News Roundup: Star Wars Rebels Artbook Incoming, Master & Apprentice’s First Excerpt, and Triple Force Friday Arrives in October!

A few pieces of news from our favorite galaxy dropped this week, including the announcement of a Star Wars Rebels Artbook, the highly anticpated novel Master & Apprentice’s first excerpt has Qui-Gon Jinn being offered a spot on the Jedi Council, and your wallet’s least favorite day has been announced: Triple Force Friday, a blitz of merchandise from Episode IX, The Mandalorian, and Jedi: Fallen Order!

Fans of Star Wars Rebels have had nearly a year to comes to terms with the series ending with an exciting, blah blah series finale, and while the wait continues to find out what happened with a few of those cliffhangers, The Art of Star Wars Rebels has been announced to make the wait a little easier (or harder, as it’ll likely reopens the wounds of a certain character’s death). Written by Dan Wallace (The Rebel Files, Smuggler’s Guide), the book will, “…chronicle the making of the show over its four-season run, complete with never-before-seen concept art and process pieces, along with exclusive commentary from creators Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Carrie Beck, among others.” You can already check out some concept art in all the episode guides for Rebels, like this piece I’ve included here, as there’s no official cover to drool over yet. The book releases October 1 for 39.99!

Claudia Gray is easily my favorite author (both canon and Legends) due to such amazing books as Lost Stars, Bloodline, and Leia – Princess of Alderaan, and her next novel is highly anticipated: Master & Apprentice, dealing with the early days of Qui-Gon Jinn’s training of Obi-Wan Kenobi! After the excellence of her short story in From a Certain Point of View, “Master and Apprentice,” which dealt with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi communing through the Force, knowing she was writing an earlier chapter in their life was beyond exciting. The official site released the first excerpt, which deals with the Jedi Council offering Qui-Gon a seat, and even though we know he won’t end up on the Council, I’m intrigued as hell to find out why he would ever considering turning it down considering his excitement, as it were, evidenced in the excerpt. My excitement for this novel is no longer measurable, so April 16 can’t come soon enough (with the Manor’s review to follow shortly afterwards). Check out the novel’s blurb for some new details on the book:

“An unexpected offer threatens the bond between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi as the two Jedi navigate a dangerous new planet and an uncertain future.
A Jedi must be a fearless warrior, a guardian of justice, and a scholar in the ways of the Force. But perhaps a Jedi’s most essential duty is to pass on what they have learned. Master Yoda trained Dooku; Dooku trained Qui-Gon Jinn; and now Qui-Gon has a Padawan of his own. But while Qui-Gon has faced all manner of threats and danger as a Jedi, nothing has ever scared him like the thought of failing his apprentice.
Obi-Wan Kenobi has deep respect for his Master, but struggles to understand him. Why must Qui-Gon so often disregard the laws that bind the Jedi? Why is Qui-Gon drawn to ancient Jedi prophecies instead of more practical concerns? And why wasn’t Obi-Wan told that Qui-Gon is considering an invitation to join the Jedi Council—knowing it would mean the end of their partnership? The simple answer scares him: Obi-Wan has failed his Master.
When Jedi Rael Averross, another former student of Dooku, requests their assistance with a political dispute, Jinn and Kenobi travel to the royal court of Pijal for what may be their final mission together. What should be a simple assignment quickly becomes clouded by deceit, and by visions of violent disaster that take hold in Qui-Gon’s mind. As Qui-Gon’s faith in prophecy grows, Obi-Wan’s faith in him is tested—just as a threat surfaces that will demand that Master and apprentice come together as never before, or be divided forever.”

Last, but definitely not least, Triple Force Friday has been announced to terrorize your wallet on October 4! Force Friday is the name they have been using for the merchandizing blitz for upcoming films, but this year it’s triple the fun due to merchandise debuting from Episode IX (which just wrapped filming 2/15), the first live-action Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian (incidentally also wrapped filming its first season 2/15 as well!), and the upcoming video game Jedi: Fallen Order! No shock about Ep. IX toys, but stuff for The Mandalorian is really great news (and seems to confirm it’ll be out this year), but the real surprise is toys for the Jedi: Fallen Order. I think the last time we got toys specifically released with a new video game, besides the nondescript Inferno Squad solider for Battlefront II (2017), was The Force Unleashed, but otherwise we’ve only gotten video game characters in toy form far after release; Seems like they are really committed to the new single-player focused game! Start saving your Republic credits now, folks.