As we await to hear what’s next for Doctor Aphra, how about we take a moment to look back and reminiscence and learn more about what we’ve got, shall we? Writer Cherish Chen, whose Doctor Aphra: Chaos Agent was taken from us far before its time, was gracious enough to return for another interview, a short but informative retrospective on her run for the character. Head below to find out why peanut butter is brought up, insights into the development of half-sister Dellen, and more!
I’ve litigated enough in my 2025 Star Wars Comics Year-In-Review about the far too abrupt ending to Doctor Aphra: Chaos Agent and all the other comics which launched that year, but it’s still just a damn shame Cherish Chen and team didn’t get to go past their fifth issue. It’s clear there was so much story yet to tell, especially with the introduction of Chelli Aphra’s half-sister, Dellen, not truly coming until the series’ finale, it’s almost a cruelty this is all we got. But there’s no going back now and this is it, so to maybe help with the loss and continued silence from any comic publisher about more Aphra misadventures, I figured a little insight from Cherish Chen might just help ease some of the wait and worry.
Mind you, Cherish cannot talk about anything which could’ve been or would’ve come to pass, so I did my best to structure these questions to maximize some insights into what we did get. I think many fans will find solace in Cherish’s words, as her vision for what she had planned and how it best connected to what makes Chelli Aphra tick goes to show how deeply she cared, researched, and understood the character. Read on to hear what she had to say about Doctor Aphra: Chaos Agent!
Mynock Manor: I can’t be the only one who had to wonder: Are you a big fan of Bothans? Given the mention of Bothan artifacts in issue #2 and Aphra’s comment on Krrsantan’s Bothawani hideout in issue #4, what made you want to reference them, is it as simple as just having fun with their lack of appearances in canon?
Cherish Chen: I AM a big fan of Bothans. The references are mostly for fun but I’ve long felt that despite the sparse details we have about them, Bothan culture is so in line with Aphra’s flavor of Star Wars. The cloak-and-dagger-ness of their society just seems like such a great counterpart to the sometimes shadowy dealings in which Chelli often gets involved. Both as a fan and a writer, I would LOVE to see that play out in a bigger way someday.
Okay, okay the bigger question to ask besides Bothans is of course about that karking sister, Dellen Aphra! Did you see anyone guess the reveal?
I don’t think I saw any guesses, no! With Dellen being a brand new character, I’d be really surprised if anyone got it.
What can you tell us about the inception of estranged half-sister Dellen? Was this an early part of your pitch or something Marvel presented to you? And what do you think she brings to the story and for Chelli, especially in a time like this?
Dellen wasn’t part of my original pitch but she was developed very early on in the process with Marvel and Lucasfilm. I totally understand that given the timeline we eventually had, it may feel like she comes from left field but I promise there was a thought-out background for her and Chelli’s childhood, their relationship, and when and how they grew up together.
To me, Aphra having a half-sister presented a couple of interesting avenues: 1) I liked the depth it added to Aphra’s family structure. 2) Dellen presented a great opportunity to test Aphra’s capacity for growth. For me, I specifically wanted to see that play out from the position of someone who knew her when she was a child. That’s when Aphra was at her most vulnerable, before her mother died, and before the galaxy made her the survivor she is. It was cool exploring Aphra through the eyes of someone who saw her that way and had a long past with her.
The timeline I and the other creators were working in — the post-Jakku era — was really a big upturn on how we saw a lot of our favorite Star Wars characters. The good guys won. Up was down. The context for everyone fundamentally changed with the Empire’s fragmentation. So for me, I thought it was a rife opportunity to really delve into a deeply vulnerable Aphra. Aphra who no longer had to hide. And that version of her would take a lot of time to unravel. I hope we got to show a glimpse of that intention in this run!
What was the design process like for Dellen? There are some interesting little distinctions like her electro-tattoos seem less chaotically designed (and she has them on both arms), while she has more muted clothing choices, so how did you help artist Steven Cummings craft her look?
Gabriel Guzman actually put the initial designs for Dellen together. Dellen is an actual professional criminal, as opposed to someone who falls into it. Dellen is all about intention, and that is reflected in how she looks and carries herself. She’s someone who would have her electro-tattoos be meticulously mapped-out for maximum function and efficiency, vs something she had drawn on in a spontaneous prison stint or something. Muted clothing means she can fly under the radar and blend into crowds, which reinforces her primary objective of laying low at all times. I think both Gabriel and Steven executed on these ideas brilliantly.
Han Solo returning items he stole in his younger years felt very meta regarding Harrison Ford’s other very famous character, Indiana Jones, and the valid critique about that series’ colonialism. Can you talk about what you were aiming for with Han’s appearance and what it meant for Aphra’s story, while I’m curious if the meta connection was intentional or not?
