Could there be a better day to announce a book focusing on the wedding of Han Solo and Leia Organa than Valentine’s Day? No there couldn’t, and that book – Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis – will not only feature that wedding but their honeymoon, taken aboard the Halcyon starcruiser, the focal point of Galactic Starcruiser.
StarWars.com: How did you approach this story?
Beth Revis: The first thing I did was watch all three of the original movies again (how am I lucky enough that this is my job?!). My initial instinct was to focus on Return of the Jedi since this book picks up right after it, but as I dug into the story, I found myself watching The Empire Strikes Back on repeat. The emotional beats of Han and Leia’s relationship start to spin out in Empire — it’s not just the famous “I know,” line, but it’s the way Leia relates how she doesn’t trust Lando and Han responds with seriousness, the way their trust builds, all the moments that lead up to their confession of love. By the time Return of the Jedi picks up the story, Leia’s been left with that confession long enough to get comfortable with the idea of it. It’s one reason why the relationship between the two works — Leia was always going to be someone who had to think about something like love, and Han was always going to be someone who just followed his gut. The time lapse between those two movies helped them both evolve so that they’re on the same page by the time Han is unfrozen.
I took pages and pages of notes on their dialogue, their mannerisms, the subtle ways they interacted. Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are simply brilliant actors, and they gave me a lot to work with! I wanted this to be a story where the past was still present, but they were moving forward into new territory. It’s an emotional journey — the aftermath of war always is, but so is the new foundling steps of love.
August 16th is the arrival date of the book, so check your mail for an invite, be sure to scour the wedding list and remember – it’s only formal dress aboard the Halcyon.
- Hardcover Book
- Revis, Beth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 08/16/2022 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
