthew Belloni at Puck, who has consistently broken accurate stories about the extended leadership succession process at Lucasfilm. Then we examine the further remarks from Kennedy herself, provided in an "exit interview" she conducted with Deadline, another longstanding Hollywood publication. Finally, we end this episode of the podcast with our brief predictions about the likely future announcements from the new leadership team about the projects they have underway for the future of Star Wars. Media Coverage Links: Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Studios Announce Leadership Transition (StarWars.com; Jan. 15, 2026) Lucasfilm Replacing Kathleen Kennedy With Dave Filoni, Lynwen Brennan as New 'Star Wars' Bosses (Brett Lang, Variety; Jan. 15, 2026) Star Wars Shake-Up: Kathleen Kennedy Steps Down as George Lucas Protégé Dave Filoni, Exec Lynwen Brennan Take Over Lucasfilm (Aaron Couch & Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter; Jan. 15, 2026) A Shift In The Force For Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy: The Exit Interview (Mike Fleming Jr., Deadline; Jan. 15, 2026) Kathleen Kennedy's Final Episode (Matthew Belloni, Puck; Jan. 16, 2026) Kathleen Kennedy's Lucasfilm Legacy: A Galaxy in Disarray | Analysis (Drew Taylor, The Wrap; Jan. 16, 2026) Star Wars Has New Hope (and Some Growing Pains) in Its Future (Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter; Jan. 16, 2026) 20 Surefire, 100 Percent Probable Hollywood Predictions for 2026 (Part One) (Matthew Belloni, Puck; Jan. 6, 2026) Kathleen Kennedy to Step Down at Lucasfilm (Matthew Belloni, Puck; Feb. 5, 2025) FANgirl Blog Links: Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025: Perspective and Takeaways (May 2025) Hyperspace Theories: The Curious Case of Kathleen Kennedy's Retirement (Mar. 2025) Ten Years of Hyperspace Theories (Oct. 2024) Lessons in Franchise Management – MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (Jan. 2024) Hyperspace Theories: Starting 2024 with the Future of Star Wars (Jan. 2024) The Stories Told By White Men Rise to the Top at the Lucasfilm Showcase: Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022 (June 2022) The Failures of The Rise of Skywalker, Part 6 (Jan. 2020) Comparing Two Fresh Starts: Captain Marvel and Star Wars (July 2019) Star Wars Celebration 2019: The Franchise Talking Points (May 2019) We've Been Here Before: Parallels in the Public Narrative on the State of Star Wars (June 2018) Rey At Risk Revisited: The Danger Signs From The Last Jedi (Feb. 2018) Skywalker At Risk: Serial Storytelling and Brand Value (Feb. 2018) Social Media: Tricia Barr (@fangirlcantina) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky B.J. Priester (@redpenoflex) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky Fangirl Zone on Facebook

