SWNN Interview: Author Cavan Scott Talks ‘Path of Vengeance’, ‘Star Wars’ Storytelling, and the High Republic Phase 3
Author Cavan Scott has done it all. Novels, comics, short stories, audio dramas, and more across many different genres, for both original and licensed IPs. He is also one of the busiest men in Star Wars publishing, and he shows no signs of slowing down as the High Republic publishing initiative rolls on.
I had the chance to speak with Scott about his latest novel set during the High Republic era, Star Wars: Path of Vengeance. We also dove into a discussion on how he approaches all facets of Star Wars storytelling, no matter the method in which it is being told. And by moral obligation, I prodded Scott about the launch of phase 3 of the High Republic publishing initiative and what excites him most.
If you haven’t had a chance to read Path of Vengeance yet, this interview will not contain spoilers. The young adult novel, also the final book of phase 2, is on sale now. The audiobook version of the book will be available on June 6. You can read our review here.
The following is a slightly abridged version of my conversation with Scott. After this written portion, you will be able to find a link to our full discussion on our YouTube channel if you prefer.
Q: With everything that you have on your plate… what keeps you coming back to Star Wars in particular despite everything else that you do?
A: I mean, it’s what’s been keeping me coming back for, you know, 40 odd years or more. I just love this universe, this galaxy. My first experience was through Star Wars comics, we’ve talked about this before, Star Wars Weekly, so that was my introduction to Star Wars. If anyone’s ever read the old Marvel comics, you know what that means. I was introduced to this even crazier world than what we saw on the screen. And then yeah, in the late seventies, it was impossible not to be around Star Wars, it was coming into every part of your life, and I was there since then. I was also a huge fan of the EU through the nineties, specifically the comics, as well. Mainly the comics, I read a lot of the books, but the comics were my lifeblood for Star Wars during those wilderness years between movies. So yeah, it’s always been there. And I suppose now, the difference is that I’ve been writing it since 2016, I think is when I started, and since then, my kids have come to love Star Wars, not because of me, to spite me I think, I tried for years, and then they discovered Rebels on their own and fell in love with it. So it’s become a real family thing, a part of our family. They were at [Star Wars] Celebration with me for the first time this year, and we went joyously to see The Return of the Jedi this weekend, back at the big screen, which is my favorite Star Wars movie. So yeah, it really is a family affair.
Q: Going off of that, what themes and story tenets do you try and incorporate into all of your Star Wars works?
A: I suppose I’ve become known for writing darker Star Wars stuff, which is crazy in a way, because I started on more of the kids side of things. But I’m a horror fan, as well, that always plays a big part in everything I write. With Star Wars, you do try and find the light in everything, even in the darker stories, and I suppose that’s one thing I’m always looking for. Path of Vengeance is quite a dark book. You’re dealing with people on probably the worst days of their lives. But hopefully, there’s something in there that you still see that for some of the characters, maybe not all of them, there are some lighter days ahead. I think that’s really important. I look to Star Wars to explore the choices people make, the choices of how they view their life and their faith, because faith is central to Star Wars. Those are the themes I keep coming back to. How does the way you live your life, and the principles you try to live your life by, actually affect you day-to-day?
Q: Does that extend to how you approach all different mediums? Because you write books, comics, anthology series, audio dramas, you’ve done it all… is there a difference in how you tell your stories depending on the medium?
A: There’s a technical difference. At the central core, a story is a story, and it follows a similar structure. Obviously depending on what medium you’re using, when you’ve got a comic, you’ve got 20 pages and there are certain things you have to do in a comic, certain tricks of the trade that you try and build into the structure. With a novel or one of the audio dramas I’ve done for Star Wars, you have a lot more time, and more ability to go in-depth into some of the characters. But it’s more when I look at the audience that I really think about it. So this is a YA novel, although anyone can read it. But it means you have a certain responsibility for the main audience of that book. When I’m writing kids stuff for Star Wars, I obviously try and tell a story in a slightly different way than if I was writing an adult novel, like The Rising Storm. You could tell The Rising Storm in a all-age kids comic. You would perhaps have to be a bit more responsible how you showed some of the action. You have to bear in mind your responsibility to the end reader of how much intensity they can cope with, the kinds of questions they would be asking at that age, and that’s probably the biggest difference, not so much the format. The format is just technical differences really, there are certain things you can do in a novel that you can’t do in a script and vice versa. It’s really more about who the intended audience is going to be.
