Franchise StudiesInteractive ActivityMedia

Classroom Activity: Mapping the Ecosystem of a Media Franchise — From Fan Reaction to Studio Strategy (Star Wars Case)

UUnknown

2026-02-15

9 min read

Turn the 2026 Star Wars slate controversy into a hands-on classroom mapping exercise that teaches stakeholder analysis, fan research, and studio strategy.

Hook: Turn confusion about fandom drama into a structured class investigation

Students and teachers often face the same classroom pain: overwhelmed by scattered opinion pieces, social-media noise, and conflicting narratives, it's hard to turn a high-profile entertainment controversy into a clear learning exercise. This mapping activity transforms the messy debate around the new Star Wars slate (the early-2026 Filoni era shakeup after Kathleen Kennedy's departure) into a reproducible, skills-focused case study that teaches research, stakeholder analysis, and media strategy.

Why this matters in 2026 — context and trends

Late 2025 and early 2026 marked several industry inflection points relevant to media-studies classrooms: major studio leadership changes, revived theatrical strategies post-streaming recalibration, and rapid expansion of AI-driven fan content. In January 2026 Lucasfilm underwent a high-profile leadership shift as Dave Filoni took creative co-leadership following Kathleen Kennedy’s exit. The slate he proposed — a mix of franchise-legacy projects and riskier new titles — produced intense fan reaction and industry commentary, illustrating how creative direction, corporate strategy, and fan communities quickly collide.

Use this activity to teach students how to map that collision: who holds power, who shapes narratives, what data matters, and how studios respond under pressure.

Learning goals (what students will be able to do)

Identify core and peripheral stakeholders in a media franchise controversy.
Map relationships, power flows, and influence vectors between fans, creators, and corporate entities.
Analyze fan community responses using qualitative and quantitative indicators (sentiment, engagement, narrative frames).
Recommend strategic studio responses that account for creative integrity, brand equity, and business constraints.
Communicate findings visually and in policy-style briefs suitable for class presentations or portfolio work.

Overview of the exercise

This is a 2–3 week unit for undergraduate or high-school media-studies courses. Students work in small groups (3–5), create stakeholder maps, perform mixed-methods analysis, and present a strategy brief. The case focus: the January 2026 Star Wars slate announcement and subsequent fan/industry reaction.

Module breakdown (recommended)

Week 1 — Research & stakeholder identification
Week 2 — Mapping & data analysis
Week 3 — Strategy brief & presentation

Step-by-step classroom activity

1. Frame the controversy (30–45 minutes)

Begin with a concise timeline of events (official slate announcement, leadership change, early critical takes, fan spikes). Provide primary sources (press releases, Filoni interviews, Disney investor comments) and a selection of fan artifacts (Reddit threads, Twitter/X threads, TikTok reactions, fan-site op-eds). Ask groups to produce a one-paragraph summary that answers: What happened, who announced it, and what immediate reactions emerged?

2. Stakeholder identification (45–60 minutes)

Have students list stakeholders across categories. Use this starter taxonomy:

Corporate: Disney executives, Lucasfilm leadership, investors, licensing & merch teams
Creators: Dave Filoni, directors, writers, showrunners, cast
Fans: subgroups (purists/continuity-focused, new fans, nostalgia seekers, transmedia fans who follow TV/comics), fan creators (fanfic, fan art), convention organizers
Media & critics: trade press, entertainment outlets, review aggregators
Platform partners: Disney+, theaters, streaming gatekeepers, social platforms
Commercial partners: toy/licensing, retailers, international distributors
Regulatory/economic: box-office markets, advertising partners, market analysts

Encourage specificity: identify named actors (e.g., Dave Filoni, Lynwen Brennan) and communities (r/StarWars, TheCantina subreddit, Star Wars Celebration organizers).

3. Build the visual stakeholder map (2–3 hours)

Tools: Miro and Kumu, Lucidchart, Gephi (for network analysis), or large physical whiteboards. Each node should include: stakeholder name, interest/goal, relative influence (1–5), and primary communication channels.

Mapping conventions to use:

Node size = influence/power
Color = stakeholder type (corporate, fan, media, creator)
Line weight = strength of relationship (formal contractual ties vs. ad-hoc public engagement)
Arrows = direction of influence or information flow

Example nodes and connections for the Star Wars case:

Lucasfilm execs → Filoni (creative mandate)
Filoni ↔ Fan communities (indirect: creative signals; direct: social engagement/interviews)
Disney Investors → Lucasfilm (financial pressure)
Fan creators → Social platforms (content distribution, trending)
Media outlets → Public perception (reviews, op-eds)

4. Data collection & triangulation (1–2 sessions)

Assign each group a set of quantitative and qualitative data to collect. Practical, classroom-ready methods:

Social sampling: collect top 50 posts on Twitter/X and Reddit threads in the 72 hours after the announcement; label sentiment and themes.
Engagement metrics: likes, retweets/shares, comment counts, upvotes — normalized per platform.
Content analysis: code for frames (concern about quality, nostalgia, leadership change, diversity, franchise fatigue).
Secondary sources: trade coverage (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Forbes), box-office forecasts, Disney earnings calls (for investor context).
Ethnographic snapshots: short interviews (3–5) with peers who self-identify as Star Wars fans vs casual viewers.

Teach basic ethics: anonymize interview data, respect platform terms, and avoid scraping at scale without permissions.

5. Analysis: Translate map into arguments (2–3 hours)

Ask students to identify 3–5 strategic tensions revealed by the map. Examples:

Tension between creative leadership priorities (Filoni’s continuity-forward approach) and investor demand for broad-market box-office hits.
Conflict between legacy-fan expectations and attempts to attract new viewers through different tonal choices.
Platform tension: prioritizing Disney+ serialized storytelling vs returning to theatrical tentpoles.

