Recycling The Original: Things Star Wars Shows Snatched Straight From The Legends Canon

After Lucasfilm Ltd. rebranded the entire Star Wars franchise in preparation for the upcoming sequel trilogy, much of what had been created over the long years of the universe's existence was no longer considered official canon.

This mass of content became known as Star Wars Legends, encompassing all the licensed and background stories of the Star Wars universe outside of the original six Star Wars films produced by George Lucas and certain other material, such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

However, traces of it continue to appear in new Star Wars media, including the live-action television shows for Disney Plus.

Here are some examples of how Disney has reinserted certain parts of Legends into the main timeline.

Krykna

Krykna, the spider-like creatures seen in the second episode of The Mandalorian season 2 when Din crash-lands on an unnamed icy planet.

They are based on a lifeform called the Knobby White Spider, native to the swamp planet of Dagobah.

Originally created for The Empire Strikes Back, they later appeared in the novel Darksaber, written by Kevin J. Anderson, and were first pictured in the 1995 reference book The Illustrated Star Wars Universe.

Now, the creature's design has been repurposed to create an entirely different alien lifeform.

Rakatan Empire

The Rakata, an ancient alien race that conquered and enslaved countless species, are a major part of the galaxy's ancient history in Legends, having first appeared in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game (2003).

However, their only direct mention in the new canon is limited to the Andor series, when Luthen Rael gives Andor a Kuati Signet as a down payment, explaining that it was created to celebrate an ancient uprising against the Rakatan invaders.

Tatooine's past

Tatooine, a famous desert planet, used to have oceans and jungles. It is mentioned in The Book of Boba Fett by one of the planet's natives, though no explanation is given as to how it became a desert world.

In legend, Tatooine was bombed into a glassy state from orbit by the aforementioned Rakatan Empire thousands of years ago.

Mythosaurs

Mythosaurs, hostile creatures from Mandalore featured in Episode 2 of The Mandalorian season 3, first appeared in the Marvel Star Wars comic Star Wars (1977) 69, and numerous sources have featured and provided information about the Mythosaurs since then.