Ewok Corner: Why The High Republic is a Big Deal

February 25, 2020 at 1:59 pm | Posted in Opinion, Star Wars | Leave a comment
Tags: the high republic

The High Republic is a big deal, but it has nothing to do with TV or movie possibilities. This is about books and comics. This whole thing began when they mentioned Project Luminous at the last Star Wars Celebration. It was quietly revealed at a publishing panel with very little detail and lots of speculation. We knew who was involved, but we didn’t know what it would be about or how it would be presented. Now the secret project has been revealed to be a publishing incentive that will explore an era they’re calling The High Republic. This is actually really big news, in fact great news…for bookworms and comic lovers. You see, Disney has overlooked us for eight years.

Let’s rewind a bit. Back in 2012, it was announced that Disney would be acquiring Star Wars from George Lucas and they would be making new movies that would continue the Skywalker saga. Most people were super excited at that news. I was one of the few who knew that a part of me was dying. This was the end of the Star Wars books, at least the ones I had grown to love. Bantam and Del Rey spent decades crafting novels in a galaxy far far away with dozens of authors exploring every era of Star Wars. Those books dived into the very origins of the Jedi and ventured past the movies to see what the children of our film heroes would eventually become. But with the Disney changeover, those books became Legends and all exploration of those storylines stopped. Yes those books didn’t disappear. No one confiscated our copies, and most of them are still in print if you want to buy one, but no one was allowed to write any more about those characters or that version of the universe. It was the end.

Now I wasn’t a radical yelling doom and gloom and starting petitions. I was willing to give this new era a chance and see what stories they would come up with. Well it’s been eight years, and we’ve mostly gotten novelizations of the movies and tie-in books for the movies, TV shows and video games. And whether its been a novelization or not, there’s been some good books. But that sense of exploration, of carving ahead into unexplored areas of the galaxy we all fell in love with, has been severely hampered by the films. Let’s not kid ourselves – the movies come first. No director is going to be told they can’t do this great movie idea because someone wrote a book that contradicts it. And because of that, the books have been held back. We’ve been waiting all of these years for Episode VII, XIII, and IX to wrap up so the binders can be taken off and the books can go off and explore again. The High Republic is that chance.

Opening up a new era of Star Wars for exploration, one set 200 years before The Phantom Menace and exploring the Jedi at their height might sound like a great idea for a movie, a television show or a video game, but that’s not the point of this project. This is about books and comics. There will be more movies and TV shows, and they’ll explore some great eras and characters, but the for the book and comic lovers, those fans need a place of their own. A place where the authors and writers can go off to their hearts desire without running into walls of constraint. There will be no movie they have to wait on before they can explore such and such character. There will be no TV show they have to let go first before they can map out their planned storylines. This will be a playground they will have all to themselves. And this is where readers might find that magic they remembered from long ago.

I, for one, am looking forward to The High Republic and the stories they have planned. In fact this is something I’ve been waiting for since the Disney changeover was announced. While there might not be as many bookworms and comic fans as there are movie goers, there is definitely a market there waiting to be tapped. It’s a placed filled with fans who want to see new worlds, new characters, and new villains set in a galaxy they have grown to love. Let’s just hope they don’t ruin the playground by putting a TV show or movie there telling everyone where they can and cannot play.

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.