[Note: This post contains no spoilers for The Force Awakens.]
Now that The Force Awakens has surged into every multiplex in America, many franchise newbies and devoted Star Wars aficionados alike will likely be hungering for more tales set in a galaxy far, far away. Yet the next feature film in the franchise, Rogue One, is a year away, and Episode VIII won't appear until 2017. What's a geek to do in the meantime? In years past, a Star Wars fan in need of a galactic fix might dive into the staggering corpus of associated fiction—novels, comics, audio dramas, television series, video games, and more—referred to as the “expanded universe” (EU). The EU was a massive, complex, and often chaotic place, where Star Wars continuity at times took a backseat to fan service and authorial whim. For the Force novice, it could seem overwhelming.
That all changed on April 25, 2014. Star Wars' production company Lucasfilm wiped the slate clean, stamping the entirety of the EU with the non-canonical Legends brand. For die-hard fans, this was an epochal and contentious moment, but for Lucasfilm and parent company Disney, the move made perfect sense. The EU had become a daunting and convoluted mess; winning over a new generation of fans would necessitate a cleaner, more disciplined approach. From 2014 onward, almost every work of fiction produced under the Star Wars brand would be as canonical as the Episode I – VI feature films. This meant that the whole Star Wars universe would be harmonious, its consistency and continuity stringently overseen by Lucasfilm's “Keeper of the Holocron,” Leeland Chee.
If you're a fan who only recently became enamored with that universe, Lucasfilm's big reset button is a boon. It's made Star Wars fiction that lies outside the feature films more accessible. For longtime devotees, meanwhile, the reset has given the whole franchise a much-needed polish. (The uglier corners of the EU often seemed more akin to cheapjack fan fiction rather than official Star Wars stories.) George Lucas is foremost a creature of the cinema, but Star Wars itself has always possessed the rich potential of a medium-spanning saga. It's finally beginning to live up to that potential in a manner that resembles a truly modern, assured work of genre storytelling.
So what non-film Star Wars works of fiction are worth perusing? For starters, here are four top-shelf slices of the freshly canonical “new EU” to sink your teeth into.
1. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV Series)
Whatever his directorial talents, one of George Lucas' enduring legacies is his aptitude for imaginative world-building. And however low Episodes I – III sunk in terms of acting and story, they succeeded smashingly in expanding the richness and scope of the Star Wars universe. While the Jedi and the Force are the fictional lynchpins of the franchise, it's the details that bolster the saga's distinct sci-fi fantasy flavor: bizarre aliens, sinister factions, striking starships, and fantastical planets.
The Cartoon Network's animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a six-season feast of such crunchy details. Launching in 2008, Clone Wars preceded Lucasfilm's 2014 table-clearing, but the series has the distinction of being the only “old” creation other than the films that stands as Star Wars canon. Harkening back to the theatrical serials and WWII-era newsreels of the early 20th century, Clone Wars is set in the war-torn years between Episodes II and III. Focusing primarily on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Anakin's previously-unmentioned apprentice Ahsohka Tano, the show swoops around the galaxy, providing glimpses of the numerous battles between the Galactic Republic and Separatist Confederacy. Never mind that the entire war is just a series of chess moves by Chancellor Palpatine (a.k.a., the Sith Lord Darth Sidious), and that it will culminate in the near-extermination of the Jedi. Clone Wars is Exhibit A for Orson Welles' adage that a happy ending depends on where you stop the story.
Compared to Lucas' films, showrunner Dave Filoni (Avatar: The Last Airbender) and his team arguably do a superior job of capturing the classic action-adventure tone that originally inspired Star Wars. Just as vitally, Clone Wars answers many of the questions raised by the prequel features, and even patches some of their more glaring plot holes. What truly makes the series impressive, however, is how much variety Lucasfilm crams into the basic premise of a kid-friendly war story. There are plenty of action-packed, tactics-focused episodes that echo Band of Brothers, portraying in detail how the Jedi and clone troopers tackle challenging battlefield scenarios. Yet there are also chapters focused on training, politics, diplomacy, espionage, and the Force itself. Some of the show's best multi-episode story arcs focus entirely on the clones, and conjuring solid character drama from squads of genetically identical soldiers is an undeniably impressive achievement. Packed with astonishing settings and memorable new characters—ruthless, slippery bounty hunter Cad Bane is a favorite—Clone Wars is a towering heap of Star Wars thrills that can be savored in bite-sized morsels. (All 121 episodes are streaming now on Netflix. It's best to disregard the 2008 Clone Wars animated feature film.)
2. Star Wars: Rebels (TV Series)
The sprawling scope of Clone Wars can at times be a drawback: It's a relatively dense show, teeming with characters, locales, and subplots. The Disney XD animated series Star Wars: Rebels narrows the focus to a single band of nascent revolutionaries on a far-flung planet, illustrating that Star Wars doesn't have to be a system-hopping epic. It works just as well as a small-scale story of heroism. Set five years prior to the events of Episode IV, the series follows the crew of the freighter starship Ghost: a ragtag band of outcasts who spend their time monkey-wrenching the Imperial garrisons on and around the Outer Rim planet of Lothal. In order to capture a distinct, proto-New Hope look, the show's design is based partly on Ralph McQuarrie's iconic concept drawings for Lucas' original film, which lends the series a “Not Long Ago...” atmosphere. The viewer's surrogate within the show is Force-sensitive street kid Ezra Bridger, but the appeal of Rebels lies in the larger dynamic between the Ghost's colorful crew members and in their often semi-improvised efforts to sabotage the Empire. It is, in essence, a family-friendly variation on “The Rat Patrol” set in space.
