'Star Wars': 20 new books will link 'Return of the Jedi' to 'The Force Awakens'

So much of Star Wars lore is told in the comic books and novels, but now that over 30 years worth of stories have been wiped from the record, Disney and Lucasfilm get to start from scratch. There’s a report that the studios plan on publishing at least 20 novels to fill in all that lost time.

Entertainment Weekly reported on Monday that the books will let fans know what Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia have been up to in the 32 years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The novels will also foreshadow events in the new movie.

Disney and Lucasfilm announced in April 2014 that none of the previously published Expanded Universe comics and novels will be considered canon. That way, the writers and directors of the new movie won’t have to try to work in characters created by other writers. From now on, official SW canon only includes the six movies, the animated series Rebels, Marvel’s new comics and these new novels.

The writers of the upcoming novels have had meetings with the film team to make sure everything matches. Disney and Lucasfilm did not reveal who will write any of these novels.

However, EW reports that one novel is called Aftermath, which will be published by Del Rey and is both an epilogue to the Original Trilogy and a prequel to the new films. Marvel is also going to publish Journey to the Force Awakens, which will be told from C-3PO’s perspective.

There will also be a series of novels that retell the Original Trilogy films from different perspectives.

Interestingly, none of these announced projects are set during the prequel era. It looks like Disney is leaving that era for the cartoons.

The Force Awakens hits theaters on Dec. 18.

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