“Reading is fundamental” – Lucasfilm. Okay, not really, but that’s basically what we found out this week.

That’s right, this week was all about the written word, with news coming from all corners of Lucasfilm’s publishing arm. In addition to not just one, but two excerpts from Rebecca Roanhorse’s upcoming Resistance Reborn, we got a look at the upcoming Star Wars: Allegiance miniseries coming from Marvel, which starts this Wednesday, 10/9. But, while everyone loves a preview, the real headlines came from New York Comic Con.

During Friday’s Lucasfilm Publishing panel, we learned… ok, not much about the super secret Project Luminous, except that we will learn more in January 2020 (right after the Skywalker saga concludes, what a convenient time to launch something new). We also got confirmation, via logos on a graphic, that all arms of Lucasfilm publishing – Del Rey Books, Disney Lucasfilm Press, Marvel, and IDW comics – will be involved in this new chapter in the Star Wars galaxy. From there, though, the real news came quick:

• The official The Rise of Skywalker novelization will arrive on March 3, 2020, written by Rae Carson (who previously wrote Most Wanted and contributed to From A Certain Point of View). The junior novel version will be written by Michael Kogge.
• Christian Blauvelt will continue his work in the galaxy far, far away by writing Use The Force, aimed at teaching children how to be a Jedi (with, hopefully, no risk of lightsaber burns in the process).
• Nine authors will contribute to a middle grade anthology of tales about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, retelling stories from the perspectives of major characters from the animated series. The book will be out on August 25th, 2020.
• George Mann, author of Myths and Fables which came out earlier this year, will return to the mythical and fantastic side of Star Wars with Dark Legends, which, as one would expect from the title, reveals the myths that the galaxy tells about the Dark Side of the Force.
• Marvel’s Star Wars ongoing comic series will officially be relaunched in January with Charles Soule at the helm, picking up right where The Empire Strikes Back leaves off. But that’s not all: Greg Pak will write a new Darth Vader ongoing that covers the same timeline – that series will launch in February.
• Alexander Freed’s Alphabet Squadron trilogy will continue on June 30, 2020 with Shadow Fall, as the ragtag squad of misfits takes on a resurgent Shadow Wing.
• And finally, Tim Zahn’s streak of omitting the truth from Nanci continues, as The Ascendancy Trilogy will launch in May 2020 and act as an origin story for Thrawn before he goes to the Empire. The series will also give us our first look (in canon, anyway) at the inner workings of the Chiss Ascendancy.

So, all in all, a pretty slow week.

Oh, right, we also got a look at a new character from The Rise of Skywalker, and learned details of how to enter to win a trip to the premiere this December. We’re pretty Frik-ing excited (I’m not sorry)!

Strap in, folks – only two more months til December, and between book launches, Disney+, and the leadup to Episode IX, it’s going to be an exciting ride.

HAPPY FALL, EVERYONE! Even if you’re not in a place that has seasons or it’s not feeling like fall yet, just remember we’re one step closer to The Rise of Skywalker and be happy. Onto the news!

First things first! Lucasfilm surprised us all on Friday by announcing that Deborah Chow will direct the Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney+. Her resume has some pretty awesome shows on it, including The Mandalorian, and it’s great to see a woman of color get to play a key behind the scenes role like this. Lucasfilm also announced that Hossein Amini will write the series and that Amini, Chow, and Ewan McGregor will all executive produce alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Tracey Seaward, and John Swartz.

Lots of TRIPLE FORCE FRIDAY *rap airhorn* content! A bunch of our favorites (think Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, & etc.) previewed what will be available this Friday, October 4th (aka Triple Force Friday). The merch will include things from the three BIG scheduled Star Wars drops for the remainder of 2019: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Here’s the press release for the event, and the event itself, which was streamed live on YouTube this past Thursday. There’s also this handy roundup of the highlights from the reveal.

There was a surprise drop this week of Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series – Episode II. I know some of my Book Wars Pod colleagues were PUMPED about this one. I think it’s great that it was a fun mid-week surprise, AND we get more videos of people flailing while they enjoy more (assumedly awesome) immersive content.

In other video game news, a new trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was released this week (during the aforementioned Triple Force Friday preview livestream). It comes as no surprise that the visuals are stunning—here’s to hoping the gameplay and storyline live up to the high bar the trailers have so-far set!

In some Disney crossover with other Disney because everything’s actually just Disney news, Marvel’s Kevin Feige is going to develop some Star Wars content! Looks like it’ll be a film, but we don’t know a ton else, yet; that said, there’s no surprise that Feige is a huge Star Wars nerd AND Lucasfilm is thirsty to get more Star Wars developed for the big screen. Hand, meet glove.

SO! Buckle up for another big week with Triple Force Friday coming. May your hauls be plentiful. Until next time!

It’s a comics heavy Holonet Blast this week! First, the official site released a preview of Age of Resistance: Kylo Ren, which releases on September 25. (Mark Hamill’s birthday!) The issue shows Kylo following in his grandfather’s footsteps on the planet Benathy. In Kylo-adjacent news, Charles Soule talked about his upcoming The Rise of Kylo Ren, the first issue of which will be released on December 4. The rest of the comic drops AFTER The Rise of Skywalker on December 20. Soule confirmed the comic will touch on Kylo’s training with Luke Skywalker, leading up to the night he destroyed the Jedi temple.

The official site also announced a new comic event, Empire Ascendant, which will close out Marvel’s flagship Star Wars series, as well as the ongoing Doctor Aphra, with the Rebels building Echo Base on Hoth. The 56-page comic will be written by Charles Soule, Greg Pak, Simon Spurrier, and Ethan Sacks, with art by Luke Ross, Roland Boschi, and more. The announcement promises to reveal the fate of Aphra, which has several Tosche Station staff members very nervous.

Finally, in non-comics news, Slashfilm revealed the complete list of movies and TV shows coming to Disney + on launch day, thanks to a preview event in the Netherlands. All the Star Wars films except for Solo will available (due to Solo still being on Netflix), as well as The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Resistance.

That’s it for this week’s news. May the Force be with you!