In my capacity as a Lead Writer for the worlds longest running sci-fi publication Starburst Magazine, I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Kai Brightstar himself Jamaal Avery Jr. and producer Michael Olson about Young Jedi Adventures which is due to return with six news episodes on 2nd August on Disney Plus.
Michael, as the show develops, we get to meet new characters, and one of those has been the pilot Nash Durango and her droid RJ-83. Is the hope over time to grow from this core group of characters and to other locations away from Tenoo?
MO: The lead of the show is Kai Brightstar, and he will always be the anchor and centre of the show, and secondarily, we’ve got Nubs and Nash to round that out, but we will certainly get to know new characters and younglings as they’re introduced to the temple as well as dastardly bad guys who become part of the world. There are definitely more relationships to be built. Kai gets to be involved with some of our secondary characters, which will lead to some interesting payoffs down the line, but the show is really focused on these core four characters.
Hopefully, down the line, there will be more ancillary products being released, so are you happy for other avenues to tell stories set during the era of Young Jedi Adventures?
MO: Oh, yeah, I’m so thrilled. I grew up playing with Star Wars action figures, and they were always second-hand or hand-me-downs from cousins or whatever, so that was primarily how I engaged with Star Wars. We had one VHS copy of it, which I could only watch at certain times, so I’m thrilled with the idea that there are action figures and toys so that kids can make up their own stories and extend their experience with our show because that’s what I did when I was a kid. In terms of the books, I love that stuff. My son is reading the latest book, well, I’m reading it to him at night. I love that the show gets to exist within the Star Wars ecosystem, so to speak. Jamaal mentioned the Young Jedi video games on Disney Now, so that’s part of the fun, seeing the toys, the books, and the video games; I’m here for it all and excited that people want to take these characters in different avenues.