A full-fledged Rebellion with its own military and intelligence apparatus hasn't yet coalesced at the time of Rebels, but the series is intriguing in part because it realizes the Rebel-Imperial struggle in miniature. Major franchise characters eventually make appearances, but it's the sense that the viewer is peeking in on one small, relatively obscure fragment of a wider conflict that makes the show so appealing. Funnier, cuddlier, and more crudely animated than Clone Wars, Rebels nonetheless provides a vital, sobering glimpse of Imperial cruelty at the height of the Emperor's power, characterized by pitiless justice, arbitrary violence, and human-centric racism. The show also upends expectations through its many unusual characters: a half-trained Padawan-in-hiding who escaped Episode III's Order 66; a spunky graffiti artist from Boba Fett's militaristic home world of Mandalore; and an astromech droid who is churlish rather than cuddly. What viewers will find familiar, however, is the glimmer of hope from Episode IV, the notion that even the mightiest evil is not invincible. (Season One is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.)
3. Star Wars (Comic)
One of the effects of Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm has been to place Star Wars under the same roof as Marvel Comics. This set the stage for the 2015 return of Star Wars comics to Marvel, which had long been the home of the saga's EU graphic stories in the 1970s and 80s. Marvel has wasted no time, publishing several limited series this year focusing on individual Star Wars characters, as well as two ongoing titles. One of these, simply titled Star Wars, is set shortly after the end of Episode IV, and follows the familiar cast of Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and others as they continue the struggle against a wounded but resurgent Empire. At the most fundamental level, the appeal of the Star Wars comic rests on the thrill of seeing the old gang from Episodes IV - VI in their glossy prime, fighting the good fight against Imperial forces in heretofore unseen adventures.
The essence of each character is preserved and parsimoniously conveyed on the page: Leia is still a no-nonsense warrior princess, Han is still a charming scoundrel, and C-3PO is still a perpetually griping prig. However, writer Jason Aaron (The Other Side) and artist John Cassaday intuit what makes the title's post-IV setting specifically intriguing, and adjust their portraiture accordingly. For example, Luke has not yet received his preliminary Jedi training from Master Yoda, meaning that he is essentially still a backwater pilot with a lightsaber he doesn't know how to wield properly. Han Solo's presence on the Rebel side at the Battle of Yavin remains a secret in many corners of the galaxy, meaning that The Millennium Falcon's captain can exploit his smuggler persona to the Rebellion's advantage. Darth Vader, meanwhile, is not yet a tragic figure, but an unstoppable and terrifying force of evil, a dragon whose appearance on the battlefield typically prompts one reaction from the Rebel companions: Run.
Such rigorous attention to character and the saga's timeline is the most satisfying aspect of the new Star Wars comic, but the series is also replete with gritty action, wry humor, and fascinating locales both familiar and fresh. Aaron and Cassaday throw in just enough fan service to exhilarate veteran Star Wars geeks without bogging the series down and sacrificing its fleet, pulpy atmosphere. While Disney's publishing arms have released several Star Wars novels since 2014, the theatrical flashiness of the comic medium is particularly suited to the franchise's sensibility, and Star Wars is Marvel's fittingly grand flagship for the saga's print incarnation.
4. Star Wars: Shattered Empire (Comic)
Much of what Marvel's Star Wars comic does right, the publisher's four-issue limited series Shattered Empire arguably does better. Part of Disney's “Journey to the Force Awakens” multi-medium imprint, Star Wars: Shattered Empire overlaps slightly with the conclusion of Episode VI, depicting the space and ground fronts in the Battle of Endor from an alternate perspective. The series's likable Rebel heroes, Shara and Kes, are worth the series' cover price all on their own. Shara is an A-wing starfighter pilot who covers The Millennium Falcon's flight into the reactor core of the Death Star II, while Kes serves in General Han Solo's Pathfinders, battling Stormtroopers alongside Ewoks on the surface of the forest moon. Not only are Shara and Kes that (previously) rarest of species in Star Wars, protagonists of color, they are a married couple who want to start a family. Their backgrounds provide writer Greg Rucka (Queen & Country) and artist Marco Checchetto with an uncommon opportunity to delve into aspects of the Rebellion that have not been explored, such as the separation engendered by wartime duty.
As in Marvel's ongoing Star Wars series, Shattered Empire is rewarding in part because it utilizes the precise moment of its setting to such fine effect. Much of the series' success rests on the thoroughness and insight with which the authors have tackled the series' premise: What happened after the end of Return of the Jedi? The death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the Death Star II provide an opportunity for the Rebellion to take a deep exhale, but the moment of respite quickly passes. When a new day dawns, the battles continue to rage, as the far-flung remnants of the Imperial military hunker down in their strongholds and prepare for a scorched-earth war of attrition. Through Shara and Kes, Shattered Empire fantastically conveys the exhaustion that clings to the Rebellion after so many years of war, as wells as the despair that wells up when it becomes apparent that the conflict is not truly over.
Moreover, the series cunningly weaves in connections to the films—even unloved Episodes I – III—in ways that deepen iconic characters. The Emperor's death, for example, triggers contingencies that the Sith Lord put in place long ago, including a horrifying scheme to scour all life from his own home world of Naboo as an act sheer spite. Forgotten events such as Darth Maul's murder of Qui-Gon Jinn and the burning of the Jedi Temple echo through Shattered Empire's story, creating the sort of credible connective tissue that is often absent in the films. In this way, the series makes a perfect prelude to the The Force Awakens' embrace of both old and ne
