A Novel Point of View: Star Wars In Books And Beyond
May the Fourth is a date celebrated around the world by Star Wars fans. Echoing the benediction of ‘May the Force be with you’, it serves as an in-joke, a greeting and a publicity stunt all rolled into one.
The Star Wars universe is galactically huge, encompassing almost every form of media you care to mention. Movies, TV shows, animation, video games, books, graphic novels, audio drama, theme parks — you name it, they’ve got it! These days, we are spoilt for choice with new shows, comics, books and films being announced every few months. In the days before the Disney empire though, it was a different kettle of mynocks.
The Star Wars Expanded Universe initially came about through the various novelisations and tie-in novels produced in the 80s and 90s. These built and expanded upon the events of the original trilogy. Popular examples include Timothy Zahn’s best-selling Thrawn trilogy, and the X-Wing; Rogue Squadron series, started by Michael Stackpole.
The popularity of these and other books lead to the lore and characters gaining a life of their own and had fans wondering if they would ever see their favourite novels made into big-screen adaptations.
But the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney in 2012 sparked a change in the approach to the Expanded Universe. The decision was made to consider these beloved works as non-canonical and reclassify them as Star Wars Legends.
So there went any chance of seeing Grand Admiral Thrawn up on the big screen, right? Right? Well… No. Timothy Zahn’s novel Thrawn was released in 2017, albeit with a different backstory. As it was produced after 2014 it was considered canon.
Indeed, Disney seems to be using the Legends back catalogue as a source of material.
The aforementioned Grand Admiral Thrawn received a namecheck in season two of The Mandalorian. We also saw Mando and others wielding the ‘Darksaber’; a powerful artefact featured in The Clone Wars (2008), but previously mentioned in the 1995 novel Darksaber by Kevin J Anderson. I’m fairly sure Dave Filoni is familiar with the Expanded Universe and is itching to bring in various elements.
What other titles from the Legends books will make the transition? I’m personally excited about the upcoming Rogue Squadron movie from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.
While it may feel unfair to the past authors who worked on so many titles and created so much beloved lore, at least Disney is encouraging new storytellers to get involved. And more women and writers of colour are being approached to create material, like Hugo and Nebula award-winning Rebecca Roanhorse with her novel Resistance Reborn, which links the events of The Last Jedi and The Rise Of Skywalker.
Alyssa Wong’s run on the relaunched Marvel comic, Dr Aphra, is winning fans around the world with her roguish anti-hero archaeologist antics. Wong’s incarnation of the title launched May the Fourth, 2020.
The latest, and largest, addition to Star Wars lore is the combined adventures of The High Republic; a collection of books, comics and short stories set 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. Featuring work from Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel Jose Older and Cavan Scott, this look at a previously unseen era promises to be an exciting injection into the already rich Star Wars universe.
It looks like there’ll be plenty for us to read this May the Fourth. How else will you be celebrating?
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If you’re a fantasy or science fiction writer, then check out our open call for submissions. We’re currently looking for short stories for our upcoming anthology Hero, as well as submissions of novels for our 2022 publishing schedule.
