We still don’t know what Project Luminous is — and that’s a problem

Star Wars’ Project Luminous details will be revealed on February 24 — almost a year after it was first officially announced.

On April 15, 2019, Lucasfilm Publishing announced a top-secret initiative — details forthcoming — and called it Project Luminous.

Over the months that followed, we learned who was involved — Claudia Gray, Cavan Scott, and other notable Star Wars writers. We learned it was happening in 2020 and that it would involve Lucasfilm Publishing, Marvel, Del Rey (who publishes the majority of Star Wars books), and IDW Publishing (who publishes the rest). And we learned it has nothing to do with any future movies or video games.

And that’s about it.

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Fans have been speculating about this “secret” project ever since we learned it was happening. Rumors have surfaced about the High Republic era, about a Certain Point of View-type anthology connected to The Empire Strikes Back. Theories are about as “out there” as the real details could be.

Or not. Who knows?

We will, apparently, on February 24. Almost a year after the project’s title and writers were revealed.

As Star Wars fans, most of us are used to keeping our expectations on the neutral setting so we can take what we get with gratitude and enjoy the ride. But at this point, it’s impossible not to give in to the hype. They just keep hyping it up. They’ve been doing it since APRIL.

While it’s true that many projects are announced a year or more before they become accessible to us, it’s not very often we’re kept completely in the dark about the details of a major project like this for so long. Even though we don’t know much about the Kenobi series yet, for example, we at least know it’s going to be a show about Kenobi made for Disney+.

We don’t even know what we’re getting with Project Luminous. We don’t know the era or even how many books/comics/other materials we can expect. Every announcement we’ve gotten since April has revealed when we can expect to get more details.

It’s too much. It’s gone on too long. As excited as so many of us are for the “big reveal” next week, there’s no doubt plenty of us are going to end up disappointed. How can you not build this thing up to your wildest imagination in your head when you know nothing about what to expect?

You can call it marketing if you want to. But it’s not well-executed marketing. You can’t keep dragging something like this out for this long and expect everyone to still be fully on board by the time that big reveal drops.

At this point, I’d be happy with one new book and a comic series or two, but that’s not much compared to what they’re making it out to be.

If you were expecting TV show and similar tie-ins, you can let those hopes go. But at least we’ll all have some new Star Wars things to read … by the end of the year, probably, based on how long it’s taken them just to tell us when we’ll find out what we’re getting.

Check back here on February 24 for a breakdown of all the Project Luminous details you’ve been waiting for.