As The High Republic gears up to take over publishing again for its final Phase in October, much of the Star Wars books future looks to be headed to the era’s past…until the latest novel announcement. While it’s also in the past, it’s far more immediate: The Living Force, out April 9, 2024, takes the Jedi Council of the Prequel Era on a road trip, featuring the return of the legendary author John Jackson Miller! If you’re still hooting and hollering, we’re on the same page, and don’t really need to know more, but there are a few more details below!
John Jackson Miller’s last piece of Star Wars writing was in From a Certain Point of View: Star Wars back in 2017, itself a continuation of his instant classic Kenobi Legends novel from 2013. The last full novel he wrote was in 2014, kicking off the new canon era, with the wonderful Star Wars Rebels prequel, A New Dawn. He’s been writing Star Trek novels since 2014, so fans over there have been lucky for the past decade, but he looks to be making quite a splash with his return in 2024 with The Living Force. Here’s the synopsis:
“In the year before The Phantom Menace, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the entire Jedi Council confront a galaxy on the brink of change.
The Jedi have always traveled the stars, defending peace and justice across the galaxy. But, the galaxy is changing, and along with it, the Jedi Order. More and more, the Order finds itself focused on the future of the Republic, secluded on Coruscant, where the twelve members of the Jedi Council weigh crises on a galactic scale.
As yet another Jedi Outpost leftover from the Republic’s golden age is set to be decommissioned on the planet Kwenn, Qui-Gon Jinn challenges the Council about the increasing isolation of the Order. Mace Windu suggests a bold response: all twelve Jedi Masters will embark on a goodwill mission to help the planet, and remind the people of the galaxy that the Jedi remain as stalwart and present as they have been across the ages.
But the arrival of the Jedi leadership is not seen by all as a cause for celebration. Warring pirate factions have infested the sector in the increasing absence of the Jedi. To maintain their dominance, the pirates unite, intent on assassinating the Council. And they are willing to destroy countless innocent lives to secure their power.
Cut off from Coruscant, the Jedi Masters must reckon with an unwelcome truth: that while no one thinks more about the future than the Jedi Council, nobody needs their help more than those living in the present.”
That’s right, all 12 members of the Jedi Council, one year before The Phantom Menace, are about to go on a field trip thanks to Qui-Gon Jinn’s insistence, with Obi-Wan Kenobi in tow. So that means characters who haven’t seen the spotlight at all or have a growing presence thanks to their long lives and the High Republic era content, will be front and center for The Living Force. That’s a huge cast list, not even counting for these pirates and any other characters the Jedi Council meets on their journeys. I can’t wait to see Yaddle, Yoda, Depa Billaba, Mace Windu, Yarael Proof, Oppo Rancisis, Even Piell, Plo Koon, Eeth Koth, Saesee Tiin, Adi Gallia, and Ki-Adi-Mundi all together, as the potential here for some real mastery to be on display is through the roof. I’m also looking forward to all the potential High Republic references, as Kwenn hosts one of the era’s Outposts that we already see the Order abandoning by the start of the era’s third Phase of storytelling, starting in October, while there might be even some The Acolyte references given it’ll be out April 9, 2024 and said series might find its way to our screens sometime that year.
This was an unexpected reveal, not only due to the return of John Jackson Miller but taking the whole Jedi Council on a trip, while it’s nice to see some non-High Republic era content begin to be announced, as that list is pretty short outside of the comics and TV at the moment. Check back to the Manor for more as we learn about The Living Force, including any potential launch events here in Wisconsin, as well as our review in April!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.