Nate: [Laughing] Now I’m trying to picture the end of The Rising Storm in an all-ages comic, I don’t know how that would translate, but that wouldn’t be my problem to figure out.
Scott: It’s a challenge! But you see, most of the time, kids fiction is really scary, or it can be. I grew up on Roald Dahl. Kids fiction can be terrifying for kids, but terrifying in the right way, if it’s done well. Kids like being scared. That’s one thing I’ve learned from years of going to schools and doing writing and reading exercises with kids. Kids love scary stuff. Again, it’s the responsibility of the writer and creator for how you get it across. You don’t want to traumatize them too much, just a little bit. Just as the [stories] of my youth, the books I read, the films I watched, terrified me just enough to send me on the path that I’m on now.
Q: So let’s dive into Path of Vengeance. We’re recording this on launch day… How are you feeling having the book finally out in the world?
A: It’s so good to finally [have the book released.] You spend so long waiting for these things to come out. It was a little bit of a surprise at Celebration this year, where I didn’t know [the book] was going to be there, and they had some advanced copies. The first I saw of it was when it was put in front of me to sign, and I was like ‘how did you get this?!’ There’s alway a sense of trepidation, because you spend so much time with a novel. This book was a tricky one, because we had a lot, and all the other The High Republic books have a lot of other stories to try and weave in, but this book was particularly tricky. So you spend so much time in the middle of that and so much time pulling your hair out during that process that it’s actually quite nice in that period of time when you can’t do anything else with it, but you know it’s going to come out at some point. As soon as it’s out there, that’s it. It’s gone. It’s not yours anymore. It’s out there in the world, and I love that.
Today we’ve had some people who picked it up at Celebration are cosplaying as characters and posting pictures online, today, on publication day. It’s incredible. That’s what I love about all of these stories is the creativity that it sparks. Just as when I was a kid and I used to write fan fiction and draw pictures and all of that. I was never a cosplayer. I don’t think I’ve got the talent for that. It’s so gratifying to know it’s out there and there’s nothing else I can do now. I’ve written the book, we’ve published it and hopefully it’s going to land well. It seems to be so far. I love getting the response back from people, I love seeing the excitement and some people poring over pages.
Someone came up to me at one of the lines at Celebration and they had bought the book the day before, and it was already filled with bookmarks and post-it notes. They do what fans do and what I do, which is to start looking at every line and work out what means what. And that’s really exciting to see and to become part of that bigger tapestry.
Q: At one point, Path of Vengeance was billed as the “finale” for this phase of the High Republic storytelling. Did you approach the book in that way?
A: Yeah, kind of. I was writing it at the same time Lydia [Kang] was writing Cataclysm, so we were literally writing it side-by-side, albeit separated by the Atlantic Ocean. We spent a lot of time talking together on how the book would work and actually I think George [Mann] was writing The Battle of Jedha, as well, so there was a lot of conversations going on. One of the jobs [Path of Vengeance] had to do was bring a lot of those threads together, and a lot of the storylines, including a couple more storylines that are coming out afterwards. I don’t know where the last [Star Wars] Insider story falls from George, and then you’ve got Daniel [José Older]’s manga, as well, and that again is a complementary piece. It sort of develops a little bit more of the story and bridges the gap between phase 2 and phase 3 in a lot of ways. So I think originally they were coming out at the same time and then they moved apart, but I don’t think that matters, because they compliment each other. I quite like having that story that Daniel and the team put together. It really does feel like for me the point where we go ‘right, this is what you’ve seen, now let’s move into the future.’
Q: I need to ask you about that cover for Path of Vengeance… what was your reaction when you first saw that cover from Corey Brickley?
