New Information About First Novel in New Book Trilogy – Star Wars: Aftermath
As we inch ever closer to December 18th and the premier of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, new information is beginning to come to light concerning the wide variety of TFA-related books that will be published beginning this fall. Follow us past the jump for some news about one of the more exciting stories that await us… Star Wars: Aftermath!
As we reported last week, a plot synopsis for the upcoming “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” novel, Aftermath, surfaced on the Barnes & Noble website:
Journey to The Force Awakens.
The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos.
Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear reign side by side.
And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces of the Empire, a lone Rebel scout uncovers a secret Imperial meeting…
Now, the official Star Wars website expands on this with a new feature article by Lucas Books senior editor Jen Heddle about this much-anticipated new novel, which we now know to have been penned by Chuck Wendig.
The second Death Star has been destroyed. Rumors 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? Those are some of the themes we’ll be exploring in Aftermath, and as a lifelong Star Wars fan, just writing those words gives me chills. I can’t wait for our first canon glimpse into the state of the galaxy after the Battle of Endor.
So far, so good. This basically confirms what we learned from the Barnes & Noble synopsis. But then Heddle continues:
What’s more, Aftermath will be the first book in a trilogy that begins to bridge the Star Wars timeline between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. There is so much unknown between the Battle of Endor and the events of The Force Awakens, and we’re excited to take our first step into that space.
Obviously I wish I could tell you more about the story, but I can’t just yet. What I can reveal is that you will be introduced to a sweeping new cast of characters, along with a fan favorite from the films. And who knows what other familiar faces will pop up along the way? And once you’ve seen The Force Awakens in movie theaters, you may find that certain names and places in Aftermath have a relevance you never knew–so keep your eyes wide open!
So, we now know that Aftermath will be the first novel in a trilogy, that it will contain some names and places that may connect to TFA, either directly or indirectly, and that a “fan favorite from the films” will make an appearance in the book.
We also have confirmation on the author of Aftermath, Campbell Award nominated writer Chuck Wendig. And, in fact, now that the word is officially out, Chuck just began tweeting about Aftermath a short while ago.
OH HEY WHAT IS THIS? Maybe I *am* writing a Star Wars novel after all! *lightsaber sound* http://t.co/nAULAL8WFl pic.twitter.com/M9mNb19xt5
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March 17, 2015
What we might see happening in Aftermath? Will the post-Endor state of the Empire and the Rebellion be what we expect, or might there be some curve balls thrown our way? What characters and environments from TFA will be referenced, and will they be key to TFA or merely tangential to the story? And of course, which “fan favorite” character will we be reunited with?
Let the speculation begin!
For more on Star Wars: Aftermath, including a few words from author Chuck Wendig, read the rest of the article at starwars.com. Aftermath is due to be released on September 4, 2015.
Where has news about TFA been 🙁
That’s a secret.
It’s actually been pretty slow lately as far as TFA news goes.
I like the sounds of this Aftermath book, though!
I’m gonna pre-order my copy 🙂
Only about 4 weeks until Star Wars Celebration. Let’s face it, there’s gonna be some big reveal(s).
I’d typically delete this sort of comment, but since you typed your post respectfully (as opposed to posting it in such a way that’s condescending to the staff), I won’t. The wait is killing us too, you know. (:
On that note, I would say that this *is* directly related to TFA because it’s a lead-in into the movie. But as for news on the movie itself (additional casting news, character names, footage, production stills, and so on), we’ll probably have to wait a few more weeks until Celebration. Maybe bits will leak out a little before the event, but I wouldn’t expect anything too major for at least a month.
