REPORT: Is 'Star Wars' Planning On Bringing 'The High Republic' To The Big Screen?
If there's one thing in the Star Wars franchise that's been consistently high quality from where it started to where it is now, it's The High Republic. The massive publishing initiative began in back 2021 and is about to enter its second wave this year. With involvement from acclaimed Star Wars authors including Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Charles Soule, and Cavan Scott, the line of novels and comics has excellently fleshed out the Star Wars galaxy 200 years prior to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, with new characters, locations, aliens, and villains in the forms of the Nihil, Drengir and various criminal syndicates.
In addition to fleshing out the franchise in ways never seen before, the publishing line has garnered praise for its representations of plus-sized, disabled, gay, transgender, and asexual characters and covering topics like mental health that live-action and animated Star Wars projects are still sorely lacking. Needless to say, The High Republic has been a game-changer for the entire franchise. Unfortunately, this has led to many fans questioning whether or not we will see this particular era of Star Wars represented onscreen.
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Speculation around this idea initially kicked off with the announcement of Lucasfilm's future Star Wars streaming series, The Acolyte. Headed by renowned television director, producer, and screenwriter Leslye Headland, The Acolyte, has been described as a series exploring the dark side of the Star Wars galaxy set during the final days of the High Republic era. With such an early confirmation of The High Republic's role in one of Lucasfilm's various upcoming series, it is fair to guess that the company is looking to explore the still young era even more thoroughly via television and possibly even films.
This brings us to a very recent rumor that has just begun to make waves throughout the Star Wars fandom. The rumor in question comes from known pop culture news site Cinelinx and reports that Lucasfilm is currently developing a live-action series set during the High Republic era. According to the rumor, the series will star a cast of pre-teen and teenage protagonists and have many of the writers and creatives from the High Republic's publishing line be directly involved in its writing and production.
Whether this rumor ends up being true or not, the concept alone is extremely exciting to me. A live-action series taking place during the days of the High Republic has nearly limitless possibilities for the kinds of stories and characters it can tackle with what has been previously established for the era. Plus, if many of the publishing line's authors are to be given a role in developing the series, that will only help it feel even more consistent and in line with the High Republic era. But, of course, time will tell how this affects the jump back 150 years before Light of the Jedi and the new group of writers that are joining later in 2022.
The High Republic continues to be one of the best publishing lines that Star Wars as a franchise has produced. The new concepts and ideas it has brought to the table have allowed the universe to evolve and flourish in comics and novels in ways never previously seen. So the possibility of a series set within that era with the same creatives involved has me highly optimistic. Hopefully, Lucasfilm will continue to take lessons from the success of The High Republic and push the boundaries of its content in ways that will enrich the franchise and help it to grow and become more powerful than any of us can possibly imagine.
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Source(s): CBR