Students should support each tension with evidence from their data (sentiment percentages, representative quotes, media coverage trends).

6. Strategy brief & classroom presentation (2 sessions)

Each group produces a 2–3 page brief for a hypothetical Lucasfilm strategy team (or for a fan-community mediation council). The brief must include:

Executive summary (one paragraph)
Stakeholder map snapshot
Key findings with data citations
Two alternative strategic recommendations (short-term and long-term)
Risks and mitigation
Metrics to track post-implementation

Presentation: 8–10 minutes plus 5 minutes Q&A. Encourage constructive critique and cross-group peer review.

Grading rubric and deliverables

Use a simple rubric to evaluate research depth, analytical rigor, clarity of map, creativity of strategic recommendations, and presentation. Example weighting:

Research & data collection — 30%
Stakeholder map clarity & accuracy — 20%
Quality of analysis (evidence-based insights) — 25%
Strategic recommendations & feasibility — 15%
Presentation & teamwork — 10%

Sample strategic recommendations (model answers)

Recommendation A — Short term (damage control & signal alignment): Release a clear, transparent creative roadmap and an official Q&A with Filoni and Lucasfilm leadership, emphasizing continuity rationale and acknowledging fan concerns. Pair this with curated behind-the-scenes content on Disney+ to show creative care. Measure success via sentiment shift in top communities and press tonality within 30 days.

Recommendation B — Long term (structural trust-building): Establish a formal fan advisory committee and expand community-driven content pathways (fan contests, sanctioned continuity clarifications). Operationalize by creating a cross-functional Lucasfilm-Community liaison role and quarterly town-hall livestreams. Metrics: community engagement trends, subscription retention on Disney+, and merchandise pre-order growth.

Teaching tips and common pitfalls

Avoid partisan debate traps: frame the activity as analysis, not fandom loyalty tests.
Check data biases: Reddit and Twitter/X represent vocal minorities; triangulate with broader indicators (search trends, YouTube views, box-office forecasts).
Be explicit about ethical boundaries when collecting social data; favor lightweight methods suitable for classroom research.
Encourage students to separate emotional reaction from empirical claims; teach them to label assertions vs evidence.

Tools and resources (2026 update)

Recommended visualization and analysis tools in 2026 include:

Miro and Kumu for collaborative mapping and storytelling.
Gephi and Cytoscape for network visualizations when you have relational data.
Brandwatch and Talkwalker (paid) or CrowdTangle (for public Facebook/Instagram trends) for social listening; for classroom budgets, use Google Trends, Twitter/X advanced search, and Reddit’s public endpoints responsibly.
AI-assisted transcription (2026-optimized models) to speed up interview coding — but always verify AI output manually to avoid hallucination errors.

Case study snapshots: What the data often reveals

From similar franchise controversies in late 2025–2026, students typically find these recurring patterns:

Rapid sentiment polarization within 72 hours; high-engagement posts skew negative but don't represent overall viewer intent.
Media narratives can amplify niche fan outrage into mainstream headlines; this is often driven by a small number of influential creators or trade columnists.
Merch and licensing stakeholders often react slower but their revenue signals (pre-orders, retailer asks) provide grounded measures of brand health.

Applying insights to other franchises — transferability

This mapping exercise scales to other franchises (Marvel, Pokémon, Harry Potter) and formats (TV vs film vs gaming). The core competencies—stakeholder identification, mixed-methods evidence gathering, strategy translation—are universally useful for students aiming for careers in media analysis, PR, content strategy, or studio operations.

Advanced extension for upper-level courses

For deeper analysis, add one or more of the following:

A network analysis paper using Gephi to quantify centrality of actors in the online debate.
A financial impact model linking sentiment swings to short-term box-office or streaming retention scenarios.
A policy memo debating the ethics of studio moderation of fan speech and platform partnerships in 2026’s regulatory landscape.

Evidence & citations (how to support claims)

When students make claims, require them to cite primary or high-quality secondary sources. For the 2026 Star Wars slate example useful sources include:

Official Lucasfilm/Disney press releases and leadership statements.
Industry reporting from trade outlets (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Forbes) for leadership changes and slate descriptions.
Platform-sourced activity: Reddit threads, Twitter/X trends, TikTok hashtags (use responsibly).
Disney investor materials and earnings calls to understand fiscal constraints and priorities.

"Use primary materials and triangulate: a viral tweet is not a trend unless it shows sustained engagement or broader market reaction." — Suggested faculty note

Actionable takeaways for educators

Provide structured scaffolding: a template stakeholder map and a data-collection checklist saves time and improves consistency across groups.
Prioritize ethical data practices: short, consented interviews and public-post sampling only.
Assess process as well as product: grade research rigor and teamwork to mirror real-world studio work.
Use current events (like the 2026 Filoni-era slate) to teach transferable analysis skills, not to rehearse gossip.

Final reflection and synthesis

This exercise teaches students to move from reactive commentary to strategic insight. The 2026 Star Wars slate controversy is rich pedagogically because it includes clear leadership change, heated fan response, and competing corporate incentives — all ingredients for a real-world stakeholder mapping exercise.

Students who complete this unit gain practical experience in visualization, evidence-based argumentation, and policy recommendation — skills directly applicable to careers in media research, communications strategy, and content development.

Call to action

Ready to run this unit in your class? Download the ready-made stakeholder map template, data-collection checklist, and grading rubric from our instructor pack (adapt for your LMS). Run the activity, publish the best group briefs to your class blog, and tag us with your findings — we’ll feature outstanding student work and provide feedback.

Turn the noise of fandom into a teachable moment: map it, measure it, and recommend a strategy that balances creative direction with stakeholder realities.

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