New Stories and Storytellers – Star Wars: The High Republic
I am sorry to be a sap. However, I am thrilled to see mainstream media cover Star Wars beyond the clickbait and controversy.
It just makes me feel a little less “fanatic.”
And today, David Betancourt of The Washington Post (!) reported on the newest (oldest) era of Star Wars – The High Republic.
Star Wars in The Washington Post
Betancourt set it up perfectly:
It all started with a vague reference from Obi-Wan Kenobi. “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic,” Obi-Wan explained in 1977’s “Star Wars: A New Hope.” “Before the dark times. Before the Empire.”
However, we’ve not previously seen, heard, or read about this era.
That’s already begun to change explained Betancourt:
Now, that abstract golden age — a time of tranquility but also expansion, hundreds of years before the Skywalker saga — is finally coming into focus. Five writers, all with previous Star Wars books on their résumés, have been tapped to usher in a new era for the franchise by exploring one of the most storied.
And one of the best things about the newest batch of stories is the diversity of the storytellers.
“The franchise has stumbled at times in its quest to become more inclusive,” wrote Betancourt. “The casting of John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran in the sequel trilogy seemed like progress, until their characters were ‘pushed to the side,’ as Boyega put it in a GQ interview, by the end of the third movie. But the High Republic books, much like ‘The Mandalorian’ television series, are putting creative control into the hands of a diverse set of people.”
Of that last note, Daniel José Older told The Post:
“The diversity question is really a question about telling the truth… And the truth is, the world is much more diverse than the one that we’ve been shown on the movie screen and on the bookshelf for a long time. The truth is there are lots of different kinds of people in the world, [and] the way we know Star Wars works, there would be lots of different Jedi too. It makes perfect sense really.”
The entire article is totally worth your time. As is “The High Republic” – I am currently reading Light of the Jedi.