Cal Kestis should absolutely escape the bounds of the Star Wars Jedi series, and grace our screens in live-action.

For context, my fellow writer Josh Martinez recently argued that Cal Kestis, protagonist of Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, should stay relegated to the games. He makes exception for tie-in novels, comics, and the like, but draws a hard line at any sort of live-action adaptation of Cal Kestis. Josh worries that bringing Cal to the big screen would oversaturate him, and he would feel like a “shoehorned” cameo only there to provoke a “cheap pop from the audience.” He doesn’t trust Disney to do the young jedi justice.

I respect Josh’s opinion, and he argued his stance admirably, but I heartily disagree. Not only do I think Cal Kestis would thrive in making the jump to live action, but I believe it was the plan all along. 

A Like Likeness

There are many signs that Cal was always destined to transcend his medium. Why else would they cast Hollywood actor Cameron Monaghan as Cal, and model the character nearly one-to-one after him? Truthfully, I thought Monaghan’s performance in Fallen Order was a bit rough (much improved in Survivor), and the game probably would have been better served with a proper industry voice actor.

The choice to pick a Hollywood actor with little voice-acting experience for Cal, and then to model the character to his exact likeness, was almost certainly done to make it easy for Cal to transition from medium to medium without the growing pains that come with casting a new actor. Fresh on my mind, is Ahsoka’s switch from being voiced by Ashley Eckstein in the cartoon Clone Wars and Rebels, to being portrayed by Rosario Dawson in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. The change came with plenty of complaints, and bringing Cal to the big screen bypasses that issue entirely by having the character voiced and modeled after a Hollywood actor, who can simply portray that character. The same way I would expect Norman Reedus to play Sam Porter Bridges, in a live-action adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.

A Small Galaxy After All

Secondly, material from the Jedi games have already made it to the live-action series in spades. The most concrete example comes in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi, in which the titular hero infiltrates the Fortress Inquisitorius to save a young Princess Leia from Vader’s clutches. This facility first appeared not in the high-budget live-action Kenobi, but rather was the stage for Jedi: Fallen Order’s climax, as Cal faces the morally conflicted Trilla, as well as Darth Vader himself. Fortress Inquisitorius was entirely laid out in Fallen Order first, and was comprehensively adapted in Kenobi later. They already have experience recreating environments from the games in live-action, it is only a single step further to bring Cal himself over. 

That is amongst many other references to the Jedi games, such as Boglings being mentioned in The Mandalorian, or the planet Bracca appearing in The Bad Batch. Cal’s Jedi games do not occupy their own independent space the way the Jedi Knight games did so long ago. Rather, much of the worldbuilding done in Cal’s story has been brought into the greater Star Wars fold. The Jedi games have become as impactful a part of the Star Wars canon as any movie or show, and it is clear there is an immense amount of coordination between developer Respawn Entertainment and Disney.

.50 Cal Kestis

Lastly, I disagree with the idea that there is no interesting story to tell with Cal outside of his games, and that Disney isn’t up to the task. Certainly they have had more misses than hits, but we are also fresh off the release of the latest season of the phenomenal Andor. With the right director and writer, there is absolutely a direction they can take Cal’s story that can be as impactful and explorative as the games themselves are. Josh is absolutely correct when he says that much of the joy of the Jedi games comes from how intimately written the characters are. If anything, I think that makes Cal a lot easier to write a live-action role for, compared to a character like Jedi Knight’s Kyle Katarn, who really is a character I don’t believe would translate well to live-action. Well, putting aside the charmingly rough live-action scenes already in his first few games.

In Conclusion

Putting it together, I believe there are three fundamental reasons why Cal Kestis would not only work in a live-action story, but thrive. First is because he was built from the ground up to seamlessly make the transition, by casting Hollywood actor Cameron Monaghan and basing Cal’s model nearly 1:1 on him. Secondly, a ton of worldbuilding created by Respawn for the Jedi games have already made appearances in the various tv shows, and there is clearly a lot of communication going on between the video game and live-action crews, so Cal himself appearing is just one more step in this direction. Lastly, while I can sympathize with the worry that Disney is simply not competent enough to pull it off, there absolutely is a compelling live-action story that can be told about a character as emotionally fleshed-out as Cal Kestis and the rest of the crew of the Mantis. Cal Kestis in live-action isn’t just possible, it makes total sense.

Nevertheless, all this will hinge on the events of the final entry in the trilogy, as Cal needs to survive the that game before he can start making appearances elsewhere. Fingers crossed he hangs out on Tanalorr and stays safe!

What do you think? Do you err on Josh’s side, and believe Cal is best off sticking to games? Or are you with me, and are eager to see Monaghan pick up the lightsaber in live-action? Let us know in the comments below!

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