- "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field, created by all living things…"
- ―The quote originally used to introduce the project at Celebration Chicago
Star Wars: The High Republic, first announced as Project Luminous, is an upcoming multimedia project being worked on by Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel José Older, and Justina Ireland, which spans both comics and books to tell one cohesive story set in the High Republic Era, two centuries prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.[1] It is set to be released in 2021.[4] Details about the project were revealed at a press event on February 24, 2020,[6] prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Development
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The idea of Project Luminous came from Lucasfilm Publishing's creative director, Michael Siglain, who individually approached each author in the summer of 2018 about getting to work on what he then called the All-Star Initiative. To Cavan Scott, Siglain revealed the project over breakfast, while both were at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, but he didn't say who else would be working on Luminous yet.[7]
Ireland, Gray, Soule, Older, and Scott at Skywalker Ranch
A few months later, in September of 2018, all five of the authors who had signed on for Luminous were taken to Skywalker Ranch in California, where they began to flesh out the story beyond the project parameters.[8] They were also joined by the Lucasfilm Publishing editorial team and Lucasfilm Story Group. They stayed for a few days, spending most of their time discussing the project, but they also got to see a 4K screening of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. They then went to Skywalker Ranch one more time in March of 2019[1] and saw a 4K cut of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.[7]
Project Luminous was announced one month later, at the Star Wars Celebration Chicago Lucasfilm Publishing: Writers Roundtable, Monday April 15, 2019.[1]
The High Republic concept art by Phil Noto
Project Luminous was revealed on February 24, 2020.[5] In an announcement trailer, Project Luminous's name was revealed as being Star Wars: The High Republic. James Waugh, Lucasfilm's VP for Franchise Content and Strategy, explained that, with the end of the Skywalker saga looming with the release of Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, the publishing branch of the company brought in some of the authors who had worked on previous tie-in materials and allow them the creative freedom to fill-in the gaps with Star Wars stories beyond the reach of the films and the Skywalkers. Pablo Hidalgo, of the Lucasfilm Story Group who was involved in the Project Luminous writers' room, described the early process as giving the writers a blank slate and allowing them to choose what they wanted to write about and when. Eventually, the idea came from one of Obi-Wan Kenobi's earliest lines about the Jedi in A New Hope, about the Jedi being "the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic." Michael Siglain also explained that the story truly began to come together with the question "What scares the Jedi?"[3]
ForeshadowingEdit
The High Republic Era was first mentioned in the April 30, 2019 audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott.[9] It was first identified as the High Republic Era in the January 8, 2020 comic issue The Rise of Kylo Ren 2 by Charles Soule.[10]
Also mentioned in Dooku: Jedi Lost is Jedi Master Trennis, who was one of the Lost Twenty who left the Jedi Order.[9] Keeve Trennis will be a Jedi character in The High Republic comic series, although they have not been explicitly confirmed as the same person.[11]
Nihil raiders first received a mention in the comic story "The Lost Stories, Part 1", written by Scott and published in Star Wars Adventures 30 by IDW Publishing[12] on January 29, 2020.[13]
Starlight Beacon was indirectly mentioned in the comic Star Wars 2, written by Charles Soule and was also published by Marvel Comics[14] on January 29, 2020,[15] and its name was given in the project's official reveal on February 24, 2020.[16]
A female Jedi seen in a holocron in The Rise of Kylo Ren 3, a comic written by Soule and illustrated by Will Sliney[17] and released on February 12, 2020,[15] was confirmed by Soule to be Avar Kriss, a character in The High Republic: Light of the Jedi.[18]
MediaEdit
NovelsEdit
- The High Republic: Light of the Jedi[19]
- The High Republic: A Test of Courage[5]
- The High Republic: Into the Dark[5]
Comic booksEdit
BibliographyEdit
- Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019 Live Stream - Day 4| The Star Wars Show LIVE! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel
- NYCC 2019: 'Project Luminous' Details and More Revealed at the Lucasfilm Publishing Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Comes Home, the Child Lands at New York Toy Fair, and More! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel
- Lucasfilm to Launch Star Wars: The High Republic Publishing Campaign in 2020 on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: The High Republic | Announcement Trailer on the official Star Wars YouTube channel
- 5 Things We Learned About Star Wars: The High Republic on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: The High Republic Revealed, Plus The Child Takes Over New York Toy Fair on the official Star Wars YouTube channel
- 'Nothing Like This Has Ever Been Done Before': A Roundtable Discussion with the Creators of Star Wars: The High Republic on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Inside Star Wars: The High Republic: Meet the Jedi Knights and Masters on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: The High Republic Characters Revealed, Your Cute Pets, and more! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel
- Star Wars: The High Republic Sees Revised Release Dates on StarWars.com (backup link)
