26 November 2025

Renegades’ Star Wars Collaboration Draws a Line at Canon

By newsgame

Destiny 2 is certainly no stranger to crossovers, but never before has it done one to the extent of its upcoming Renegades expansion. In the past, its crossovers have been primarily cosmetic in nature, offering players purchasable or otherwise obtainable ornaments for their Guardians to wear that resembled characters and icons from some of their favorite franchises. However, Destiny 2‘s Renegades expansion is on an entirely different level, featuring a Star Wars crossover that is the size of a mini expansion similar to the game’s most recent first step in that model, The Edge of Fate.

Unfortunately, Destiny 2 has also been no stranger to criticism lately, as The Edge of Fate (which aimed to be a fresh start for the game) failed to live up to many players’ expectations. As a result, the MMO’s player base has been steadily dwindling, leaving the upcoming Renegades expansion responsible for picking up those pieces and putting them back together. In a recent interview with Game Rant, Destiny 2 core game creative director Ben Wommack and assistant game director Robbie Stevens addressed that criticism, as well as what players can expect from Star Wars-inspired Renegades once it releases.

Destiny 2: Renegades Is Still a Destiny Story

Despite not being out yet, Destiny 2‘s Renegades expansion has already stirred up controversy for appearing to take the MMO too far into Star Wars territory. Images of Guardians wielding what look unmistakably like lightsabers and factions dressed in gear that evokes classic Star Wars silhouettes have led some players to wonder whether Bungie has crossed a line this time. The concern hasn’t necessarily been about inspiration, but whether Renegades risks being little more than crossover fan-service meant to make the numbers go up.

Renegades Acknowledges the Line Between Destiny and Star Wars

According to Wommack and Stevens, that line was something the team took very seriously from the beginning. In fact, one of the first things they stressed was that Renegades is not a multiverse story, and it is not bringing Star Wars characters, quotes, or lore into the world of Destiny. Stevens vehemently expressed that much as he went into detail about Renegades’ development:

“This still has to make sense in Destiny, work well in Destiny, and feel like something that could fit and exist within our universe, within our canon. One early decision we made was that we were not going to put Star Wars quotes in the game. It doesn’t make any sense for a Destiny character to say that. We’re not trying to have a multiverse here. We’re not going to have Boba Fett show up. That’s not because we don’t think that those characters are cool. It’s just because, at the end of the day, Renegades is still a Destiny story.”

“Renegades is still a Destiny story” is a big promise, especially for those who might have been concerned that Bungie had crossed a line. Nevertheless, it’s a good sign that the team made preserving the world of Destiny 2 a priority during Renegades’ development.

Destiny 2 Renegades X Wing ship ornament

For example, while the lightsaber inspiration for Destiny 2‘s new Praxic Blade is obvious, the weapon still had to function and behave in ways that make sense for Destiny. During the interview, Wommack described it as taking familiar sci-fi motifs and “putting them through the Destiny lens,” as opposed to putting Destiny through the Star Wars lens. In response to Stevens’ sentiment on that distinction, he then added his own for clarification:

“Where we landed was this very apparent inspiration and even some of that vibe and feel, but all the pieces of Destiny are obviously right there. That’s what made it all work, because we realized that this is true to Destiny, and the Star Wars inspiration is just elevating it in a lot of ways.”

Renegades Is About What Destiny 2 Can Do With Star Wars, Not the Other Way Around

Exactly how Renegades “elevates” the Destiny 2 experience without being mere fan service is the question, and the answer lies in how the collaboration ultimately allowed Bungie to rethink parts of the Destiny universe without abandoning its core identity altogether. Rather than copying Star Wars wholesale, the team used the massive expanse of the beloved IP to stretch Destiny‘s style and tone in ways that still find their roots in its lore.

Destiny 2 Renegades Guardians on mission

To Bungie, that meant exploring ideas they never would have touched before, experimenting with aesthetics that would have felt out of bounds before, and letting the world consider possibilities that might have previously felt impossible. As Wommack explained:

“My favorite parts are the parts of Destiny that we realized we could break open and explore that we never would have before. I look at the factions as the number one part. I said this in the ViDoc, so forgive me for repeating myself, but we would never have had Vex in trench coats playing cards if we didn’t realize that we could break the universe open like that. It would have felt like a complete betrayal of what the Vex are, but with this collaboration, we suddenly have a lot more.”

With that said, Destiny 2‘s Renegades expansion was never about copying Star Wars but about using the DNA of one of the biggest sci-fi franchises to take the MMO that players love to new heights. Perhaps The Edge of Fate has taken Destiny 2 to its breaking point, but according to Stevens and Wommack, this is less of a desperate attempt at reigniting interest in the game and more about finding unique ways to bridge gaps between the familiar and the fresh.

Even so, while Renegades’ Star Wars influence may be the part that catches everyone’s attention first, the real test will be whether these ideas truly do elevate the world players already care about. If Bungie can deliver on that ambition without breaking away from its own foundation, Renegades could be the turning point Destiny 2 has been waiting for. The ideas behind the expansion are promising, and Bungie’s commitment to keeping Destiny at the center of it all seems genuine, but only the finished product can answer the question of whether Renegades can restore confidence in a game that has been trying to find its footing for a long time.