    1h 52m

  2. JAN 19

    Two 2025 Superhero Movies Show Star Wars' Missed Path

    The year 2025 marked the sixth without a new Star Wars movie in theaters since The Rise of Skywalker concluded the Sequel Trilogy. In the past few years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC superhero films have struggled with consistency at reaching their prior levels of box-office earnings and fan satisfaction. We found it interesting, then, that two 2025 superhero movies – the MCU's rebooted The Fantastic Four: First Steps and DC's new iteration of Superman – showcased several prominent storytelling elements that we wish Lucasfilm had been able to incorporate into the Sequel Trilogy, as we talked about on the blog and podcast when the Sequel Trilogy was in development and production. On this episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester discuss how these two movies show the path that Star Wars missed in advancing new and important ideas for today's heroic tales. These two superhero movies have three big ideas in common that would have worked well for the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, too. First, neither First Steps nor Superman is an origin story. The titular characters, the Fantastic Four quartet and the Metropolis icon, are already established celebrity superheroes on their worlds when the movies begin. Rather than learn how to use their powers, they instead face the challenges of how to use their powers – and what to do when their powers can't solve the problem they're facing. Second, both movies are focused on themes of family and teamwork, rather than the lone-hero formula so familiar from Joseph Campbell's monomyth. The Fantastic Four has two siblings, a husband, and a best friend, and each of them has a character arc. James Gunn's Superman finds support from several superhero allies while Clark Kent relies on his colleagues at The Daily Planet to help carry the day, and his emotional journey in the films is inseparable from his connections to his birth parents on Krypton and the adoptive Kents on Earth. Third, both The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman are works of aspirational heroic fiction, fitting audience expectations for the characters as well as finding human truths in their themes and characterizations that urge the audience to want to be better people, too. In tandem with these analyses of the two superhero movies, we examine how the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy would have benefitted from similar storytelling elements. Star Wars contained plenty of examples for telling stories about Jedi apprentices who are already trained in the Force, rather than necessitating Rey's first movie to mirror Luke's in discovering her connection to the Force in the first instance. Similarly, the Sequel Trilogy mostly abandoned the Skywalker family saga and failed to form a consistent and coherent heroic trio like the Original and Prequel Trilogies did. The Sequel Trilogy also failed to successfully tell aspirational stories with its legacy characters or its new characters. Perhaps most importantly, the storytellers developing the Sequel Trilogy had access to plenty of precedent, both within Star Wars and in contemporary genre stories, to have been able to identify areas in which the Star Wars franchise could help to push forward new ideas and themes in today's storytelling, rather than simply repeating the old tropes and beats from the Lucas films. Social Media: Tricia Barr (@fangirlcantina) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky B.J. Priester (@redpenoflex) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky Fangirl Zone on Facebook

    1h 40m

  3. 11/29/2025

    Wicked For Good

    A year after Part I, the Wicked movie franchise returns with For Good, an adaptation of the second act of the Broadway musical. In this episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester examine how Wicked: For Good takes advantage of the movie format, and the passage of time since the original musical was written, to strengthen the character arcs of Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero in tandem with the story's themes. Like Part I, For Good also maximizes the opportunity to include locations, action sequences, and other visual elements which wouldn't be possible in a Broadway stage production. The two new songs written for Wicked: For Good, Elphaba's "No Place Like Home" early in the movie and Glinda's "Girl in the Bubble" near the end, reinforce the two characters' motivations for their crucial decisions in the story. Each song also feels especially timely, directly addressing themes of resistance to oppression, the influence of propaganda, and the emotional and psychological obstacles that sometimes must be overcome to make the right choice and do the right thing. Although the characters had similar motivations in the original Broadway show, the new songs for Wicked: For Good reflect the impact of recent political and social events to drive home themes that perhaps felt a little more abstract and distant to many listeners two decades ago. Along the path of their own respective journeys, Elphaba and Glinda also change the other Wicked characters around them, and ultimately Oz itself. Yet For Good also takes place in the background of The Wizard of Oz in a much more direct way than Part I's story. If there's a weak point in For Good, it's that this movie leans a bit too heavily on the assumption that its audience remembers the details of Dorothy's plotline from the earlier film, an assumption that may not be as workable for a mainstream movie release in 2025 compared to the theatrical musical attendees at the turn of the twenty-first century. Together, though, Wicked: Part I and Wicked: For Good tell a complete story for Elphaba and Glinda, and how they changed each other forever. Related Links: Hyperspace Theories: WICKED Part I Rises to the Moment (Dec. 2024) Breaking Baz: Jon M. Chu On How The Breathtaking 'Wicked: For Good' Took Flight With New Songs For Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande, Plus A Secret Guest Star As Cowardly Lion (Deadline; Oct. 16, 2025) Social Media: Tricia Barr (@fangirlcantina) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky B.J. Priester (@redpenoflex) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky Fangirl Zone on Facebook