Yeah of course, no disrespect, just the suspense for December is killing me
It’s fantastic that the writers here give a bit of a mix of slightly outside TFA star wars news (and I assume the future website name change will reflect that too?), as right now the film is in post production, and as a VFX animator I know how chill this time will be (no set leaks and such with filming done), very quiet apart from the big marketing reveals. So yes in a few weeks we are gonna get a big chunk of posts TFA related I assume 😉
Hey there, ZebroGodilla of The Cantina’s 1030th. I can’t say much, but Celebration Anaheim will be well reported by us, no doubt about it 🙂
its probably gonna be an exciting overflow of cool stuff in a few weeks. If we even just get an extended trailer…woah…
I’m so interested in this…
I like Star Wars.
I hope Wicket is the fan favorite from the films
Get the hell outta here!
boo to you, Wicket’s the guy! haha
sooooo hope he’s in one the next trilogy films 🙂 It’d be awesome.
My guess: C3PO.
lol I say Jah Jah Bink’s, bomb bad general hahaha
Just as I said:
PALPATINE/VADER/DEATHSTAR 2 BEING DESTROYED DOES NOT IN ANY WAY/SHAPE/FORM MEAN THE EMPIRE IS “DEFEATED” ….
Jeeze.
I really hope they dont seal up this book in plastic wrap like they do with magazines in stores. That way I can go into the book store pick up a copy and sneak behind one of the book shelves around the back and see how much I can read before someone spots me and kicks me out.
I get the SW insider, I am pleased they plastic wrap now, they used to de-face them with adhesive bar code or price sticker’s of which were a bitch to remove without damaging the mag..
I used to have piles of magazines shoulder high all over the place. Was a real s**t tip mess.
Then I switched to ebooks on a 64gb flash drive and never looked back. Clutter free.
I’m a book binder where I am able to bind mags into book volumes, emboss titles onto the outer covers etc. not as much clutter lol
I, for one, cannot wait until Imperial forces regroup and put an absolutely MERCILESS end to those disruptors of the public Law & ORDER, the so-called “Republic Forces”. And the Solos need to be made example of for one and all to see first-hand what the result is when you insanely decide you’re gonna doublecross the Emporer ….
So we get this story in book form rather than animated form, while they waste our time with Rebels. Sigh.
Cheer up brother.. 🙂
Reading is good for you.
So is Rebels, but, reading is better for you.
This may be canon but the EU books will always have that special place in my heart. I virtually grew up and grew old with the characters. The time line was almost real time… this would be different, no matter how good.
Decide what canon is for yourself. It’s fiction after all. No one has to obey Disney’s canon to a tee.
I agree. However it’s important to know that all future material will only be tied to the current canon. That being said, my enjoyment of certain “Legends” works is in no way diminished after being declared “non-canon”. I cannot overstate my excitement for this book trilogy. I hope it will be like experiencing Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy all over again (not in story or characters, but in the overall feel of the narrative). This is the trilogy that we should have gotten on film back in the 90’s…but as it’s a little late for that, I am nonetheless glad to experience the story that follows the OT and fills in the gaps between the OT and the ST. I just wonder if the big 3 will even feature in this trilogy. I don’t see them not playing a big role, but it’s interesting that a slew of new characters are mentioned along with “a”(singular) fan favorite. I wonder who this could be?
“But the galaxy is a big place,” – I’ve been trying to tell this to people who think that the Empire would have fallen soon after ROTJ. Because space. -DarthReliops
so big, in fact, that pirates/bounty hunters are still chasing Han demanding money, x-wings have not evolved in 30 years, and luke’s bespin lightsaber randomly falls into the hands of people who happen to recognize it. Some big galaxy.
The F/A-18 Hornet was introduced into service in January 1983, four months before Return of the Jedi was released. 32 years later, the Hornet is still the US Navy’s primary carrier-based fighter. Why anyone has a problem with slightly updated X-Wings still being used after three decades when that’s EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS IN THE REAL WORLD is entirely beyond me.
Ya but fighter pilots are a tint party of the Navy’s budget and we don’t live in a technologically advanced society where thousands of worlds have been colonized for thousands of years and interstellar travel is commonplace.
I love Star Wars but it’s a good thing to keep logic and science out of it. These poetic visual queues are allowable because it’s a fantasy series set in technologically advanced universe.
