Out of all the panels they live-streamed on Day 1 of Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022, thankfully it included the nearly hour-long The High Republic panel, which saw the luminous authors, Michael Siglain, Kristina Arielle, and more on the stage together for the first time in a long time, peeling back all the layers on October’s Phase 2 start. There’s tons of new concept art, covers, and title reveals, as well as unique little details on just how much more Wild West 150 years prior to Phase 1’s start the galaxy really is. Strap in for all the covers and particulars below, while you can watch the panel in the video above from the 2:24:17 mark (which is where it should start if you hit play, you’re welcome!), until the 3:40:42 mark now the panel has it’s own video upload! UPDATED to include the reveal of Young Jedi Adventures and the panel specific video Lucasfilm uploaded to YouTube. And don’t forget to visit our High Republic page for all the latest and greatest, like reviews for Phase II as the content begins to arrive! UPDATE: Our Path of Deceit reviews are in! PHASE II has begun!!
I’d take most of the concept art images from the livestream, but there’s too much advertising and whatnot in the way of them, so most of my photos are from two other fansite’s live-tweet threads: Youtini and Friends of the Force! So big thanks to their hard work and reporting from the scene!
The original starting point to The High Republic, some 200 years before The Phantom Menace, seems downright futuristic against Phase II: Quest of the Jedi’s setting, some 350 years prior to the Prequels. In this era, there’s no communications network yet since the Republic isn’t tied together with the Outer Rim so messages have to be sent via a droid relay of sorts, as they’ll deliver messages back and forth across large distances, which happens a lot in this era as there’s a drive into the Outer Rim and more conducted by the Pathfinders, a group of Jedi and Republic workers. It’s a fun way to add tension and build disconnect in stories to come, as information might come too late or be distorted/hijacked and suddenly misinformation builds to calamity (as I’m sure it will, this is the High Republic afterall!). Two chancellors reign over the Republic as it in this timeframe, Greylark and Mollo, and despite their differences, she (a human) wants to expand the Republic and he (a Quarren) wants to focus inwards, they get along together, ying and yang style. There’s hints about Jedha’s importance to the story, not just that an audiobook has the planet in its title, but several of the stories take place there and hints regarding it littered the end of Phase I too, so it’ll be neat to see this place in its heyday and not under Imperial control. There was also a new image of The Mother, who runs The Path of the Open Hand extremist group that believes no one should use the Force, from the upcoming Path of Deceit (who features on its beautiful cover), as well as her Herald, who I assume goes out in the streets to spread their views so that she doesn’t have to. And lastly, there’s some funnily drawn Dank Graks who will feature in Daniel José Older’s comic, which are a group of Sith cult outcasts. Intrigued to learn more about how and why there are so many Sith cults to have outcasts from!
So how about some announcements and other details?!
This not-final cover for Zoraida Córdova’s Convergence features Jedi Knight Gella Nattai, so I’ll be curious to learn her importance to the story. UPDATE – The blurb is out, and you’ll notice some familiar planet names from Gray’s Into the Dark novel in its flashbacks, while learn a little more about what’s happening in the era:
There are a bunch of comics on the way, from Cavan Scott and Ario Anindito’s return with Marvel’s The High Republic (which I’m calling THR – Phase 2), Marvel’s The High Republic – The Blade by Charles Soule, and Dark Horse’s The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror miniseries by George Mann, which joins the previously announced The High Republic – Quest of the Jedi comic by Claudia Gray and The High Republic Adventures proper by Older, for Dark Horse. For Cavan and Ario’s return, it’ll take place on Jedha and star, “…Jedi Vildar Mac, who arrives as Jedha’s fragile peace begins to crumble and a nameless terror arrives…” (and is out October). Soule really hyped up his Porter Engle 4-issue miniseries The Blade (starting November), teasing it’ll feature the origin of the Barash Vow he created in his Darth Vader comic run, as it looks like Porter’s going a bit rogue, traveling with his sister, but tragedy will strike and things will change of course because of how we know him as a gentle cook. Not many details on The Nameless Terror, but as you can see all over these, the deadly and scary Nameless creatures are featuring heavily in Phase II.
Speaking of the Nameless, we got our first good look at the creatures! The concept art showed us two, one a general look at them in blue, but also a striking white one, which Siglain called the Leveler! I wish we’d gotten to see these before, but I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of them going forward!
Not only did we get a cover for George Mann’s Quest for the Hidden City, a Wave I novel for Phase II, but plenty of content was teased for its second wave: Lydia Kang will write the second Phase II adult novel, Cataclysm, Tessa Gratton has the middle grade novel with the fun title of Quest for Planet X, and Scott dabbles in the young adult this round with Path of Vengeance. And there’s another audiobook on the way with an enticing title I teased earlier: The Battle of Jedha, with a script by George Mann (he’s like Phase II’s Cavan Scott with all this work!), which is out January 2023 and the script, which it seems they’ve listened to fans, will be out only a month later! UPDATE – It sounds like Phase II will be shorter, only two waves of content, ending with Scott’s Path of Vengeance, but I’m sure we’ll get official confirmation of that sooner rather than later. It makes sense a trip to the past wouldn’t be as long, but still a little surprising but also sets the stage for a much longer Phase III, with the characters in the present we’ve all come to love and worry about!
Outside of Phase II, Kristin Baver’s Art of The High Republic (which will have a foreword by Kathleen Kennedy!) got a cover reveal and some glimpses of interior pages, including Yoda with a top-knot which I’m really sad we didn’t get that (yet), the many designs of Marchion Ro, and more! Really looking forward to seeing how the art of the initiative changed and grew as they developed the story! Two other books were announced at the Publishing Panel earlier in the day, which includes a collection of the Star Wars Insider stories and an in-universe written book about the many Jedi of the era, said to contain hints for both Phase 2 and Phase 3!!
Before they wrapped up, they teased Path of Deceit, out this October, as one of the best novels they’ve ever done. No pressure when The High Republic returns!
UPDATE: Lastly, Young Jedi Adventures was announced, an animated series set during the era made for preschoolers, following, “…Younglings as they are swept off into adventures, and start their journeys on the path to becoming Jedi Knights, learning valuable skills for our galaxy and the galaxy far, far away. The Jedi-in-training will tackle topics of compassion, self-discipline, teamwork, patience, and friendship.” To further bolster THR’s inclusive nature, the show’s written by Mia Resella, who’s non-binary! It’s out Spring 2023 on Disney+.
UPDATE 2: A few more Phase 2 details arrived at SDCC, like the final cover for The Battle of Jedha and some interior artwork for upcoming comics.
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.