Disney/Lucasfilm has unveiled the creation of a new Star Wars universe. Oh, it’s still in a galaxy far, far away, but a new series of books called The High Republic is set even longer ago, specifically 200 years before the events we know from the movies. We’ll see the first of these publications in August.
Phase one of The High Republic debuts in August at the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim convention, and will feature five releases: young adult novel Into the Dark, middle grade novel A Test of Courage, comic book series The High Republic Adventures, another comic book series (this one from Marvel) called simply The High Republic, and finally a novel called The Light of the Jedi.
In 2016, Disney de-canonized the “expanded universe,” the hundreds of novels, comics, and games set in the Star Wars universe, in order to exert more control over the narrative. With the creation of the High Republic series, the universe will expand once again. It will be an “incubator” of sorts: the stories from the High Republic that prove the most popular among Star Wars fans will be the ones ripe for investing a movie budget.