A: It’s an embarrassment of riches with the covers for the High Republic books. I loved all, and let’s face it there were a lot, of covers for The Rising Storm. I think I was blown away when I first saw Path of Deceit, and the companion cover for this book…the depth of it, it’s just so gorgeous and there are so many things I didn’t notice initially, such as the symbol on the floor when I first saw it, because I was just looking at the image of Marda in the middle, and I think that’s the genius of what he did for that cover. It was having your Marda in the middle, your two Jedi behind her, and then you start to see what’s lurking in the shadows, and then you look down and you see where her path is going to lead…perhaps. There’s so much depth in it. It’s beautiful and stunning. It’s one of my favorite covers I’ve had on anything, ever, let alone Star Wars. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
Q: One of my favorite things about the High Republic is that it’s not just about the connectivity about it all. For me, one of my favorite things is seeing how each author gets to tell their own little shared universe of storytelling. How does it feel to get to be able to tell stories with those characters?
A: It’s honestly a privilege. And the privilege is working with the rest of the team. The team has obviously grown in phase 2, some people are new, some people I had already worked with, like George [Mann]. George is one of my oldest friends, we worked together a lot, because we had a production company together. Other people like Lydia [Kang], I’ve never worked with before, hadn’t met before. So not only has [the project] given me a new person to work with, but it’s also given me a new friend. And it does feel like that in the High Republic. Charles [Soule] alluded to this during the The High Republic panel at Star Wars Celebration, it is a family. It’s very unusual to get this kind of group when you’re working on a publishing initiative like this. To have the same people throughout, and then to add to that group and have it feel like it’s a natural extension of that original group. I think that’s what makes this so special. I love any medium where you have to work with other people. That’s why I’m a comics writer, that’s why I write for audio, I’ve stunted in TV. I love those elements of working in a group, in a room with other people, with people who are talented who will bring new things to the story you’re trying to tell. That’s exactly what’s happening in The High Republic. The rest of the team are brilliant at taking stories, stuff you’ve set up and moving it in a different direction, taking characters and introducing things that are exciting and surprising for the rest of us, as well within the group. That just challenges you and stretches you as an individual creator to step up your game, to match that, and also to find new ways of working through these characters’ lives.
I think we’ve been quite clear–we have a plan that lasts all the way to 2025. We’ve had that plan for a long time, we’ve had the fixed points in that timeline. How we get there, we gave ourselves that chance to explore and discover how some of these characters react to some of the events that are going on, and again, that is a massive part of this. It’s the joy of reading one of the other author’s works and going ‘oh right, I hadn’t thought about that before’ which you don’t usually get. I mean you get it when you’re working on Star Wars and you see a film or a tv show, but what you haven’t had are the day-to-day conversations that are going on all the time between us. So that is what makes it so special.
Q: One of the things that is said a lot in terms of ‘where do I start with the High Republic?’ is that you can start anywhere, and that’s true, but when you look at Path of Vengeance, you’ve pulled characters in from your comic and built off of what you’ve done inside your Marvel comic run that’s going on currently… how cognizant are you of those people who didn’t read these comics and are jumping into Path of Vengeance and meeting these characters for the first time?
A: You always have to bear it in mind, because any Star Wars could be someone’s first Star Wars. My very first Star Wars was one issue of the Marvel comic back in the late seventies. You have to be aware of that all the time. There is a balancing act you have to play, you don’t want for the people who have read everything feeling like now they have to put the brakes on when you explain everything that is going on, but at the same time you have to try and bring people up to speed as soon as possible. Star Wars is very good at this all the way through. Star Wars has been hinting at characters for stories before we even knew what those stories were, and that is one of the joys about writing for this particular universe and franchise. Right from the very first film when you hear those words ‘Clone Wars’ you have no idea what that is, but you want to find out more. That’s what I try and build into my stories.
In the very beginning of this book, we’re in the middle of the Battle of Jedha, and I’ve tried to explain some things that have happened in The Battle of Jedha, but we’re hoping you’re going to be able to understand it for what it is throughout the book, and then you might want to go back and find out more. It’s exactly what they did in A New Hope, or before it was A New Hope, and what is hopefully happening now with the High Republic and other parts of the Star Wars universe, as well. It’s a universe that’s built on easter eggs, even when those easter eggs haven’t got stories connected to them yet. It is something that we are all very aware of, and we try our best to ease people in and give them that ramp to get them up to speed when they are picking it up for the first time.
Q: As people are picking up Path of Vengeance and digging into it and seeing what you cooked up for everyone, what are you hoping they take away from the novel when they finish it?
