Everything to know about Star Wars: The High Republic

One of the most ambitious and large-scale Star Wars stories happening right now hasn’t been on Disney Plus or in movie theaters — at least, not yet. It’s the High Republic, a massive multimedia project set centuries before the movies telling an ambitious, large-scale story about a different era of Jedi Knights facing a different kind of menace than fans have seen before. With the upcoming series, Disney Plus will soon have the High Republic. The AcolyteThis has brought a new wave of Star Wars fans to the latest corner of Star Wars history.

With this specific and fairly new era of Star Wars history about to get its TV close-up, there’s no better time to dive into this impressively huge — and still ongoing — story.

The High Republic: What does it mean?

The High Republic, a vast publishing venture from Lucasfilm, consists of countless books, comics and audio dramas set in an unexplored period of Star Wars history. It is a varied collection of stories that will focus on characters reacting to major, non-stop events.

Lucasfilm

While the High Republic is mainly overseen by a brain trust of authors writing its stories, it’s also similar to a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, like the Forgotten Realms or Planescape: a self-contained chunk of a very popular whole, one that’s ripe for exploration across all sorts of media. The High Republic will soon be shown on the screen in the upcoming Disney Plus serious. The Acolyte.

What time is the High Republic established?

The majority of the action took place around 200 years ago. The Phantom Menace. These stories are meant to represent what was effectively the final golden age of Jedi Order before institutional decay that rendered it so weak and ready for destruction by Emperor Palpatine at the time of The Clone WarsThe prequel trilogy.

High Republic stories focus on Jedi as diplomats at their best, making the case for both defense and community building through strong allies like the Order. In these stories, the Jedi are ideologically aligned but also diverse — there is a code, sure, but they’re all still pretty human and dynamic characters.

Image: Disney Lucasfilm Press

It’s far enough in the past to feel very different from the Star Wars fans know, but close enough to have a lot of recognizable people and places. Yoda is, however, still very present, being a 700-something. It’s also an era that keeps many centuries between itself and the Old Republic era, as to not infringe on another popular setting.

Is the High Republic a good idea?

The short version is simple: If the High Republic is supposed to be an era where the Jedi were at their very best, then someone’s gotta make them prove it. Marchion Ro is that person.

Marchion is an initial member of a group of space pirates. However, Marchion Ro gradually executes a plan that will make the Nihil more terrifying and his entire gang under his complete control. Piracy gives way to terrorism and all-out war, as the Jedi are blindsided by the Nihil’s attacks and slowly begin to unravel Marchion Ro’s true motivations.

Image: Marvel Comics/Lucasfilm

The Jedi’s struggle against the Nihil forms the spine of the High Republic, but as the High Republic consists of multiple novels, comics, and other media, there is MoreThere is more to come.

How do I dive in?

Even though the High Republic is only two years old, there’s already a staggering number of stories set within it. They can be tackled by learning how release structures work, as well as following your interests.

The High Republic is broken up into three “phases,” Each phase lasts approximately one year. Within each phase, there are three “waves,” which generally contain at least one new release from every major publishing category: an adult novel, a YA novel, a middle grade installment, a comic book story arc, and so on.

This can seem overwhelming, but in execution it’s easier to make sense of. The High Republic, in essence, is a trio of trilogies with adult novels as the story spine to which all other stories connect.

Phase I was centered around the introduction trilogy. The Light of the JediCharles Soule Rising StormCavan Scott. Fallen StarClaudia Gray. Here is where to start.

Once you’ve read the Phase I trilogy of adult novels, root around for whatever else interests you from that phase — many find the YA novels just as compelling, if not more so, than the adult ones, and Marvel’s main High RepublicThe ongoing comic series are designed to compliment the novels well. Keep Wookieepedia’s exhaustive chart of High Republic releases handy so you don’t get ahead of yourself in the narrative — as Phase II, the current phase, is a prequel to Phase I.

It is a lot.

You can! It is possible to make good use of the library card, even if it costs you a lot. The High Republic, according to fans’ guides, is an immersive experience that can prove rewarding for deep-divers. It’s Star Wars for the kind of fan that wants MCU-style interconnected storytelling but with a level of focus and intricacy that movies can’t really swing, with a variety of stories that cater to all kinds of tastes.

And, what’s more, it’s far from the only kind of Star Wars story being published. It’s just one flavor of many, looking at a familiar universe from a certain point of view.