User:Menkooro/R2-D2

"Lucas said they weren't happy with the way the story was going, so rather than salvaging what had been done, they canned it."

- Terese Nielsen

Write the intro last.

Development
In 1999, Del Rey books and Lucasfilm Ltd. began publishing The New Jedi Order, a multi-authored series of Star Wars novels that told the story of an alien invasion. An extra-galactic species of religious zealots called the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, and were repulsed by the New Republic and New Jedi Order. The series was set to be a chronological storyline covering a five-year span of galactic history, and would see one hardcover novel published every year that chronicled a major event of the war. Additionally, several paperback books would be published throughout each year to add to the story and fill in any gaps. By the end of 2000, two hardcovers and four paperbacks had been published.

Michael Jan Friedman, a veteran author of Star Trek novels, was contracted to write a trilogy of novels in 2001 that would follow Balance Point, the hardcover novel that capped off 2000. Although no announcement of the trilogy appeared on StarWars.com, news began to reach several third-party websites when cover artist Terese Nielsen shared rough cover art of the trilogy's first installment on her website in June 2000. She also revealed that it had been christined the Knightfall Trilogy. Over the next several months, third-party websites and the Random House online catalog revealed the names of the trilogy's individual installments: Jedi Storm, Jedi Fire, and Jedi Blood. In August, an entry on Jedi Storm appeared in Publishers Weekly, revealing that it would feature the scientist Danni Quee and the Jedi Knight Jorallen. Friedman completed writing Jedi Storm at some point in the year.

Cancellation
October arrived and brought with it startling rumors. All entries for Knightfall had been removed from the Random House catalog, and Gregory Keyes, who had previously been slated to pen a single New Jedi Order novel, was listed as writing a followup duology to Balance Point. Confirmation that the trilogy had been cancelled came in November when Nielsen stated on her website that Lucasfilm had been unhappy with the direction of the trilogy and had axed it. She also confirmed the existence of Keyes's duology. Later in the month, StarWars.com officially announced Keyes's Edge of Victory Duology, and Shelly Shapiro of Del Rey released a statement regarding Knightfall cancellation.