Star Wars: The High Republic Reveals the Beginning of the End
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The High Republic is ready to make the leap to the Star Wars TV series world with The Acolyte, but before we see the final days of the Jedi’s apex, it’s time to see the explosive next step of their fight with Nihil in the third phase of the publishing initiative.
Revealed at Saturday’s High Republic panel at Star Wars Celebration, phase 3 of the novels and comics depicting this 200-year-prequel will return to the time of the initial phase of fiction, picking up with characters and conflicts left behind during phase 2’s current trip and going even further back in time, 150 years before the events of the first books in the series.
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Phase 3 will be titled “Trials of the Jedi,” appropriately named for the challenges the Jedi will face against the Nihil and their leader, the mysterious Marchion Ro, in the wake of the destruction of the Republic’s beacon of opportunity in the Outer Rim: the Starlight Beacon. The massive space station was assaulted in a Nihil terror attack during the events of Claudia Gray’s The Fallen Star, tumbling to the planet Eiram below and leaving several of the initiative’s Jedi heroes missing or dead.
Beginning a year after the events of The Fallen Star, phase 3 will see the Nihil all but victorious, as the Jedi are recalled from the Outer Rim to Coruscant by the Republic to shore up its defenses.
Kicking off later this year, phase 3 will run through to spring 2025, capping off the publishing initiative as The Acolyte brings the High Republic era to Disney+ in 2o24. Before events truly kick off, fans will get a taste of what to expect in phase 3 in Tales of Light and Life, a new anthology set to be released on September 5 that will cover stories from across all three phases of The High Republic in stories from Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Lydia Kang, George Mann, Daniel José Older, Cavan Scott, and Charles Soule.
Phase 3 officially begins in The Eye of Darkness, an adult novel by George Mann releasing November 14, 2023, which covers Marchion Ro’s victory and focuses on the Jedi Elzar Mann and Avar Kriss. It will be followed by the middle grade novel Escape From Valo, by Daniel José Older and Doctor Aphra’s Alyssa Wong, who will be making her High Republic debut on January 30, 2024, and then the YA novel Defy the Storm, by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton, on March 12.
Also revealed, but not given set release dates, were the remaining adult, middle grade, and YA books that will round out phase 3 through spring 2025. In adult fiction, Mann’s Eye of Darkness will be joined by Tessa Gratton’s Temptation of the Force in summer 2024, and Charles Soule will pen the last adult book in the phase, Trials of the Jedi, in spring 2025.
On the YA front Defy the Storm will be followed by Tears of the Nameless by George Mann in fall 2024, and Into the Light by Claudia Gray in spring 2025, while in middle grade releases Escape From Valo will be followed by Zoraida Córdova’s Beware the Nameless in summer 2024, and finally A Valiant Vow by Justina Ireland in spring 2025.
The High Republic’s third phase begins later this year.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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