“Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.”
HUZZAH. Fandom knows Andy Serkis from the Lord of the Rings films, playing Gollum, while Domhnall Gleeson played Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Oscar Davis starred in the film Inside Llewyn Davis, while Adam Driver is best known for his role in the HBO series Girls.
Also: MAX VON FRICKIN SYDOW? Wow, okay. On a diversity note, we’ve got two POCs in the main cast…but only one girl. Oh well, at least it’s some progress!
Finally, a fangirl note from the author of this post: JEDI MASTER LUKE SKYWALKER RIDES AGAIN!
Now, let the speculation of who they’re all playing begin.
For the second time ever, it’s an emergency episode of Tosche Station Radio.
You’ve heard the news. The Expanded Universe is changing and Star Wars literature will be flying under a new banner moving forward. Abandoning the usual format for a roundtable, the hosts are joined by Bria to break down the news of the day and offer their reaction, what this all means moving forward, and what they think of the four brand new novels announced.
Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.
The thing with endings is that they create a multitude of feelings.
And every last one of those feelings are valid.
As you sit back and watch the hurricane of tweets, Facebook messages, and message board posts unfold, you can see that the reactions are all over the place. Some folks are excited at the prospect of new Star Wars novels that are a greater part of the story than ever before. Others are angry that the stories they’ve held near and dear for so long are no longer as closely tied to that tapestry anymore. There’s happiness, there’s sadness. All of this happens when something comes to an end.
It’s easy to look at those who are upset and sad about the end of the Expanded Universe as we know it and be confused over their feelings and reactions. Why would you be upset when there’s so much more new Star Wars coming? For most of those people, they are happy about new Star Wars content. Simultaneously, today was the conclusion of a long, ongoing story. Just like the finale of a beloved film or television show can create sadness, so too can the end of an era in Star Wars publishing.
Endings can be a sad thing. For some, the sting will linger for a while. The Expanded Universe was their Star Wars. They were the stories and characters that resonated with them most. Adventures seared into their memories. While those adventures still sit in books on bookshelves to be recalled and to look back upon, there’s a hint of melancholy that those tales won’t be added to and grown again. The written saga that many grew up with and spent so many years immersed in has drawn to a close.
But under that sadness is growing excitement. Excitement that this new era brings new and familiar scribes to pen new stories about characters that have long deserved their own books. These scribes have a blank canvas and are armed with the themes and lessons learned from the Expanded Universe of old. They have the ability to even lift elements from that old EU and place it into the new literature. This new era promises a unified vision for storytelling across all mediums that before fans could have only dreamed of.
As time marches on towards that new era, that excitement grows. The sting of an ending gives way to the hope for future greatness. For new adventures with new faces. Star Wars, that universe we love so much, has a new lease on life and a host of new possibilities. No longer are these novels limited to the niche sphere it once occupied. More than ever, this literature will be able to craft and shape the franchise.
These fans know that they should be excited for new Star Wars. Deep down, many of them are. But you don’t have to tell them that they shouldn’t be sad. They have the right to feel that way, just give them time. Slowly but surely, that melancholy they feel will give way and they begin looking forward once more to a new tome chronicling the stories of that Galaxy Far, Far Away.
It happened. The news broke today that the existing Expanded Universe would be shifted into a ‘Legends’ label and all books from here on out would be a part of the new overarching cohesive canon. I think it’s fair to say that we all know the fandom went a little crazy from the news even though, to be honest, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Let’s get a few things out of the way first. One, no one should take this as an opportunity to gloat. That’s tacky and tasteless and if you do so, you are a disservice to the fandom. Two, no one will ever be able to take these books from you nor the chance for you to introduce people to your favorites. Del Rey will continue to publish them under this new Legends banner. Three, suggesting that those involved in the decision hate the Expanded Universe is just false and I invite you to watch the video they put together if you think they do.
This moment was coming, folks. We’ve all been talking about the probability of it for almost as long as we’ve known about the Sequel Trilogy. And to be honest, I think that those of us who have been quietly mentally preparing for it are handling the news a little better than those who didn’t. I’d also like to take the time to note there that I am not immune to the completely losing my mind just a little and spinning around as a whirlwind of questions about just what all of this means in the long run go through my mind. So apologies if anything in this piece seems rambling or a bit poorly phrased at times.
