We already know that there is a massive series of canon Star Wars books, comics and other media on the way from Disney/Lucasfilm and their associated corporate pals under the umbrella title Journey To The Force Awakens. One of the first announcements came via Marvel about a comic, and now the franchise’s official site has put out word of the first novel, Aftermath, from publishers Del Rey.
Chuck Wendig is the man tasked with writing the tome, which will look into the events occurring right after Return Of The Jedi. You want more? Here’s more: “The second Death Star has been destroyed. Rumours are flying that the Emperor and his enforcer, Darth Vader, are dead. A new government is forming to replace the Empire. But the galaxy is a big place, and the fallout of this cataclysm will affect different worlds in different ways. Does everyone accept the fall of Imperial rule? Has everyone even heard the life-altering news? What rushes in to fill the vacuum the Empire has left? And who will try to stop them?”
Wendig seems excited to be working on the book, even though he realises the weight of expectation that comes with it. “My earliest — and still one of my best — movie-going experiences as a kid was being a four year-old watching The Empire Strikes Back** **at a drive-in theater with my sister... My jaw dropped and I don’t think I’ve found it, yet. Those movies opened up a world for me, and my love of storytelling comes from them and from the galaxy of smaller, connected stories, too — from the toys to the games to the books. In fact, one of the first novels I ever read was the novelisation of A New Hope. I have a son who will in a few short months be my age when I saw Empire, so to be involved with the Star Wars universe just as the new film is coming out — it feels like not only something akin to kismet, but a great and powerful privilege.”
Like the Marvel title, Star Wars: Aftermath will arrive later this year. September 4, to be exact.