The Star Wars saga was just released on digital HD for the first time in April, but it hasn't been available through any subscription streaming services. All of that may be about to change.
Speculation arose on Reddit and the streaming website Exstreamist Tuesday that the first six films of the Star Wars saga could be making their way to Netflix. The landing pages for the films are currently live on Netflix's site, but they don't include a way to view the actual films — just the basic movie information, such as each film's synopsis, stars and user reviews.
These are the Star Wars films whose landing pages are currently live:
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The landing page for the fourth film in the saga, A New Hope, does not seem to have been found yet.
As Decider points out, fans have also posted screen grabs reportedly showing live landing pages for other George Lucas films, including 1971's THX 1138 and 1973's American Graffiti.
@MakingStarWars maybe the whole catalog, actually pic.twitter.com/BwEvzqFrIQ
— Heath (@heathdwilliams) September 16, 2015
Though many speculated that these landing pages signaled the impending arrival of the Star Wars saga and possibly even all Lucasfilm titles to Netflix Instant Streaming, it may in fact be a trap. Decider received a comment on the rumor from Netflix and wrote:
"We reached out to Netflix earlier to see if Star Wars is, in fact, coming to the service and a spokesperson has responded that Netflix 'pages' workers 'are taking screen grabs from our DVD catalog and aren’t new. We don’t have any news on the streaming front.'"
So the fact that these landing pages exist could be old news and mean absolutely nothing at the end of the day. Still, other recent developments for Netflix make you wonder if there really is something more here. Netflix recently ended its partnership with Epix, but that's okay because it'll probably have some more heavy-hitters coming to the streaming platform next year.
Part of the deal Netflix inked with Disney in 2012 will kick in beginning in 2016, giving the streaming platform exclusive television rights for all original Disney movies released until the end of 2018. And in case you're keeping track, that would include the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which opens in theaters December 18, since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. That also seems like an appropriate time to add all of the already-released films in the Star Wars saga to Netflix, don't you think?
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