‘Star Wars’ Month: The Galaxy’s Future Lies In The High Republic’s Past

Welcome to Star Wars month at Comicon.com!

All through May, the team will talk about, perhaps, the greatest genre franchise of all time. We will also celebrate the 49th anniversary of the original Star Wars, the 2026 Star Wars Day, and the debut of the franchise’s first theatrical film since 2019 — Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu.

I’ve loved Star Wars since being introduced to the franchise about thirty years ago. I was a voracious reader, so once I saw the original trilogy, I dove into the expanded universe (though strangely I’ve still yet to have read Timothy Zahn’s Heir of the Empire trilogy). The Prequels were a joy to get, even with its flaws. Really, Star Wars is one of my great fandom loves.

Unfortunately, after the Disney acquisition, I’ve burned out. Disney’s initial output was strong, but starting with The Mandalorian, it became so much that it was overwhelming. The other issue: the obsession with the past — specifically the plot threads of the past, the Dark versus the Light, Sith versus Jedi.

However, one element of Disney’s new Star Wars universe was engaging, and had its hooks in me from the jump. It’s frankly the concept that Star Wars needs to consider to survive.

Early in 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Star Wars: The High Republic launched. It was a multi-pronged project, encompassing virtually every non-motion form of media. There were adult novels, picture books, comics for teen plus readers and for all ages, and young adult novels. And best of all, they were very good.

The High Republic was an era about 200 years before the Skywalker Saga. It was a time far enough removed that it didn’t have prequel-itis, where we knew this character would survive and that one wouldn’t, removing the stakes for the story. (Though admittedly, Yoda was a main character in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, he also wasn’t a major focus overall.)

The characters were interesting too. Jedi Marshal Avar Kriss was an instantly engaging central character, as was others like Elgar Mann and Sskeer. Hell, I think in one of my reviews of Marvel’s Star Wars: The High Republic, I called that series’ lead character Keeve Trennis the best new Jedi since Ahsoka Tano.

And one of the best parts of the story was the antagonists, the Nihil. Though at first, they appeared to be a network of violent space pirates, they gradually revealed themselves to be something more, something scarier. They were well thought out, well developed, and had strong motivations. And while they were able to use Force-related “weapons” against the Jedi, there wasn’t a single Force user among them.

Best of all, the Nihil weren’t just the Empire or Sith of this era. They were something new and wholly different.

Frankly, in the course of the story’s three-to-four year journey, it demonstrated what the Star Wars universe needed to do to thrive again. Right now, the franchise is stuck in a rut. The television/streaming side of the saga is set in an era that’s a mixture of the greatest hits featuring several creatives’ pet characters and new projects that just aren’t finding their audience. The movie side isn’t quite sure what it wants to be, with this year’s release set in the post-Empire reconstruction era, and next year’s Star Wars: Starfighter set in the post-First Order reconstruction era.

But The High Republic revealed to readers what Star Wars can be if it just tried something fresh within the universe. It took elements that we know and love — specifically the Jedi Order — gave it a fresh coat of paint, and then put the Order up against something completely unlike anything we’ve seen in the franchise before or since.

I miss loving Star Wars. I want to be excited about it again. And I think The High Republic gave Disney the model to follow that can achieve that.