‘Star Wars: The Essential Legends Collection’ – Ninth Wave of Books Includes ‘X-Wing’ and ‘Republic Commando’
The ninth set of Star Wars: The Essential Legends Collection books includes new reprints of novels in the X-Wing and Republic Commando series.
As discovered by Twitter user SWBooks, three new books from Star Wars Legends are getting rereleases: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston, Republic Commando: Order 66 by Karen Traviss, and Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller. The current release window for Wave 9 is set for February 2024. 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 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.
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 three 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
- 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)
- X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston (Wave 9)
- 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)
- Republic Commando: Order 66 by Karen Traviss (Wave 9)
- 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)
- I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole (Wave 8)
- The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton (Wave 8)
- Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller (Wave 9)
Wave 7, Wave 8, and Wave 9 of The Essential Legends Collection will arrive on August 15, 2023, October 23, 2023, and February 2024, 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.
