Exclusive: Interview With Claudia Gray Provides Insight Into Her Best-Selling ‘Star Wars’ Novels
Star Wars News Net was lucky enough to secure an exclusive interview with bestselling author Claudia Gray, known for her young adult fiction and exceptional printed additions to the Star Wars universe such as Bloodline, The High Republic: The Fallen Star, and Lost Stars.
The author discussed how she first started out with young adult fiction and considers herself lucky in the sense she started writing the ‘right thing at the right time,’ where this type of genre mashing for a targeted demographic was just becoming popular.
Escapist literature was something that had always pulled her in, as she drew on inspiration from content she loved. Her impact on Star Wars has been and continues to be legendary, and it all started for her at the age of seven, when the first Star Wars film was released.
“Star Wars was so huge in a way things almost can’t be anymore.”
It was all-encompassing; and when The Empire Strikes Back came out, the Star Wars universe was expanded in mind-blowing ways, and one could really get a sense of how much bigger the stories could be. When Star Wars novels started coming out, it opened up a whole new realm to explore.
“I was so excited for Heir to the Empire!”
When she first began writing Star Wars young adult fiction, Gray was given a broad prompt for her first Star Wars novel — a love story about two childhood friends who end up on different sides of the war, one an angry, disillusioned man who fights for the Empire and the other an idealistic woman in the Rebellion. Gray insisted that this should be swapped, and so the angry disillusioned soldier ended up in the Rebellion, in love with the idealistic Imperial, and this prompt ultimately turned into the much beloved epic romance, Lost Stars.
Gray described writing the book in ‘total innocence’:
“It felt like fan-fiction – I didn’t at all perceive how many people would read it.”
Since then, Gray has written a bit of everything in Star Wars, from sweeping love stories like Lost Stars to deep mythological fare like Master and Apprentice and tragedies like The Fallen Star. Naturally, we were curious to discover which genre she was most passionate about writing.
“I haven’t decided! I enjoy all of it.”
However, Gray notes there is something special about writing novels like Lost Stars, where she can develop the points of view of characters who get caught up in it all, outside of the familiar narratives of legacy Star Wars characters. She also enjoys the fact that Lost Stars is a ‘gateway’ book into Star Wars, where you don’t really need to have much knowledge of the universe to understand it. It has drawn so many young adults into Star Wars, despite some people on social media complaining about Star Wars going too ‘young adult’ in the contemporary era.
“The Star Wars movies are young adult… they are about mostly teenagers going through these experiences and adventures.”
It is impossible to not touch upon the lasting impression Gray has left fans with in regards to everyone’s favourite princess, Leia Organa. Bloodline and Leia, Princess of Alderaan remain some of the best Star Wars novels out there, perfectly capturing the essence of the character we all know and love.
“I have gone through life often asking myself, ‘What would Princess Leia do?’ and then all of a sudden it was like, oh somebody actually wants to hear the answer!”
Gray had to ask herself, what matters most to Leia, what are her weaknesses, and what are the actions she would take? And of course, Carrie Fisher played a big role in how the author characterised her on the page.
“The best thing about Leia is the worst; everybody knows and loves her so everyone has their own ideas about how she should be portrayed.”
While there are no plans currently, Gray expressed great interest in writing Leia again.
In April of this year Gray released her first Star Wars comic book, Quest of the Jedi, set in the High Republic following the mystical adventure of a Jedi Master and his Padawan searching for an artefact on a mysterious world. Gray was given lots of creative freedom to do something ‘mystical and Arthurian’, which she was more than happy to embrace, and really create a ‘trippy ride.’
When asked about the significance of the comic’s title, which shares the same name as the alternate title for Phase 2 of the High Republic publishing initiative, the author hinted greatly at its importance. Nonetheless, she clarified that while Quest of the Jedi is still excellent to read on its own, the full significance of its connection to the The High Republic saga would not be clear until the release of Phase 3. Gray will be writing Into the Light, as part of Phase 3. The book is due in Spring 2025 and will be the last young adult novel of the initiative.
Claudia Gray has left an incredible impact on the Star Wars universe, creating and expanding beloved characters to create unforgettable stories adored by fans and newcomers alike, and we are all excited to hear more about her upcoming projects.
In the meantime, check out our review for The High Republic Adventures: Quest of the Jedi here.
Rosalie Lambert is a law student from Australia with a deep love for Star Wars, fantasy, and epic stylistic storytelling. Growing up in the country, Rosalie has always loved nature and outdoor activities, and has a passion for human rights and social justice that she wants to work towards in her field of study.
