Introduced in the late '90s in the New Jedi Order series, the Yuuzhan Vong presented a terrifying new threat to the Star Wars universe. Formidable conquerors from the Unknown Regions, the Yuuzhan Vong not only viewed pain as a form of meditation but could not be sensed in the Force, making them hard to anticipate and difficult to defeat. They were presented as a shakeup and an alternative villain to the Sith, who, at that point, had been supposedly defeated by the Jedi. But, like everything else in the pre-Disney Expanded Universe canon, they were relegated to Legends status in 2014. However, as Disney slowly sought to reintroduce previous Legends storylines, the Yuuzhan Vong were able to creep back in.
Despite their removal from those canon stories, the Yuuzhan Vong, like many other Legends stories, have returned in officially recognized storylines. From a new alien threat that has many of the Yuuzhan Vong's defining characteristics to an abandoned plan to add them fully back into the canon, traces of this New Jedi Order favorite are everywhere in the new continuity.
The grip of the Yuuzhan Vong legend is strong, and they were almost integrated into canon unquestionably. In 2015 at Celebration Anaheim, Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo revealed at their panel that they had an almost fully formed plan to bring the Yuuzhan Vong into The Clone Wars. Alongside sketches of the Clone Wars character interpretations, they shared details of how their story would have played out.
The planned episode arc would have centered on a Yuuzhan Vong scout ship abducting inhabitants of the galaxy in order to determine the strengths and capabilities of the Galactic Republic and get a deeper understanding of the Jedi themselves. This storyline would have hinted at the Yuuzhan Vong's origins in another galaxy without explicitly diving into a full-fledged backstory. This version of the species, though, would not have been cloaked from the Force, so as to stay closer to franchise creator George Lucas' own explanation of how the Force works.
Since then, there have been no reported attempts to bring back the Yuuzhan Vong into canon fully, but there has been an inspired replacement. In Timothy Zahn's 2018 novel Thrawn: Alliances, another invading race with war tactics similar to the Yuuzhan Vong was introduced: the Grysks. Hailing from the Unknown Regions, their ferocity and single-minded focus on conquering had myth-like qualities that preceded their introduction. As a nomadic race whose homes were found only on spaceships, they chose to overwhelm enemies in battle by sheer number and intensity, similar to the Yuuzhan Vong's strategies. Also, like the Yuuzhan Vong, the Grysks were revealed to have been monitoring the Star Wars galaxy for some time before making their first move into battle. They are also described as being physically similar to the Yuuzhan Vong; tall and humanoid with sloped, tapered foreheads.
Though they were ultimately bested by Thrawn by the end of the novel, their defeat was merely a retreat back to the Unknown Regions, meaning they could still come back at any point. The Yuuzhan Vong presented an ever-present and recurring threat to the galaxy, just as the Grysks do now. With a bloodthirsty mindset and advanced technologies prosing previously unknown challenges, the Grysks are presented as a formidable update to the Yuuzhan Vong legend.
Star Wars Legends may no longer be canon, but that hasn't stopped them from being inspirations. As the Disney-era of Star Wars continues on, it is an exciting prospect to see how and when the fearsome Yuuzhan Vong may return. Like the Sith, their influence can be felt throughout the Star Wars galaxy.
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