Next Star Wars Saga to Be Four Hundred Years in the Past

We’ve all heard the rumors:  The Next Star Wars Trilogy is going to take place during the time period known as “The High Republic Era.”  MakingStarWars.net, a site known for previously breaking accurate behind-the-scenes information, leaked the details earlier this year.  Other sources refer to “Project Luminous” which appears to be one in the same. But what is the “High Republic Era?” And what else do we know about “Project Luminous?”

The entire timeline of the Star Wars universe is long. To make things a bit easier, it is broken down into Eras which are commonly defined by the major government at the time. The one everyone is familiar with from the Original Trilogy is the Imperial Era beginning when Palpatine declares the Galactic Empire in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith until the Rebel Alliance destroyed the 2nd Death Star in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Before and after that are the Republic and New Republic eras respectively, the latter of which came to an end with the First Order’s attack in Episode VII: The Force Awakens and the destruction of the Hosnian system which at the time housed the New Republic’s government. The most popular era that hasn’t been actively featured under the Disney banner is the Old Republic Era, the setting for several popular video games, but yet to be the feature of a tv show or movie. Most of its canon has just been in lines of dialogue, references in comics, and other reference material. Similarly, the High Republic has also only been spoken of in flashbacks and dialogue references, primarily in “Dooku: Jedi Lost”, an audiobook which details the titular Jedi’s departure from the Order and “The Rise of Kylo Ren”, a comic that follows Ben Solo/Kylo Ren following his destruction of Luke Skywalker’s temple in the sequel trilogy and his seeking out Snoke. Nestled somewhere between the creation of the Old Republic and the rise of the Galactic Republic, is the High Republic. Here’s what little is known about it:

• • It was a period of great expansion for the Jedi Order which saw their duties throughout the galaxy explode.
  • There was some amount of exploration of “the Unknown Regions” by the High Republic, an area of the galaxy that has been featured more and more over time. Previously the hideout of the mysterious Sith Emperor of the Knights of the Old Republic games, and eventually the cloning lab/base of operations for Palpatine and The Final Order as depicted in Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
  • A Padawan by the name of Klias Teradine was expelled from the Jedi Order due to their discovery of the “Bogan Collection”, the various Sith-related or Sith-owned items in a forbidden vault inside the Jedi temple on Coruscant.

Beyond that, it’s an almost completely blank slate that allows writers to be completely unchained from the constraints of the previous Disney and Lucas trilogies.

Further rumors covered by Ziro.hu seem to point towards the High Republic project being connected to “Project Luminous”. Details for Luminous are sparse as well, but it was officially announced during Star Wars Celebration in 2019. At its most basic, Project Luminous is an attempt by several experienced writers to tell separate but related stories which add up to a coherent story in the Star Wars setting. An appropriate comparison might be a book version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The Lucasfilm Story Group, frequently referred to as simply “the Story Group”, is reportedly assisting with Project Luminous, although likely just to keep all the various lore consistent with canon. Ziro, however, is suggesting that the setting for the entire project will be a few hundred years before the Skywalker stories, which could put it into “High Republic” territory. They’re also stating that it’s going to be a multimedia project with the first official product being a video game. 

While the MCU has been a tremendous effort by hundreds of people to make 23 movies and a few TV shows, not including the ones scheduled to come out on Disney+, trying to manage an IP to this degree would be an equally impressive feat on par with Marvel Phase 1, maybe even more so with tying in Comics and Books. It could be a real feast for fans who want to dig deep into characters, settings, and lore.  The appeal of that also makes a lot of sense for a company that might be looking to get away from all the expectations people had about previously established content. Similar to how The Old Republic games had their own largely empty era in which to create their highly successful games.