SDCC 2016: STAR WARS Books

There’s only so much backstory that one can reveal in any film, and that can be a problem in a cinematic setting as sprawling as the Star Wars universe. But for fans wondering about the history of some characters and settings from last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and this December’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, there are a number of new books on the way that will shine light onto these unexplored corners of the galaxy.

The “Star Wars Publishing” panel at this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con revealed a number of new books related to the two upcoming films. The biggest of which is the concluding chapter to Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy, Empire’s End. And while he wouldn’t give out specific spoilers except for what is in the title, the Hollywood Reporter states that he did reveal the planet “Jakku figures in considerably.”

Jakku is the desert planet that was the home to Rey in The Force Awakens. It has already been revealed that a very decisive battle was fought there that led to the final fall of the evil Galactic Empire and to all the crashed spaceships that litter its landscape. The battle was previously touched upon in last year’s Star Wars: Lost Stars novel by Claudia Gray. Wendig did state that the first draft of the final book had only recently been submitted to the Star Wars Story Group for vetting but should be in stores next January.

The Story Group is an in-house department at Lucasfilm that coordinates all of the various Star Wars media, from the films and television series to books, comics and video games, to insure that they are all consistent with each other.

Additionally the panel announced two new volumes that will reveal information about characters seen or about to be seen in the Star Wars films – Poe Dameron: Flight Log and Rogue One: Rebel Dossier. The conceit of both books will be that they are compilations of in-universe documents and other material about the hotshot rebel pilot seen in The Force Awakens and the group of Rebel spies we will see in this December’s Rogue One. While keeping mum on most of the contents of each book, Story Group member Matt Miller said that the Poe Dameron volume will contain a letter of condolence to the pilot over the death of his mother, Rebel pilot Shara Bey, from General Leia Organa. (Shara Bey was introduced in last year’s post-Return Of The Jedi set Shattered Empire comic book miniseries.)

The panel also announced an additional three Rogue One-related titles – a young readers book Secret Missions, an adult coloring book and The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – and a primer for young children, Obi 1-2-3, from ABC-3PO cartoonist Katie Cook.