Matthew McConaughey Cited As Main Influence For New 'The High Republic' Character
After much speculation and fanfare, the Star Wars: The High Republic novels and comics have started releasing. The highly anticipated series is set two hundred years before the events of The Phantom Menace, and feature, thankfully, new characters for readers to enjoy. The series begins with the novel Light of the Jedi, which introduces the catalyst for the events of the later books called "The Great Disaster." Given that it's Star Wars.
One of the upcoming books, Claudia Gray's young adult novel Into the Dark, will center around a Jedi Padawan and a ship full of colorful characters that no doubt get into wacky adventures. Gray is well known in the Star Wars fandom for creating some of the best Star Wars novels out there, and she was a part of the launch event for the novels, revealing a new character that she was rather excited about. Someone who wasn't a Han Solo knockoff (heaven forbid a Star Wars project rips off a character from the original trilogy) and was a distinct character on his own.
So, who did she pick as her inspiration?
Why, Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, of course.
To be fair, his career has varied, especially in the last decade, but Gray is focusing on his early career. Gray explained:
"I didn't want to do somebody that was gonna be just like Han Solo. And I definitely didn't want to Diet Han Solo. He's kind of a rogue, but he's less interesting.
So what is a template for a pilot who has some of this scoundrel energy and isn't Han Solo at all? And somehow my brain was like, 'you need to give 1990s Matthew McConaughey a spaceship and see what would happen.'
"That unfolds as you might think, in ways that are glorious and maybe a little bit less so."
Having characters based on celebrities is nothing new. The titular character of Disney's Aladdin was based on Tom Cruise, for example. However, it will be interesting to see how much of the actor comes across in her work. McConaughey is an incredibly well-known actor, but isn't somebody with instantly recognizable character traits. That fact will ultimately work out for her, even though she's said who her inspiration is. He can be varied enough that he's still his own character as opposed to us just imagining, as she said, 1990s Matthew McConaughey in a spaceship.
Overall, it will be interesting to see what the novels will hold for us, and the inspiration for one of the main characters is an interesting bit of trivia. The main positive is that she's not just writing a knockoff of Han Solo, even though he may be filling a similar role. The books are sure to have an interesting variety of characters, all with their own draws. It would be interesting to know if any other characters were based off of popular celebrities. I think that a Star Wars character that was largely inspired by Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted would be quite something.
Though, all things considered, it's probably for the best that she based her character off of early McConaughey. If she based him off of some of his later roles, it would certainly make for a far different character. Who knows, though? There are going to be a lot of books, and if he's a consistent character, he might have an arc none of us see coming. After being delayed for a few months, Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark will be released February 2, 2021.
Source(s): The Direct