    1h 52m

  4. 09/11/2025

    K-Pop Demon Hunters: Evolving Myth

    In a matter of weeks, the Sony-produced animated movie K-Pop Demon Hunters became the all-time most-viewed original title on Netflix. A limited-release theatrical run of the sing-along version of the film, for two days on fewer than two thousand screens after it had been available on streaming for two months, was the #1 movie at the box office for that weekend. With four songs in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including "Golden" reaching #1, K-Pop Demon Hunters has attained soundtrack feats not seen since Purple Rain (1984) and Saturday Night Fever (1978). And the social media fandom for the movie shows no signs of slowing down. On this episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester discuss the multi-layered success of K-Pop Demon Hunters in its storytelling and in its appeal to fans. Building on longstanding themes of the blog and podcast, we examine the story structure of K-Pop Demon Hunters as a movie that isn't a heroic origin story for its protagonists, and how the character-driven narrative modifies some classic plot beats and character archetypes. Although it isn't an origin story, K-Pop Demon Hunters shares features in common with contemporary Heroine's Journey stories, in contrast to tales based on the older monomyth of the Hero's Journey, particularly its climax in a victory based on democratic collective participation rather than a triumph in combat by Rumi or Huntrix. In many ways, K-Pop Demon Hunters succeeds at developing the core narrative and world-building elements that the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy should have used, but didn't. We also consider other successful aspects of K-Pop Demon Hunters in resonating with so many people. The movie draws not only from its creator's Korean heritage and folklore to tell a story with universal themes like shame and trauma, but also from her experience as a lifelong K-Pop fan to weave in moments and ideas that ring true to twenty-first century pop-culture fandom. The soundtrack itself is excellent, of course, but the progression of lyrics and musicality mirrors the plot and character development throughout the arc of the film. And of course it has an adorable animal sidekick, whose role is actually far more significant and impactful than first appears. Related Links: The Hero's Journey – discussing Campbell and Vogler (FANgirl Blog) Social Media: Tricia Barr (@fangirlcantina) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky B.J. Priester (@redpenoflex) Instagram | Threads | Blue Sky Fangirl Zone on Facebook

    1h 38m

  5. 08/13/2025

    ANDOR's Point of View

    For our third episode of Hyperspace Theories podcast discussing the second season of Andor, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester examine how the series portrays characterization through the use of point of view in its writing and visual imagery. Although prose fiction Star Wars usually relies upon third-person limited storytelling, only revealing to the reader what the characters themselves know or understand, cinematic Star Wars sometimes gives the impression of a third-person omniscient perspective, with the audience as an external observer watching a "true" version of events unfold. In Andor, however, much of the storytelling follows the limited point of view of the respective characters, and deploys effective camera angles and shot framing to convey their emotions as well as to build dramatic tension for the audience. We begin by revisiting the Ghorman Massacre from our previous episode, considering the ways its portrays the points of view from Cassian, Syril, and Dedra during those crucial events. When then examine Mon Mothma, whose POV scenes begin with her very first appearance in the second season's opening episode, when the camera follows her through a single extended shot in which she must constantly switch her persona and demeanor as she encounters the next person she greets. Other dynamic uses of point of view in these Andor episodes include Vel's perspective during the Ghorman Front's attack on the Imperial character, scenes with Cassian and Bix and with Luthen and Kleya, and Kleya's dramatic mission into the Imperial hospital on Coruscant.

