Star Wars: The High Republic books delayed

Photo: Star Wars: The High Republic Jedi Concept Art.. Image Courtesy Disney Publishing Worldwide
Photo: Star Wars: The High Republic Jedi Concept Art.. Image Courtesy Disney Publishing Worldwide

The High Republic’s anticipated release will be delayed into 2021, as a result of  current logistical issues.

The Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative has been delayed, Lucasfilm Publishing has announced. Citing “general marketplace delays”, the initial August 2020 window has been revised to January 2021.

Charles Soules’ Light of the Jedi, and Christina Ireland’s A Test of Courage will simultaneously release on January 5, 2021. Claudia Gray’s Into the Dark now releases on February 2, 2021.

Further release dates, for Marvel’s High Republic series and IDW Publishing’s High Republic Adventures series, will be announced in the near future.

Lucasfilm apologizes for Star Wars: The High Republic delays

In an open letter to fans, Lucasfilm Publishing’s Creative Director, Michael Siglain, apologized for the delays and expressed his own personal disappointments. He did, however, tease an imminent announcement to tide us over in the meantime. Referring to “The Hero of Hetzal”, “the twins”, and the “Blade of Bardotta”, among others, Siglain suggested we would hear from the authors tied to the project “this summer”.

While information about the project has been sparse to this point, we do know a handful of details. Character names, designs, and general context was provided in a short trailer in February of this year.

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This news is, while somewhat disappointing, completely understandable. The greatly anticipated project has been in the front of our minds for some time, and having to wait a few months more to truly embrace the era will be difficult.

The world is, however, adapting to an event unprecedented in modern times, and delays such as this are almost inevitable.

Despite these delays, it doesn’t appear there will be any to other titles to be released before the end of the year. Queen’s Peril and Shadowfall, by E.K. Johnston and Alexander Freed respectively, are slated for a June 2020 release, Alex Segura’s Poe Dameron: Free Fall is scheduled for August 2020, and the first title in Timothy Zahn’s latest Thrawn trilogy, Chaos Rising, will release in October.

What are you most looking forward to from The High Republic stories?