New “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Shattered Empire Details Emerge, Stars New Characters

Shattered Empire

Over at the Star Wars official site, Dan Brooks has an interview with Star Wars: Shattered Empire writer Greg Rucka, who reveals plot details, the series’ new main characters, whether we’ll see Luke, Han, and Leia, and hints at how different the new canon’s take on post-Return of the Jedi material will be (something we saw already in the Aftermath excerpt recently released).

Shattered Empire (Update: full series review!) follows Shara Bey, a female A-wing pilot, and her husband Kes for roughly, “…three to six months total in the series following the Battle of Endor,” as they find out the fight is far from over with the Empire despite everything the Rebellion has done so far. He doesn’t get into many details regarding the new characters, and while the series won’t cover their backstory, he does have some headcanon of his own for what their story is:

“In my head, they joined after the victory at Yavin, and they joined after the victory at Yavin for a very specific reason. They had a cargo service that they ran and they had a newborn. They were like, ‘Well, what’s the future for our child going to be?’” Even if this origin is not set in stone, it represents an emotional core. Shara and Kes have something to fight for.

Their adventures in SE will allow them to occasionally run into the big players like Leia, Han, and Luke, but they’ll be used sparingly and not be the focus. However, a good chunk of the interview with Rucka discusses his thoughts on their mindsets at the time, specifically Leia, as he thinks she must be reconciling the knowledge of who her father was and what he did, while uncovering her own past and connection the dots that lead her to learn Padmé is her mother, something that didn’t happen as quickly in Legends because none of the writers even knew those details at the time. Rucka even suggests Leia would likely confront Mon Mothma and ask her for every detail she remembers about Padmé, which is a scene I certainly hope to see one day.

Another aspect the interview covers is how in the canon going forward, it seems most of the higher level Imperials won’t be falling back to lick their wounds or be in disarray, instead they’ll be hunkering down on what they do control considering they still outnumber the Rebellion. As Rucka puts it, “You get out there and you shoot every last one of these upstart insurgents, these terrorists, and you make clear to them that the rule of law still stands.’ So it does get ugly.” We saw this already in the opening moments from the Aftermath excerpt, itself taking place immediately following the Battle of Endor, where the Imperial security forces swoop in and attack those who are tearing down the Emperor’s statue on Coruscant. The idea of Imperials digging in the trenches even carries over to the upcoming mobile game Uprising, where the local Imperial governor effectively locks down an entire sector to continue holding power. It certainly wasn’t easy for the New Republic to mop up the Empire in the Legends stories, but it looks like it’ll be even more difficult in the new canon. Mayhaps this is why there are such factions as the First Order and Resistance (though it’s unclear if the Empire or New Republic still exist) in the galaxy by the time of The Force Awakens. Time will tell, but for now it’s an interesting new ride to take.

The whole interview is pretty fantastic, as Rucka talks about the inspiration he’s gotten from Star Wars Rebels‘ tone, how the show led to lengthy discussions with the Story Group about Luke’s power-level after the Battle of Endor, and even the world building sessions with the Story Group. There’s a lot of passion in the interview and a lot of interesting ideas, which gives me a lot of hope for Shattered Empire, especially seeing as it’s going to be the first “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” material released (by two days). UPDATE: It’s been delayed to the following Wednesday and no longer the first in “JtTFA.”

Here are a few other things:

  • Will there be any overlap or mention of events from Aftermath or vice versa?
  • How great has canon been for introducing more female characters into the galaxy (Legends was no slouch either)? Hera, Sabine, Maketh Tua (Rebels); Rae Sloane, Zaluna Myder, female stormtroopers (A New Dawn); Doctor Aphra! (Darth Vader); Evaan, Tula, Tace, Jora, Uwa Pareece, Snes (Princess Leia); Nakari Kelen, Drusil (Heir to the Jedi); Sana Solo (Star Wars series) Moff Mors, Isval (Lords of the Sith); Moff Ssaria (Lando); Rey, Captain Phasma, Maz Kanata (The Force Awakens); And now Shara Bey.
  • If you want to see the preview pages in color, the Marvel website has you covered.

 

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #1 drops September 2nd 9th.

Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.

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SEE ALSO:
Canon Novel Review: Star Wars: Aftermath
Star Wars: Aftermath Excerpt Paints Ugly Post-Return of the Jedi Picture
Aftermath Story Details, Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens YA Novels Receive Covers
SDCC 2015: Marvel’s Chewbacca Series, Vader Down Crossover Event Announced
Del Rey Panel, TFA Novelization, Sampler Thoughts (SWCA 2015)
Battlefront Trailer, Gameplay Demo, Battle of Jakku DLC, and Novel Details (SWCA 2015)
Star Wars: Dark Disciple Plot Synopsis
New Star Wars: Aftermath Details, Cover Unveiled
Marvel’s Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Teaser, Aftermath Author Revealed
20 Books Along the ‘Journey to The Force Awakens’
Star Wars: Dark Disciple – Cover Art
Del Rey’s Star Wars 2014 Sampler Thoughts
NYCC 2014 Star Wars: Kanan Comic, Rebels Clip, and Hasbro Figures
The Clone Wars Legacy and Ventress Novel Title Unveiled
Asajj Ventress Novel Announced At SDCC 2014
Marvel Shows Off Three New Star Wars Series At SDCC

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