Since Disney bought Lucasfilm and we were told to throw out what we knew about the Star Wars expanded universe, everyone knew that a total ret-con was coming and it looks like we will get a look at those new stories sooner than we thought. Lucasfilm has announced via Entertainment Weekly that they plan to release at least 20 new books that will give fans a look at what was going on in the 32 years between the Return of the Jedi and the Force Awakens. These books will range from novels intended for adults to storybooks and sticker books intended for young children (and their parents, of course). These stories will in no way follow the previously released "expanded universe" of Star Wars stories that were discarded once Disney bought the franchise.
“The Force Awakens is an extraordinarily, heavily guarded storyline. To track it, a lot of top-secret meetings were happening up in San Francisco as we worked through this program,” says Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. The company is managing the release through its own imprints as well as at least seven outside companies, among them sci-fi publisher Del Rey, DK, and Marvel Comics.
Multiple publishers will release the books and most storyline information is still being kept under tight security in preparation for the major film release of the Force Awakens. Some already confirmed titles and storylines include Star Wars: Aftermath, which will probably deal with what happened directly following ROTJ, Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens, which will be released by Marvel Comics, as well as Star Wars: Ships of the Galaxy, which will be a technical manual for Star Wars vehicles. The goal is not only to indulge Star Wars fans but to also attract the YA generation of readers to the new movies.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to this or is it too much Star Wars already??