What To Expect From The High Republic Era Of Star Wars

Star Wars

May 3

Fans have recently enjoyed an abundance of new Star Wars projects on the horizon, a veritable embarrassment of riches including new video games, streaming series, and even a slate of new movies spanning a wide variety of points on the canon timeline. One of the most exciting pieces of news to emerge from these announcements is that these titles will finally introduce mainstream audiences to the “High Republic” era, which spans the timeline for roughly five hundred years before the prequel trilogy.

For a time after Disney acquired the IP, this era of Star Wars history was relegated to non-canon “Legends” status like the Old Republic era before it, but the last few years have seen the new expanded universe explore this era more thoroughly in a dense series of novels published by Del Rey and Disney-Lucasfilm Press, as well as comics published by Marvel. Soon, fans will have the opportunity to explore this richly developed but underrepresented period on screen and in live action.

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First, we have The Acolyte, an upcoming Disney+ series slated to release in 2024. The Acolyte will focus on the activities of the Sith in an era where they are still in hiding, as their Jedi adversaries are at the apex of their power. While a brief trailer aired (and was subsequently leaked) at Celebration, exact details on the series plot and characters remain scarce.

Even scarcer are details regarding Star Wars: Eclipse, currently in development by Quantic Dream of Heavy Rain, and Detroit: Become Human fame. While Eclipse’s trailer is perhaps even less informative than Acolyte’s, and plot specifics remain elusive, we can safely glean at least a few things.

Based on Quantic Dream’s past portfolio and what little information they have released to the press, we can reasonably assume that Eclipse will have a slick, cinematic presentation and feature an ensemble cast of main characters with a branching plot that hinges on player choices. Beyond that, we can do little more than speculate.

So with the specific information so thin on the ground, what can audiences expect to encounter in the High Republic era? Disney has tended to play fast and loose when it comes to questions of what does and does not remain canon from the Legends timeline, but we do have more recent materials to extrapolate from. With the franchise’s heavy focus on legacy characters such as Ahsoka Tano and Ezra Bridger, it’s reasonable to suppose stories set during the High Republic might return to recurring characters from the new novels such as Reath Silas or Vernestra Rwoh.

Additionally, despite Disney shelving most material set in the Old Republic era (though James Mangold’s untitled feature about the dawn of the Jedi Order may change this) we know from The Clone Wars that Darth Bane remains part of Star Wars history. Considering The Acolyte’s seeming focus on Sith characters in the interim between Bane’s era and the rise of the Galactic Empire, his establishment of the Rule of Two may be relevant to the show’s plot.

Yet some more familiar faces may show up in these or other future stories set during the High Republic era. Maz Kanata and Yoda both lived through the entire 400+ year span of the High Republic, and both have had their youthful adventures explored in various novels and comics set during and before this era. Yoda himself was even featured in Daniel José Older’s Star Wars: High Republic Adventures, published by IDW Comics. While the specific details of pre-Disney High Republic stories are less likely to survive the transition to full on-screen canonicity, future writers and directors may lift from them as needed, much as Star Wars: Rebels lifted Grand Admiral Thrawn from the pages of Timothy Zahn’s beloved novels.

In addition to old friends, the High Republic era may provide opportunities for creators and fans alike to visit old familiar locales in a new light. Audiences may have a chance to see Coruscant at the height of its wealth and power, Mandalore in an age before Clan Kryze embraced pacifism, or Kashyyk in a time before being ravaged by the Clone Wars or the years of Imperial oppression and exploitation that followed. We may see Moraband when it was still Korriban or Naboo in the days when it was still new to the Republic. With just a dash of creativity and persistence, they might even find a way to make Tattooine fresh again.

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