Set 200 years prior to the events of The Phantom Menace, The High Republic features an assortment of Star Wars stories in the form of novels ranging from young adult fiction to comic books that will expand the lore of the Jedi and ultimately enhance the Star Wars universe in ways fans have yet to experience.
Lucasfilm is planning to kick start this new form of storytelling that is said to explore various age demographics of Star Wars fans this summer at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in August. Beginning with The Light of the Jedi, readers will see the Jedi in an era where they are most successful before the dark side ended so many of them at the hands of Darth Vader.
Now, we expect that there will be all sorts of Star Wars sci-fi action and lightsabre-wielding badasses, but the cover of The Light of the Jedi reveals a Wookie using a saber with a crossguard and blue crystal. This is the first time a Wookie is ever mentioned or referenced to having used the Force, meaning that Chewie’s great, great, great, granddad could have been a Jedi alongside Yoda (a geek can dream).
I'm sorry what pic.twitter.com/7YTXnlivO5
— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) February 25, 2020
Two hundred years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, in the era of the glorious High Republic, the noble and wise Jedi Knights must face a frightening threat to themselves, the galaxy, and the Force itself…
You can pre-order The Light of the Jedi now in a hardcover format for roughly $18.00 USD (or on Kindle for about $15.00 USD) with a targeted release of August 25, 2020.
While it was stated in the announcement on the official Star Wars website that the novels of The High Republic aren’t looking to overlap with the films, you shouldn’t expect any appearances from any cinematic characters, aside from possibly Yoda (since he would be like, 700 or so at the time these books take place). And even though these stories are planned to be told and published by various sources in various forms (such as comics under the Marvel label), it wouldn’t be too unreasonable to expect to see references from the books at some point in film.
For now, we just want to wash away the bad taste in our mouths left from the sequel trilogy and dive into a new High Republic book. Just sucks we have to wait six months before we can…
