The story of the time long before the fall of democracy and the Galactic Empire will continue to be told as Star Wars: The High Republic moves into a new era. StarWars.com shared some interesting details on what’s to come from the range, learned from today’s panel at Star Wars Celebration.
What’s Happening:
- Phase II is the Age of Exploration… and communication sounds like it’s going to be key. This time we’re going even further back, to 150 years before the start of Phase I. It’s an age of exploration for the galaxy and much of the technology we know and love isn’t the same.
- “This is a point in time where this area of space is very much unknown to the Republic and not everything is necessarily tied together as closely,” said author Claudia Gray. The team thought a lot about how the tech would be different. Gray said, “Tech is not good without infrastructure.” Communication in this era is like the pony express but with droids. “We’ve broken the entire galactic communication system,” Cavan Scott said. “And those droids are really important.”
- Each of the authors got the chance to debut concept art of characters ranging from the Chancellors Greylark and Mollo to the Pathfinder teams which are comprised of the Jedi and the Republic working together.
- We even got to see some unconventional concept artwork of the “Dank Graks” by Daniel José Older himself. We’ll meet them in the upcoming Dark Horse comics and, as Older puts it, “They look funny but they’re really mean.”
- A few sneak peeks of upcoming covers for titles in The High Republic range were previewed, including the not-yet final cover for Convergence by Zoriada Cordova, as well as the cover for Quest of the Hidden Cityby George Mann.
- Additionally, comic fans also got a first look at upcoming titles including the Dark Horse miniseries The Nameless Terror by George Mann, with art by Eduardo Mello and Ornella Savarese, as well as the first issue of the new run of Marvel’s Star Wars: The High Republic by Cavan Scott, with art by Ario Anindito.
- Even more novels are on the way, like the adult novel Cataclysm by Lydia Kang, the middle grade novel Quest for Planet X by Tessa Gratton, and the young adult novel Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott.
- We’re also getting another audio original, The Battle of Jedha by George Mann, coming January 2023 with the script version releasing a month later.
- The Porter Engle backstory is coming, with the reveal of the cover of The High Republic: The Blade, which will be written by Charles Soule with art by Marco Castiello. Phase I fans will recall Porter Engle as the legendary Jedi who’s happy and cooks…but that’s not always who he was.
- “This story is the most epic thing I’ve ever written,” said Soule. “It's a tragedy but a really cool one.”
- This Marvel comic dives into Porter’s backstory and explores why he is the way he is when we meet him in Phase I. Comic fans can also expect to see a fascinating link between one of Soule’s previous Star Wars comics, Darth Vader, in the form of the origin of the Barash Vow.
- Get excited for Path of Deceit. We’ve already seen the cover for the forthcoming novel by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland, but it’s hard not to get even more excited for the lead off novel for Phase II when Michael Siglain declared it “one of the best novels we have ever made.”
- In the panel conversation, the team shared how creating The High Republic story has been just as important to them as it was to the fans.
- “I know for myself, this really saved me,” said Older as he talked about the process of creating The High Republic over the last few years.
- The High Republic is “for everybody.” It has given a chance for people from all walks of life to see themselves reflected within the galaxy; something that has certainly resonated with many fans.
- The upcoming The Art of the High Republic delves into the making of the entire project. Special guest Kristin Baver joined the stage to debut not only the cover of her forthcoming book, but also several pieces of concept art from within its pages.
- “The process was interviewing everyone on this stage…and really trying to get the behind-the-scenes story of how this initiative came to be,” said Baver. The concept art shown included Yoda, Marchion Ro, and everyone’s favorite charhound, Ember!
- The book will feature a foreword written by Kathleen Kennedy, the President of Lucasfilm.
Be sure to check out our Star Wars Celebration 2022 tag for all of the exciting announcements from the event!