If you ever doubted the powers of the Machiavellian shadow group pulling the strings at Disney/Marvel/Lucasfilm, now is the time to lay them to rest. Without a single leak, they”ve managed to map at least 20 new books that will lay the foundation for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Entertainment Weekly first broke the news earlier today. Entitled “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the project includes novels on everyone from Princess Leia and Han Solo to Darth Vader and beyond. It will also dive into the original trilogy, retelling the classic tales from the perspective of as yet unannounced secondary characters.
While I initially thought all the novels and comics would be released prior to the December 18, 2015 movie release, the announcement simply states that “At least 20 new books […] will be released this fall to fill the gap between 1983″s Return of the Jedi and this December”s The Force Awakens.” Fans don”t have to know everything before heading out to see Episode VII. With Lucasfilm admitting many of these novels are still in the planning stage, it makes more sense to view this as a long-term project.
Disney/Lucasfilm also confirmed that, like “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels,” these new books will be part of the official lore. Editorial teams ferried ideas back and forth from writers to the Holocron Hub and back, making sure each entry lines up with the others and is peppered with little Easter Eggs for fans.
HitFix Harpy has already seen this plan in action. We first broke the news that ”A New Dawn” by John Jackson Miller confirms stormtroopers are not clones. We also noticed a reference to the infamous new lightsaber in Kevin Hearne”s “Heir to the Jedi.” Today”s news only solidifies that the Expanded Universe is indeed being rolled back out, only this time everything will be in the same timeline.
I”m gonna need more color-coded Post-It notes.