Star Wars Delays The Release of The High Republic

John F. Trent |

May 26, 2020

Star Wars announced there will be delays to their The High Republic publishing initiative.

Lucasfilm Publishing Creative Director Michael Siglain announced the initiative would be delayed almost half a year to January 2021.

He wrote, “Given these unprecedented times, we have made the decision to move the launch of Star Wars: The High Republic to January 2021 to ensure that the launch is as grand and epic as it deserves to be.”

Star Wars: The High Republic was announced in February where they detailed it would take place 200 years before the events of the Phantom Menace. Vice President of Franchise Content and Strategy James Waugh explained it as a “Golden Age where there is much more peace and calm in the galaxy. So we are calling it The High Republic.”

Waugh added, “The description that we’ve used for the Jedi of this era is that they are the Jedi Knights of the Round Table.”

He continued, “It’s a bit of a Wild West, new frontier. We see a different kind of Jedi that patrols the frontiers and is more of a Texas Ranger.”

The story is expected to be told through a number of publishing initiatives.

Waugh explained, “We are building this out simultaneously across multiple publishers and it gives us the ability to tell vast interconnected stories across multiple years.”

The publishers announced in February included Disney Lucasfilm Press, Del Rey, Marvel, IDW, Titan Magazines, Abrams, B&M! Books, Viz Media, DK, and Insight Editions.

Siglain reaffirmed this description writing, “Star Wars: The High Republic is a massive, interconnected, cross-publisher initiative that will establish an all-new era of Star Wars storytelling. Set 200 years before the events of the prequel trilogy, this mega-story will give readers and Star Wars fans of every age an entry point into The High Republic – a time of galactic renaissance, when the Jedi Knights were at their height.”

The first publishing initiative to come out of The High Republic would be a novel titled Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. It was originally announced to be available on August 25 from Del Rey.

So when does #ProjectLuminous begin? Coming August 25th:

LIGHT OF THE JEDI. The first novel of the High Republic.

Written by Charles Soule.

— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) February 25, 2020

That will not be the case as Siglain announced the delay.

Despite the delay, Siglain did indicate they are still working on creating new The High Republic stories. He stated, “And while I still can’t say much about it, I can tell you that our story architects – Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Cavan Scott, and Charles Soule – are continuing to work away on this new era of stories.”

He then added more details would be released about some of these stories in the Summer, “You’ll hear from them this summer,, and when you do, be sure to ask them about “The Hero of Hetzal,” “the twins,” the “Blade of Bardotta,” the Starros and San Tekka clans, and the Storms. You’re not going to believe what they’ve got in store for the Jedi and the Republic.”

You can see the full announcement concerning the delay below.