The Harrison Ford/Indiana Jones connection wasn’t intentional, no, but I love that you have made the meta connection! Han’s arc in Issue 3 was meant more to reflect what I imagined his mentality to be in the post-Jakku era of Star Wars. They’re no longer in battle mode, he’s a father, a family man, and rectifying past actions may be something he has more space for. It felt like a natural bend in Han’s journey. That being said, he’s still Han and he’s still got something to prove. Especially when around someone who was a likely adversary during his smuggling days.
Han was actually the hardest to write when partnered up with Aphra — they’re kind of peanut butter and peanut butter in some ways — so I tried to really dig into where Han would be in his attempts to settle into a new, maybe slightly uncomfortable position in the New Republic. In the end, he was quite fun to portray.
I adored seeing Krrsantan back in the comics, alongside Chelli Aphra, given they both debuted 10 years ago and have had a messy history since. Given he made the jump to live-action in The Book of Boba Fett, was it difficult to pull him into the series? And what
was it like getting to write the Wookiee brawl and seeing it come to life under Kieran McKeown and team’s artwork?
Everyone was really excited about getting Krrsantan back into the Aphra comics so not difficult at all! Truthfully, the Wookiee fight may have been the most fun thing to write in this short run we had. It also came surprisingly easy — Aphra struggling to contain these giant fighters gave us a lot of room to let loose. And when it came to the action, it was very much giving the necessary story points to Kieran and then letting him run with the imagery. I LOVE what he delivered, especially that panel of Aphra staring up at Chewbacca’s body as he soars above her head; it’s such a dynamic and fun run of fight panels to read and study. I was absolutely delighted to see that sequence come alive.
In our first interview, you said you were obsessed with Gabriel Guzman’s work on a villain in issue #3, which I’m assuming was Sabi Sabo Acidy, who looks like an eel. What sort of direction did you give to Guzman and what made you push for such a species?
I think I mentioned this during our last interview but since we were doing this run of legacy Star Wars characters, I wanted to balance that out with introducing new characters and worlds whenever I could. So this issue seemed like a perfect one to tee up a fun villain — someone who was really imposing, with giant proportions and a distinct face. I had also been on this weird kick of learning eel facts haha (look up the Sargasso Sea!), so the correlation naturally came about. I think Sabi Sabo would be such a fun character to see in live action. It’s a long shot but how cool would it be to see that makeup and VFX come together and bring this hulking eel guy to life?
{Editor’s Note: The Sargasso Sea sounds like the precursor to the Bermuda Triangle stories…interesting stuff all around, indeed!}
Also in our previous interview, something really stood out to me when you mentioned what kind of person Chelli is when “surviving” isn’t a viable excuse for her behavior anymore. To me, it felt like Chaos Agent really dug into it in issue #4 with her choice to help the little prince and in her interactions with Dellen. How did you go about striking a balance of forcing Chelli to think twice about her usual shenanigans and still going about causing some chaos along the way?
Such a thoughtful question. I think the way to balance those two ends of the spectrum is to try and inhabit Aphra’s own mindset and to consistently use her character motivations as a North Star. In this run, she’s trying harder than ever to think twice about her actions but of course, she’s Aphra… she inevitably can’t help causing chaos. It’s her nature. She genuinely has a desire to maybe try things differently… to try and listen to her better angels for the first time in a long time. What’s interesting about Issue #4 is that even though she does arguably the morally “right” thing, its outcome is probably the most chaotic choice she could have made. Sometimes the right thing to do results in the messiest outcome.
What do you hope fans took away from Chaos Agent?
I mostly hope readers just had some fun. And that we moved both Chelli and the worlds within the Stars Wars galaxy into ever-so-slightly new territory. There’s so much we wanted to do and interactions we wanted to write. I wanted to dig deeper, and I think we did in some of those more emotional panels, but ultimately there’s so much life in Aphra and in her methods of exploring the galaxy… I can’t wait to see where she goes next.
One more absolutely giant thank you to Cherish Chen for joining the Manor for another interview! Don’t forget to run out and grab Doctor Aphra: Chaos Agent, which the trade paperback version hits shelves May 19, 2026, but also check out news about the upcoming film she helped produced, Nail House.
Where and when do you hope to see Chelli Aphra again? Who would you like writing? Tell us all your Aphra theories in the comments below or on social media.
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DOCTOR APHRA: CHAOS AGENT REVIEWS
#1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5
Adding Shades: An Interview with Doctor Aphra: Chaos Agent’s Cherish Chen
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