A few months ago, Lucasfilm unveiled Star Wars: The High Republic, a series of tie-in novels and comics set 200 years before The Phantom Menace that opened up a brand new era of Star Wars stories. And although the first set of books were set to debut later this summer and this fall, we’ll have to wait a little longer for our introduction to this brand new world.
On Tuesday, Lucasfilm announced new release dates for three of its initial High Republic titles. Charles Soule’s Light of the Jedi and Justina Ireland’s A Test of Courage will be released on Jan. 5, 2021 while Claudia Gray’s Into the Dark will now be published on Feb. 2, 2021. New release dates for Marvel and IDW’s High Republic titles will arrive in the future.
Lucasfilm is citing “general marketplace delays” for the reason behind the new release dates for The High Republic, making it yet another property delayed due to the coronavirus; although the publishing industry hasn’t completely stopped, Marvel was one of several comics publishers affected by the pandemic. The High Republic was also set to launch at Star Wars Celebration in August, which has yet to be canceled in relation to the pandemic.
In a letter posted to the official Star Wars website, Lucasfilm Publishing creative director Michael Siglain wrote that pushing the launch back to January 2021 was to “ensure that the launch is as grand and epic as it deserves to be” while offering a few bread crumbs for fans to chew over.
“Now, I know that waiting isn’t easy,” Siglain wrote. “And I know fans have been excited for this since it was first announced. I’m right there with you. I’ve also been waiting to tell this story for years. And while I still can’t say much about it, I can tell you that our story architects—Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Cavan Scott, and Charles Soule—are continuing to work away on this new era of stories. You’ll hear from them this summer, and when you do, be sure to ask them about ‘The Hero of Hetzal,’ ‘the twins,’ the ‘Blade of Bardotta,’ the Starros and San Tekka clans, and the Storms. You’re not going to believe what they’ve got in store for the Jedi and the Republic.”