"Master Kenobi, you disappoint me." These words, spoken by Christopher Lee as the Sith lord Count Dooku in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, might be aimed at Ewan McGregor's bearded Jedi master, but they may as well be directed at Disney and Lucasfilm today.
Count Dooku has been an underappreciated Sith legend for too long. It's time for Star Wars to make things right and give Darth Tyranus (aka, Count Dooku of Serenno) the Disney+ spinoff series he deserves.
Count Dooku was introduced in Attack of the Clones as Darth Maul's replacement with a much more interesting backstory. He was Yoda's former Padawan who turned to the Dark side after becoming disillusioned with the Jedi. (He's referred to as an "idealist" by his enemies.)
Count Dooku kicking butt, moments before his death.
Dooku becomes the apprentice to Darth Sidious but never goes full-evil, even revealing to Obi-Wan that a secret Sith is manipulating the Senate in Attack of the Clones. In Revenge of the Sith, he's betrayed by his master, who orders Anakin to kill Count Dooku. The look in Christopher Lee's eyes in that moment — a mix of realization, fear, and resignation all at once — might be the best acting in the entire Skywalker Saga.
But The Star Wars prequels underutilized Count Dooku, and sadly, Christopher Lee is longer with us today. So five year's after the actor's death, it's time to consider Dooku's return to the Star Wars galaxy.
I'm not saying we should recast Dooku as he was in the prequels (though Christopher Plummer might be up for the job). I'm saying we need a young Dooku prequel. In other words, a prequel to the prequels.
Young Dooku could explore the character's past and answer some of our biggest questions about him. What was it like being trained by Yoda? How did he fall to the Dark side? How did he come up with that awesome Sith name Darth Tyrannus?
Dooku fights General Grievous in the 'Clone Wars' cartoon.
Beyond the character himself, a Dooku Disney+ spinoff would give us a look at a chapter of Star Wars history we've never seen before (at least, not in a movie). What was life like before the prequels and before Palpatine's plan began clicking into place?
The potential for character cameos is endless, from Qui-Gon Jinn and Mace Windu to Darth Maul and General Grievous. The storytelling possibilities are even more exhilarating.
The Clone Wars finale was great because it overlapped with Revenge of the Sith, giving us another point of view on those events. A Dooku show could do the same for the beginning of the prequels, giving new context and depth to one of the most controversial chapters in Star Wars history.
Welcome to Star Wars Week! To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of Revenge of the Sith (May 19) and the 40-year anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back (May 21), we're talking about our favorite sci-fi franchise for nine days straight.