A: That’s one of the hardest questions to answer, because everyone will take something different. I think this is a novel that questions people’s motivations. Of all the things I’ve written for Star Wars this has probably got the most shades of gray of various different characters. There are people in this novel who follow a very definite path and that name is not an accident, but there are consequences for making those choices. That’s what we’re trying to explore in this phase and in this particular novel. The idea of understanding people and why people make choices, and I think that’s, especially now, what we need more than ever. We live in a world where it’s very easy to write people off as one-dimensional, as an avatar on a social media group, or a member of a certain tribe or whatever, and that’s supposed to sum up everything you are. It’s the shorthand of a character, but everyone has more depth, everyone has more stuff going on underneath the surface, everyone has their own ghosts of their past that they’re in conversation with. That is something that I try to tackle in this novel, while also having plenty of action, spaceships, monsters and everything that you expect with Star Wars. It’s about knowing what’s going on behind the surface and seeing why people make the choices they do.
Q: Looking ahead to phase 3, I know I won’t be able to get much out of you, because that’s just the way it is, but generally, what are you looking forward to seeing through during the rest of the High Republic saga?
A: In all honesty, I suppose it’s what a lot of people are looking forward to who are fans of phase one, I can’t wait to get back to those characters. They mean so much to me. As we said, I’m coming back with a comic book at the end of the year in December for phase 3, and we will be returning to the story of Keeve Trennis, who is a character that means a lot to me. It’s a chance to pick up beyond where we left off, because we knew we were going to leave that phase on a massive cliffhanger, and hopefully people would come back to it, into the past. When I first wrote the words “Keeve Trennis” again, it was a massive relief for me, because while I’ve loved writing phase 2, I have always known where her [Keeve Trennis] story is going and I just can’t wait to tell it. That’s what I’m excited for with all the different elements of phase 3 it’s that everyone has their story that they’ve been waiting to tell. Everything up to now, including phase 2, has just been the foundations of this phase, this is the big story of The High Republic. I’m excited to write my element to it, my part to it, but also to see what everyone else is going to bring to the table, because there’s some really exciting stuff. There’s some heartbreak and stuff, sure, because this is Star Wars and that’s what Star Wars does, there’s some funny stuff, there are some punch-in-the-air moments, it really is culmination of everything we’ve been doing so far. And also, it’s a couple of years so it’s not like it’s a “flash in the pan.” This is an extended period of storytelling. As we’re seeing the High Republic grow in so many other areas, as well, it’s just really exciting to be able to tell those stories that we first talked about in 2018 sitting around a table at Skywalker Ranch. It feels like an eternity ago, and it also feels like yesterday. So I can’t wait to be able to tell those stories.
Q: When all is said and done with the High Republic publishing initiative, what are the things that you will most hold dear when you look back on this time?
A: I think it will be the two Celebrations, both last year in Anaheim and this year’s, we had two separate meetups at both conventions, where people came in costume, and it’s something you don’t get to do with fans a lot of the time. You don’t get to just be with them. You have signage, you have panels, everyone is moving. This year especially in London we had a good hour where we were standing outside the convention center, all of the creators were there, and loads of fans, and it was just a chance to talk and celebrate and laugh, and take photos and sign things, and there were gifts. It was a celebration of this little core of Star Wars and it’s something you don’t get a lot as an author, you don’t get as a writer, you don’t get that moment where you can just “be.” When I think of all the things I’ve done with the High Republic, it’s opened up so many doors to so many adventures, from going to Skywalker Ranch in and of itself amazing, I think those moments with the fans in the middle of these massive celebrations for Star Wars (and let’s face it it’s the best name for one of those conventions, of all the conventions I go to, Celebration is just pure joy), I don’t think I will ever forget that. The state of my fellow creators, as well, we were just looking at each other and going ‘this is crazy, this is wonderful.’ They are going to be things we’ll remember for a very long time.
Star Wars: The High Republic – Path of Vengeance is available for purchase now. Phase 3 will begin this November, with Scott returning to pen Marvel’s flagship The High Republic series.
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Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies in general as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he's not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading a comic, listening to an audiobook, or playing a Mario video game for the 1,000th time.
