There might not be any new Star Wars movies coming out for the next couple of years, but fans of the saga got some exciting news earlier this year when the Star Wars: The High Republic initiative was announced. The multimedia range of projects – highlighting a hitherto undocumented period of galactic history, featuring all-new characters – was set to get going this fall. However, due to the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Lucasfilm has today revealed that they’ll be delaying the initiative by a few months and it will now kick off in early 2021.
As per the previous plan, The High Republic will be established with a trio of novels aimed at different audiences. First up, Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, an adult novel by Charles Soule, will release on January 5th, 2021. Justina Ireland’s middle-grade novel, Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage, will also release on the same day. A month or so later, young adult novel Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray will debut on February 2nd, 2021.
The initiative also covers comics published by both Marvel and IDW. Details on these have yet to be revealed, but the revised dates for the novels come from a press release posted today on StarWars.com. Here’s the statement that Lucasfilm Publishing creative director Michael Siglain made in a letter shared on the site:
“Give these unprecedented times, we have made the decision to move the launch of Star Wars: The High Republic to January 2021 to ensure that the launch is as good and epic as it deserves to be,” Siglain said. “Now I know that waiting isn’t easy. And I know fans have been excited for this since it was first announced. I’m right there with you. I’ve also been waiting to tell this story for years. And while I still can’t say much about it, I can tell you that our story architects — Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Cavan Scott, and Charles Soule — are continuing to work away on this new era of stories. You’ll hear from them this summer and when you do, be sure to ask them about ‘The Hero of Hetzal,’ ‘the twins,’ the ‘Blade of Bardotta,’ the Starros and San Tekka clans, and the Storms. You’re not going to believe what they’ve got in store for the Jedi and the Republic.”
Star Wars: The High Republic is set in the period 200 years prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. It’ll explore the Jedi Order at their height, long before the Galactic Republic was corrupted by Palpatine. Obviously, though, there wouldn’t be a story if there was no darkness in the galaxy, so this era’s Jedi will come up against the Nihil, a band of cutthroat interplanetary marauders.
Details beyond that remain hazy, but tell us, are you excited for this new storytelling initiative, even though it’s been delayed by a short while? Have your say in the comments below.