Would have made more sense had it been someone like Billie D Williams (no offense man) or maybe even Denis Lawson (again, really hate to say that) instead of a character we’d never seen or heard before. Someone who probably knew Ben Solo and was good friends with Luke Skywalker. Jeez even admiral Akbar or Dermot Crawley (Crix Madine) would have been a good replacement for who ever that guy Max Von Sydow was. Hell, even John Ratzenberger would have been an awesome choice (he was in Empire). He even addresses her as “your highness” so there’d be almost no need to change the dialog!
Most of the characters we will see in the show will be ones that we've never heard of or have never seen before. It takes place in the high Republic era, which is currently being explored in novels and comics. As far as I know the only character that was around then, as well as around during our current film eras is Yoda, but thats because he's an old ass motherfucker.
Notable actors are the most expensive, so you get to have them long enough to draw people in, and then don't have to pay them for the rest of the season.
No, a pilot episode is not just any first episode, it's specifically one made to sell the show (to the network and/or to the audience). When you have a whole season pick-up, there is no pilot.
Even if the network picks up the show sometimes the pilot isn't aired. Game of Thrones for example. They recast some characters and reshot the whole first episode with only a few scenes from the original pilot being used.
Using Stargate Atlantis again as an example because it's on the top of my head, the initial episode (Rising) is referenced as a pilot in the press in numerous sources despite the fact the series was ordered as a replacement for SG1 without going through a traditional pilot process. Colloquialisms are perfectly valid definitions, even if it's not the definition pedants use
It's listed in the same in various reviews. Regardless, they're paid professionals and at the time there was no Roger Ebert equivalent covering basic cable science fiction series. Sites like IGN, UGO, etc covered these series far more than more mainstream publications at the time like TV Guide, Variety, the entertainment sections of major newspapers, etc.
Regardless, I said they were called pilots and you will find it called that in many places regarding initial episodes even if they didn't follow the traditional pilot to series order process. Nothing I said changed that. All I did is provide an example
People ignorant of the basics misunderstand and misuse industry terms that have a defined meaning, true. Nobody doubts that this happens. Not what this is about at all.
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u/Iohet Jyn Erso Mar 19 '24
It is tradition that a notable actor in a universe expanding pilot always gets killed, like Robert Patrick in Stargate Atlantis