We don't really understand most of what's happening in the cosmos. Is there any afterlife? Who knows.
It is my belief that we all have the need to feel special. It is this need that can bring out the best in us, yet the worst in us.
But really, for the most part - doing a prequel is great because you do have room to kind of free this character and how they got to where they are instead of being a slave to exactly what the previous actor did.