On paper, the new Lego Star Wars special, Rebuild the Galaxy, seems like a simple, silly good time. In the four-episode miniseries, a young Force-sensitive nerf herder named Sig (Gaten Matarazzo) accidentally rewrites the galaxy as we know it by messing with a powerful glowing Lego Brick known as the Cornerstone. Major characters across the Star Wars universe all have different roles: Rey and Rose are Sith; Jabba the Hutt and Palpatine are kindly Jedi; and Sig’s older brother Dev (Tony Revolori) becomes the Darth Vader equivalent. Sig is determined to restore the galaxy to how it once was, and the enigmatic Jedi Bob (like, from the Lego set) tells him that he needs to return the Cornerstone to a mysterious temple in order to do so.
Most of Rebuild the Galaxy plays out like a straightforward Star Wars mission, involving a lot of hopping around the galaxy and crossing paths with familiar characters in new roles. That is, until the end of the third episode.
[Ed. note: This post contains major spoilers for Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy]
At the end of “Part Three,” Sig finds out from Jedi Bob that there is no way to get back to the original galaxy. That is, the Star Wars Sig knows — and more importantly, the one that we as the audience know — no longer exists. There is no more Skywalker saga, Palpatine never returned, and Han and Leia never got together (which means Kylo Ren doesn’t exist?), among other things. And there is no way of getting that galaxy back at all.
Sig has an understandable crisis about all of this, especially considering the version of his brother that he knew and loved is now an evil Sith Lord who doesn’t remember him. He flirts with the Dark Side, attempting to use the Force and the Cornerstone’s power to recreate his home planet, but it’s just a shoddy copy. Eventually, Sig accepts that he completely fucked up and destroyed his entire reality — but that’s fine! He’s going to create some new stories in this version of the galaxy, even if he lost his brother and his home and all the Star Wars characters as we know them are completely gone.
Cut to a cheeky Lando Calrissian cameo, with none other than Baby Yoda as a sidekick! Yay!
I guess it doesn’t matter so much that Sig completely wiped out a galaxy when only Jedi Bob (who did the same thing to his own galaxy two realities ago) and Sig’s loyal droid Servo remember the old one. And Lego Star Wars is generally a lighter, more comedic take on Star Wars, so I understand why the creative team behind Rebuild the Galaxy didn’t dwell on the sheer cosmic horror of completely eradicating the existence of the Star Wars we know and love (and all of the protagonist’s most meaningful relationships and history) in order to move onto the next cute goof. But wow. I needed a moment to process the concept of annihilating one version of reality before I could giggle about the final end gag.
There’s no word on whether Rebuild the Galaxy will get a sequel, but what a way to end an otherwise light-hearted Lego Star Wars miniseries. I’m impressed by the fact that showrunners Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez (Pokémon Detective Pikachu) fully went for it, and also shocked that they fully went for it. If we ever get a part two, I wonder how much survivor’s guilt poor Sig will deal with as he masters the art of Force Building.
Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is out on Disney Plus now.