‘Star Wars: The Essential Legends Collection’ – Eighth Wave of Books Includes ‘The Courtship of Princess Leia’
The eighth set of Star Wars: The Essential Legends Collection books includes the likes of The Courtship of Princess Leia, which first introduced the Nightsisters into Star Wars lore before they were integrated into canon several years later in The Clone Wars.
As discovered by Reddit, four new books from Star Wars Legends are getting rereleases: I, Jedi, Republic Commando: True Colors, The Courtship of Princess Leia, and The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance. The current release date for Wave 8 is set for October 23, 2023. These books are reprints of stories from the Star Wars Legends continuity with new cover art. For those of you who came onto Star Wars from about 2015 onwards, Legends is what was once referred to as the “Star Wars Expanded Universe”, and it comprises material made or actively developed prior to the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012. In 2014, Disney officially confirmed that they would only consider the first six movies of The Skywalker Saga, alongside The Clone Wars and the various projects tied to The Clone Wars Legacy, canonical, in order to give new storytellers creative freedom on new projects.
While George Lucas never considered anything other than what he worked on as truly canon, he drew influence from the creations of others for his various projects, with the Republic/Empire’s capital being given the name of Coruscant based on Timothy Zahn’s name for it in his books, or Aayla Secura from Star Wars comics published after The Phantom Menace making appearances in Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith. Likewise, the wealth of Legends content has continued to influence new storytellers, as beloved characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn have been making appearances alongside settings, vehicles, and other ideas first established outside of the first six films and The Clone Wars.
You can get a closer look at the covers for the seventh wave of books here. For a recap, here is every single one of the books that has been or will be released as a part of The Essential Legends Collection, including the four new additions:
- The Thrawn Trilogy and more from Timothy Zahn
- Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (Wave 1)
- Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn (Wave 2)
- The Last Command by Timothy Zahn (Wave 2)
- Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn (Wave 7)
- Survivor’s Quest by Timothy Zahn (Wave 7)
- The Darth Bane Trilogy
- Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn (Wave 1)
- Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn (Wave 2)
- Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn (Wave 3)
- Clone Wars
- Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover (Wave 1)
- Yoda: Dark Rendezvous by Sean Stewart (Wave 6)
- X-Wing Series and more from Michael A. Stackpole
- X-Wing: Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole (Wave 2)
- X-Wing: Wedge’s Gamble by Michael A. Stackpole (Wave 3)
- X-Wing: The Krytos Trap by Michael A. Stackpole (Wave 4)
- X-Wing: The Bacta War by Michael A. Stackpole (Wave 5)
- I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole (Wave 8)
- The Old Republic
- The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S. Kemp (Wave 5)
- The Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn (Wave 5)
- The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams (Wave 7)
- The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn (Wave 8)
- Republic Commando
- Republic Commando: Hard Contact by Karen Traviss (Wave 6)
- Republic Commando: Triple Zero by Karen Traviss (Wave 7)
- Republic Commando: True Colors by Karen Traviss (Wave 8)
- Others
- Kenobi by John Jackson Miller (Wave 3)
- Darth Plagueis by James Luceno (Wave 3)
- Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber (Wave 4)
- Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves (Wave 4)
- Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void by Tim Lebbon (Wave 6)
- The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton (Wave 8)
Wave 6, Wave 7, and Wave 8 of The Essential Legends Collection will arrive on April 25, 2023, August 15, 2023, and October 23, 2023, respectively.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