That’s what I always loved about Star Wars – they more or less keep science and technology out of it.
*cough* *cough* midichlorians *cough* *cough*
Commerce obviously exists in the Star Wars universe. So somebody has to pay for the X-Wings (and TIEs) and other vehicles. And as infamously dramatized by George Lucas in the Prequels, various factions fight over money issues (e.g. taxation) tied to maintaining such armies.
So it would be unlikely that the Rebels would be able to afford to replace all the X-Wings, nor would it be prudent for the Empire to replace all TIEs.
Hey, Star Wars isn’t Star Wars without MY X-WINGS.
You want my money? Bring me the X-Wings!
HECK YEA! I can’t wait to read this!
NEXT!!! The next Death Star shuffles forward miserably.
Check this out! It looks like MARVEL dumped the Star Wars comic artist…
http://www.theforce.net/story/front/Stuart_Immonen_Takes_Over_Marvels_Star_Wars_163171.asp
This is business as usual for Marvel. Check out other books they publish. Same practice for years at DC too.
Deeply happy about this news. I’m sorry but Cassady’s art started to make me nervous. How come #3’s cover got it’s way? Luke is drawn close to an ape, not to mention stormtroopers or other elements.
I am starting to think that Rogue One is set between ANH and ESB, since this is the canon story after ROTJ.
A trilogy of novels won’t cover 30 years of time. They can place the movie anywhere within that time line. Or even take place after the book series to explain things further.
Remember they are using TFA set/props for spin off? The new Xwings are different. Trooper Armour is different. I believe it would be set in TFA era. Prob like a big budget ‘episode’ of ‘the clone wars’ but set in ST galaxy. You know, like the ‘Fives’ story arc but in X-wings
And I kind of get this impression that Disney isn’t interested in looking back with the Star Wars movies. They’ll let the new EU and Rebels be set in the past. They want all the new movies to be set in the present and interwoven together, like the way the Marvel cinemaverse works.
Personally I think Rogue One will be set in the time period before ANH, reason being is that Luke will be missing from the movie!
peace all ..
Rogue is the film counter-part to Aftermath.
Aftermath deals with large issues, Rogue deals with the day-to-day of being a pilot.
I’m sure of it, I can feel it in my nuggets…
It’s a horrible cover. I did have hope that the ‘new’ canon would also include investment in cover art evocative of Star Wars’ Flash Gordon and pulp adventure roots, something featuring characters in action poses – anything exciting. We don’t even know if Luke, Han or Leia are even featured in it by the art alone. A sparse, clinical assembly of massive text dwarfing a relatively small image of Death Star 2 which looks to be discharging red gas isn’t exactly a classic cover.
True, nonetheless it’s a massive improvement over the congested covers of old or the blatant ROTJ character copies from the 1990’s 🙂
Could just be a promo cover. The say there’s a vast array if new characters (that I’m sure they can’t reveal yet), and maybe once the book is actually released the cover will have them in action poses…?
Um who the hell says its the publishment cover? You realize the book ISNT EVEN written yet right? It may be started but thats it.
My guess is this was thrown together for media purposes and the actual book will look much different….
i’m sure, like the score to TFA, it’s largely written. perhaps some i’s need to be dotted and some t’s crossed, but it’s done.
The book would have to be written by now for it to be published in September. It takes months and months AFTER the book has been written for it to actually reach the masses. If the book is not undergoing the final stages of editing right now, I would be very surprised indeed.
“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.”
This really does not imply that the galactic civil war will continue unabated for the next 40 years after Endor. It very much implies a new Republic forming even quicker than it did in the Legends.
call me old-fashioned, but i’d rather not know. i consider this a spoiler, and as such i’d rather read it /after/ seeing the new movie. i don’t want to know that Chewbacca lost his hand a year after the Deathstar or that Han and Leia’s twin kids were abducted by pirates the year afterward, for instance. even seemingly benign information could give away plotpoints i’d rather discover at the cinema.