I kind of feel like Del Rey/Lucasbooks are sitting together in a room somewhere, steepling their fingers, and saying, “You wanted news? Okay, we’ll give you news.”
So after today’s official announcement about the status of the Expanded Universe, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Random House have announced a relaunch of the Star Wars adult fiction line. From the press release:
Following today’s announcement of Lucasfilm’s new unified storytelling approach, Disney Publishing Worldwide is proud to announce their first step into that larger world, beginning with Del Rey Books. The publishing program will feature new adult fiction novels set in the beloved galaxy far, far away, and will be closely connected to the cinematic entertainment currently in development at Lucasfilm.
Star Wars novels consistently rank on the New York Times Bestseller lists — from the very first tie-in novel, an adaptation ofStar Wars: A New Hope released by Del Rey in 1976, to the recently published Star Wars:Kenobi – and dozens of titles in between. With over 75 million copies sold worldwide, these books have captured the imaginations and creativity of authors who have enriched the Star Wars experience for fans around the globe.
Going forward, Lucasfilm has begun mapping out the narrative future of Star Wars storytelling that will appear on film and television and in other media so that all projects will benefit from real-time collaboration and alignment. The future Star Warsnovels from Disney Publishing Worldwide and Del Rey Books will now be part of the official Star Wars canon as reflected on upcoming TV and movie screens.
“With the establishment of the Lucasfilm Story Group and our even greater focus on unified storytelling, we expect our entire publishing program to be stronger and more meaningful than ever before,” said Jeanne Mosure, senior vice president and group publisher, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “We’re extremely excited to kick off this new strategy with Del Rey Books.”
The first novel to benefit from this deeper collaboration is Star Wars: A New Dawn, by bestselling author John Jackson Miller. Set prior to the events of the forthcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels, this novel tells the story of how two of the lead characters of the series, Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla, came to cross paths. To tell this important backstory, Miller benefited from contact with series executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman, who together ensured this tale will be part of the Star Wars canon of storytelling going forward. It is scheduled for hardcover and eBook release onSeptember 2, 2014.
“We’re extremely proud of the hundreds of amazing Star Wars books we’ve published at Del Rey,” said Scott Shannon, SVP, Publisher, Del Rey and Digital Content, “And now we’re excited to finally be able to call our upcoming novels true canon—a single, cohesive Star Wars storyline—all while keeping the amazing backlist of Star Wars Legends content in print.”
Following Star Wars: A New Dawn, the all-new Star Wars fiction line will continue with the following 2014/2015 titles:
STAR WARS: TARKIN
James Luceno
11/4/14STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE JEDI
Kevin Hearne
January 2015
STAR WARS: LORDS OF THE SITH
Paul Kemp
March 2015
In years past, the storylines that would appear in print and on screen were developed separately, resulting in an “Expanded Universe” that differed in ways large and small from the filmmaker’s “canon.” These rich stories provide a treasure trove of characters to fall in love with — and deep worlds to explore and will live on in both physical and digital editions, newly-branded as Star Wars Legends.
For more information and for looks at the covers of all four new titles announced above, please visit the Del Rey Star WarsBooks Facebook page at Facebook.com/StarWarsBooks.
For more information on the Star Wars Legends rebranding and Expanded Universe, go to StarWars.com.
Several points of note:
Del Rey’s contract has been renewed.
A Tarkin novel? By Luceno??? Holy crap! It’s not the Dooku or Padme novel I’ve been wanting, but I’ll take it.
The Luke novel by Kevin Hearne is still on the schedule and not part of the “Legends” line. This makes me happy. As does the title. Edit: And it’s in first person!
A Kemp novel? Is this related to the long-discussed Kemp duology?
Keep an eye on the Star Wars Books Facebook page for more cover reveals as the day goes on.
For over 35 years, the Expanded Universe has enriched the Star Wars experience for fans seeking to continue the adventure beyond what is seen on the screen. When he created Star Wars, George Lucas built a universe that sparked the imagination, and inspired others to create. He opened up that universe to be a creative space for other people to tell their own tales. This became the Expanded Universe, or EU, of comics, novels, videogames, and more.
While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.
Now, with an exciting future filled with new cinematic installments of Star Wars, all aspects ofStar Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected. Under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s direction, the company for the first time ever has formed a story group to oversee and coordinate all Star Wars creative development.
“We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon,” said Kennedy. “We’re set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen, and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging. This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before.”
