Now that Disney is well and truly ditching the Star Wars Expanded Universe to start with a clean slate, it’s time for the Lucasfilm Story Group to start building again. And its first order of business (well, after working on Episode VII, presumably) will be four books, and we have an exclusive look!
First up is Star Wars: A New Dawn, which serves as a prequel to the upcoming Star Wars: Rebels cartoon. From the press release:
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 on September 2, 2014.
They announced three other books as well, all published by Del Rey:
Tarkin is due out on November 11th, while Heir to the Jedi and Lords of the Sith are set for early 2015. I have to admit, Luke is looking pretty damn suave on his cover. If Mara Jade still exists, Luke’s gonna be getting a little sumpthin’-sumpthin’.
Oh, and speaking of the Expanded Universe: It doesn’t sound like Disney plans on piling them all the pre-existing novels and stuff and setting them on fire. Instead, they’ll be rebranded Star Wars Legends so you can tell them apart from the new canon marching forward.