Rogue one will be set between ROTS and ANH. Vader will be featured 😉
Who is doing Vader’s voice work?
Will Hayden be wearing the suit?
Kane Hodder would be great!
I totally agree with the time period, Luke is not on the scene in this time period, also Fisher’s daughter is perfect in playing the younger Princess Leia.
Perfectly fits, thoughts anyone?
Luke doesn’t have to appear in it at all. Especially since the first person to be involved is Felicity who no doubt is a newer character. The Rebels show is the show that will bridge the gap between the PT and OT sagas. I think it’s time to go beyond ROTJ and fill in that gap. A book trilogy will hardly suffice. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this takes place after 7 but before 8.
I doubt they’ll make another prequel. This will share props and resources from TFA. So expect it to be placed either after 7 or sometime before it.
JEJ will be voicing vader, hence why this was bumped up ahead of the fett spin off, JEJ isn’t getting any younger. Vader is a cash cow and Disney want to capitalise.
What is wrong with you people. This is most likely going to take place between ROTJ and TFA. They don’t need to make prequels when they have a perfectly capable show detailing that time period. Darth Vader is pretty recognizable but they are again already using them in the new show. They need to leave this era alone. I personally like that people think they know what’s going on despite the fact that the script is still being written.
Nothing wrong at all. This is when it’s set. Star destroyer and Imperial sets were broken down and stored at Pinewood to be recycled for this, along with a bunch of other stuff.
P.S. The new flametrooper armour looks awesome….and Akbar’s not bad either. …
hope the “fan favourite”will be Lando and will let us now why he isn’t in the TFA (yet)
cant stop thinking about the sentence “rumoured to be dead”.
Strange paranormal activity reported around sith tombs throughout the galaxy.
Nien numb will be the rebel scout!
it would be cool if the Sullustans and Mon Cals in the new movie were not the same ones from ROTJ
I want to read this, but I also want to go into the film fairly blank. I’ll probably pick it up for the kindle after the movie.
I bet the “fan favorite character” is going to be Wedge Antilles. At least, I hope so. I’m really looking forward to this novel and the two that will follow it!
This will not hold a candle to the Thrawn Trilogy……..
The Thrawn Trilogy was amazing and will always be special to me. Thrawn is IMO the best and most interesting character to come out of the EU. Mara Jade is also a great character in the Thrawn Trilogy (even if later incarnations of her character are watered down and boring at times). The Noghri assassins were really cool as well. The ysalamiri concept (little furry lizards that project anti-force bubbles as a defense mechanism which prohibit force-users within their proximity from connecting with the force)was a little weird and is about the only thing I didn’t care for in these novels, but nonetheless was original. Unfortunately, George’s PT contradicted a lot of this material and some pretty heavy and sometimes far-fetched retcons were needed to marry the two within the SW universe. For instance, the Thrawn trilogy alludes to the fact that the clones were the enemy to the Republic in the war, whereas in the PT, the clones were the soldiers fighting for the republic. A later retcon identified these clones as a bad batch so to speak. Anyways, I look forward to this new trilogy that will improve upon continuity, giving us something more cohesive and solid. However, I’d be lying if I said that a big part of me doesn’t hope that Thrawn will make his way into this trilogy and solidify him into the official SW canon. I just hope Disney doesn’t notice the similarity and pull a stupid stunt like changing Thrawn’s race name to Kree instead of Chiss thus subtly yet annoyingly linking SW to the Marvel Cinematic Universe…Lol. Just saying…
Story between ROTJ and TFA is most tantalizing for the fan. It is shame that time period would not be told by the live action TV or CG animation.
Prune face must be the fan favourite. .
If the author references “lightsabre sound” does that mean that “fan favourite” will be Luke ??
Looking forward to this
I like that tagline “The War is not over”, it is a huge relief. If it were over then we wouldn’t have STAR WARS anymore. Get it?