The “Star Wars” franchise will enter new territory by the end of the year with the release of a new series of novels and books called “The High Republic,” and now we know what to expect.
- “The High Republic” is a multiplatform “Star Wars” project that will tell the story of the New Republic about 200 years before the prequel trilogy, focusing on the Jedi Knights during their prime.
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Charles Soule — the writer of the kick-off book “Light of the Jedi” — talked about the origins of the project and what to expect from the story in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
On the origins of the story:
- “We had a lot of ideas on the table, and ended up settling on the ‘High Republic’ era in part because it allowed us our own corner of the galaxy, where we could use established continuity to some degree if we needed or wanted to, but could also do entirely new things. The elements of the story include bits from literally everyone’s pitches, which is a good thing — from characters to vehicles to creatures, we all were able to contribute our own ideas.”
On lightsaber action:
- “‘Light of the Jedi’ has plenty of lightsaber action, but that’s not the only way to solve problems, and you don’t need the Force to be a good person.”
On the series’ villains:
- “We haven’t talked about the Nihil — the main villains of the piece, who are a group of anarchic marauders with some unique abilities that make them very powerful and very dangerous in this era. I wanted to paint them as truly frightening — the villains we’re used to seeing in ‘Star Wars’ at least have some sort of loyalty to an ideology or code … the Nihil do not, except perhaps to do whatever they want whenever they want, and to destroy anyone or anything that opposes that goal. They have a deep and detailed history that will be explored throughout the initiative — the Nihil and what they get up to is one of the coolest parts of the whole thing.”