    1h 50m

  6. 06/03/2025

    Bad Luck Ghorman: ANDOR & History

    On the latest episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester continue their analysis of Season Two of the Disney+ streaming series Andor: A Star Wars Story with a discussion centered on the Ghorman storyline heavily featured across Episodes 4 to 8 and culminating in the eighth episode focused entirely on the the tragedy of the Ghorman Massacre. One major theme of this storyline is the power of propaganda, introduced in the first Imperial scenes of the season's first episode. We then consider other forms of Imperial manipulation of the events on Ghorman, and the ideas Andor presents about oppression and resistance through the lens of Imperial military occupation, the Ghorman Front and public opposition, and the role of Luthen's agents on the road to the Massacre. These themes and ideas are reflected across the characterization and character arcs of numerous individuals in these episodes, including Cassian, Luthen, and Wilmon; Vel and Cinta; Dedra, Syril, and Partagaz; and even Mon Mothma and Director Krennic. We also examine how the various new characters from Ghorman – particularly Carro Rylanz, Enza Rylanz, Samm, Thela, and Lezine – illustrate the themes and ideas of the storyline, and how their experiences of oppression and resistance influence their decisions and actions leading up to, and during, the Massacre. In media appearances promoting Andor Season Two, creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy has spoken extensively about the real-world influences on his storytelling in the series, especially his lifelong passion for reading and learning about revolutions across the world and throughout history. Our discussion considers several of these influences, such as wartime propaganda, especially in the twentieth century. Gilroy also references both the French Resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II and the subsequent Algerian resistance to French colonial control in subsequent decades, portrayed in the classic film The Battle of Algiers (1966), which influenced the visual style of the eighth episode in particular. We also point out connections to the American Revolution, French Revolution, and Haitian Revolution, and the significance of Gilroy's mentions of Oliver Cromwell and the Baader-Meinhof Group. Like George Lucas, who drew heavily on fictional and nonfictional influences when first creating his ideas for the initial Star Wars films, Tony Gilroy's Andor contains an insightful and impactful combination of fiction and nonfiction inspirations. Related Links: Hyperspace Theories: One Year Later as ANDOR Kicks Off Season Two Fangirls Going Rogue Episode 25.6: Five Women of Andor REVIEW: ANDOR Season Two Backstory Magazine Interview with Tony Gilroy Tony Gilroy on facism in Star Wars via Josh Horowitz Clips Facism via Wikipedia Vietnam War via Wikipedia

    1h 57m

  7. 05/14/2025

    One Year Later: ANDOR Kicks Off Season 2

    Beginning immediately on the heels of Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, the second season of the Disney+ streaming series Andor, now carrying the same A Star Wars Story subtitle as Rogue One, kicked off its four-week run with its first trio of episodes. The premiere and its title, "One Year Later," sets the framework for Season Two: as each "a movie a week" batch of three episodes brings us a year closer to Rogue One, several interweaving plots advance the characters arcs of Andor's expansive cast. On this episode of Hyperspace Theories podcast, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester analyze the first story arc of Season Two by breaking down how each of the four subplots reveals more of the world-building and characterization that drive the story forward. We begin with Cassian Andor examining how his character has evolved since the events of Season One and the lessons he learns in his mission-gone-awry from a Sienar facility to the Yavin IV jungle to his fateful return to his Ferrix friends. The other major plotline features Mon Mothma and the ostentatious wedding for her daughter on Chandrila, which brings with it considerable interpersonal drama for the family and for the still-perilous groundwork for the burgeoning Rebellion. On Mina Rau, the Ferrix expatriates confront the iron grip of the Empire through the lens of unexpectedly timely themes of refugees, undocumented residents, and the risks of exploitation and oppression they face. Similar themes appear in the final subplot, the Imperial characters who shift from hunting rebels to plotting far greater atrocities on Ghorman, all the while planning to use propaganda and manipulation to conceal the truth. Along the way, we also discuss the color palette used in the costume design for these episodes. Deliberately recurring hues cutting across the storylines indicate important thematic parallels in more subtle visual ways – and also, perhaps, hint toward events to come in future episode arcs.

    1h 49m

  8. 05/03/2025

    Star Wars Celebration Japan

    On the latest episode of Hyperspace Theories podcast, hosts Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester report from Star Wars Celebration Japan on the latest news and happenings. Highlights from key panels - The Mandalorian and Grogu, Andor Season 2, Ahsoka, Star Wars Animation 25th Anniversary - are discussed. Let's celebrate Star Wars!

    1h 29m
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About

On Hyperspace Theories the team from FANgirl Blog discuss elements that impact Star Wars storytelling. Each month hosts Tricia Barr, BJ Priester and Kay Serna take a deep dive into creative individuals who impact the franchise, from George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy to William Shakespeare and Hayao Miyazaki, then break down storytelling from worldbuilding to character development. Tricia Barr is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars, the definitive guide to Star Wars from DK Publishing, featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine and author of the award-winning space opera WYNDE. BJ Priester is editor of FANgirl Blog; his writings on the Heroine's Journey is widely referenced by educators. Kay Serna writes book and movie reviews for FANgirl and is a regular on Disney Vault Talk's Rebel Yell.

Information

  • Creator
    Hyperspace Theories
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Hyperspace Theories
  • Show Website
    Hyperspace Theories