A few minutes after The Acolyte trailer dropped on the official Star Wars Instagram page, an excited fan posted “READ THE BOOKS” to which several folks replied, “What books!?” So, we thought it would be a good idea to create an educational post for those with similar questions.
First off, based on viewing the trailer and confirmations from a Collider interview with Leslye Headland only one character from the book will be present in this series. What does this mean for fans interested in this era of Star Wars storytelling? That you won’t have to binge read an impressive (most impressive) set of books, comics, Manga, children’s book and an animated series to understand The Acolyte, but I hope to convince you to dip your toe just a bit into The High Republic era.
To do that we are going to travel a little back in time, to the 2019 Star Wars Celebration panel in Chicago. There was a publishing panel titled Project Luminous where we were introduced to the original five architects of the initiative: Charles Soule, Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Cavan Scott and Daniel Jose’ Older the panel was moderated by Michael Siglain Director of Creative Franchise who was responsible for bringing the crew of writers together.
The panel didn’t have a lot to disclose at that time but rather shared that the initiative would cross genres from comic books to adult novels, YA, Middle Grade and Manga, with the potential to cross into video games and other types of media in the future.
The first book in Phase I of the initiative was Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. This book was released on January 5th, 2021 and became a New York Times Bestseller and quickly found a dedicated fanbase. This was followed by A Test of Courage, a middle grade novel by Justina Ireland and then on February 2nd, 2021, a Young Adult novel titled Into the Dark by Claudia Gray was released. Each phase of the series focuses on a specific event that then creates ripples in the lives of multiple characters, some of them are Jedi, some padawans and many just galactic citizens trying to live their lives.
These are also the three main books I would recommend getting a feel for The High Republic era but there is only one character in those three novels that will make an appearance.
There is also a cute, animated show called Young Jedi Adventures that will also introduce you to the life of a group of younglings in The High Republic era.
Though the books and the show that I have mentioned above are informational, it’s important to remember that The Acolyte is set in the later era of this golden age and thus will be a new experience for all fans. If you pick up Light of the Jedi and decide you want to read more of this era, check out this High Republic Reading Guide.
Look forward to Fantha Tracks coverage to guide you through this exciting new series.
- Hardcover Book
- Gratton, Tessa (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 448 Pages - 06/11/2024 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