In order to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience, Star Wars Episodes VII-IX will not tell the same story told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe. For example, elements of the EU are included in Star Wars Rebels. The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems are story elements in the new animated series, and all these ideas find their origins in roleplaying game material published in the 1980s.
Demand for past tales of the Expanded Universe will keep them in print, presented under the new Legends banner.
On the screen, the first new canon to appear will be Star Wars Rebels. In print, the first new books to come from this creative collaboration include novels from Del Rey Books. First to be announced, John Jackson Miller is writing a novel that precedes the events of Star Wars Rebels and offers insight into a key character’s backstory, with input directly from executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman.
And this is just the beginning of a creatively aligned program of Star Wars storytelling created by the collaboration of incredibly talented people united by their love of that galaxy far, far away…
As we’ve long suspected, the new films will not be beholden to the Expanded Universe (nor should it be). The EU as it exists now will continue to be sold under the Legends banner, but it seems unlikely that anything will continue to be written in that universe. Projects moving forward will continue to draw inspiration and ideas from the old EU.
The first novel of this “new” Expanded Universe, A New Dawn, will be written by John Jackson Miller. It’ll be set pre-Rebels and, judging from the cover, looks like it will heavily feature Kanan and Hera. Color us excited that JJM is heading off this new endeavor.
Things are changing and changing quickly. Exciting, no?
Nanci and Brian will certainly be discussing these developments on the podcast tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Well what have we here? Del Rey updated the cover image on the Del Rey Star Wars Facebook page to hint at… something.
All we know right now is that the release schedule for the remainder of 2014 and beyond Kevin Hearne’s Luke Skywalker novel is empty. Could this be a new book to fill in the empty space this year? Given the Tatooine sunrise, maybe a Kenobi sequel?
Or could New Dawn signal a reboot is coming? Well, given that Episode VII isn’t out yet, that’s probably jumping the gun. Either way, something is coming.
Awesome Con 2014 lived up to its name with its second annual show and was indeed awesome! Everything about this year’s convention made it feel like a convention that had been around for years instead of just a year. The range of media, literary, and artist guests was incredibly impressive for a second year show. Congratulations DC: I think we finally have a comic con.
Before we get into more about my positive experience with the convention, I did want to touch on a few things. First, I have to offer my utmost respect to Ben Penrod and others involved with running Awesome Con for their willingness to stand up and admit that there were issues with lines and other aspects on the convention this year. Not everyone would be as readily willing to admit that there were a few problems. To be completely honest, if there hadn’t been growing pains for Awesome Con this year, I would’ve been absolutely shocked. In its second year, Awesome Con went from 5000+ attendees to almost quadruple that. That’s a huge leap. There were bound to be problems. So we’re going to go a bit into the feedback portion of the report before I dive into everything that helped make the convention so awesome.
Ania Solo! Still in trouble! (That could be the words for House Solo.) Legacy #14 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman hits comic book store shelves today as they continue to tell the rather excellent story of one Ania Solo.
This planet keeps getting worse all the time. It’s not enough that they’ve crashed landed and Ania’s still being chased by a masked bounty hunter with a light whip. Oh no. Now, this planet has to rain glass. Meanwhile back on Coruscant, Master Val is digging into Ania’s past and manages to find a piece of evidence that exonerates her of the crime people claim she committed. Jao, Sauk, and AG-37 have at least managed to land on the same horrible planet as Ania and found the site of the crashed ship. Now, it’s just a matter of who will find Ania and Ramid first…
We learned some new things about Rebels over the weekend thanks to a panel at WonderCon. First off, Clone Wars composer Kevin Kiner will return to score the new show. Second, Dave Filoni and company reaffirmed that Rebels will have a much more OT feel to it than The Clone Wars did. That means more space battles and dogfights, which brings us to a preview clip of Hera being awesome.
The official site finally put to bed all rumors and announced the cast of Episode VII.
STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE JEDI
Kevin Hearne
January 2015
Awesome Con 2014 lived up to its name with its second annual show and was indeed awesome! Everything about this year’s convention made it feel like a convention that had been around for years instead of just a year. The range of media, literary, and artist guests was incredibly impressive for a second year show. Congratulations DC: I think we finally have a comic con.
Ania Solo! Still in trouble! (That could be the words for House Solo.) Legacy #14 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman hits comic book store shelves today as they continue to tell the rather excellent story of one Ania Solo.