™

T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E

2019 SPECIAL EDITION

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 A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
™

SPECIAL EDITION 2019

TITAN EDITORIAL

Editor / Jonathan Wilkins

Senior Editor / Martin Eden
Assistant Editors / Tolly Maggs,
Jake Devine
Art Editor / Andrew Leung

WELCOME... LUCASFILM
Senior Editor / Brett Rector
Art Director / Troy Alders
Creative Director / Michael Siglain
Asset Management / Tim Mapp,
Welcome to this special edition Erik Sanchez, Bryce Pinkos,
Nicole LaCoursiere, Shahana Alam
of Star Wars Insider, now on Story Group / Pablo Hidalgo, Leland Chee,
Matt Martin
its 10th volume! This time
we’ve focused on some of CONTRIBUTORS
Tricia Barr, Michael Kogge,
the great women who have Megan Crouse, Shana O’Neill, Mark Newbold,
Amy Ratcliffe, Janine K. Spendlove
contributed to the Star Wars
saga, in front of the camera SPECIAL THANKS TO
Erich Schoeneweiss at Random House, Holly
and behind the scenes, and McIntosh, Joseph Taraborrelli, Andrea Towers
and Jim Nausedas at Marvel Comics, Lizzy
as creators of books, comics, Draeger, Tracy Cannobbio and Chris
Argyropoulos at Lucasfilm
and fine art.
TITAN MAGAZINES
Production Controller / Peter James
We are also paying tribute to some of the Senior Production Controller / Jackie Flook
Art Director / Oz Browne
best female characters that have captured the Senior Sales Manager / Steve Tothill
imaginations of fans across the world; characters such Circulation Executive / Frankie Hallam
Direct Sales & Marketing Manager /
as Leia Organa, Sabine Wren, Ahsoka Tano, and Rey. Ricky Claydon
Subscriptions Executive / Tony Ho
Commercial Manager / Michelle Fairlamb
Advertising & Marketing Assistant / Bella Hoy
From an interview with Lucasfilm’s president, U.S. Advertising Manager / Jeni Smith
Kathleen Kennedy, who has spearheaded the franchise Publishing Manager / Darryl Tothill
Publishing Director / Chris Teather
to even greater heights; to a look behind the scenes Operations Director / Leigh Baulch
Executive Director / Vivian Cheung
of Marvel’s Doctor Aphra series; to writer Tricia Barr’s Publisher / Nick Landau
heartfelt tribute to the much-missed Carrie Fisher, DISTRIBUTION
this volume is a celebration of a glorious legacy that US Newsstand / Total Publisher Services, Inc.
John Dziewiatkowski 630-851-7683
only continues to get better with each passing year… US Newsstand Distribution / Curtis Circulation
Company
US Bookstore Distribution / The News Group
May the Force Be With You… Always US Direct Sales / Diamond Comic Distributors
UK Distribution / Marketforce

SUBSCRIPTIONS
U.S. subscriptions / 1-800-261-6502,
email: customerservice@titanpublishingusa.com
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Jonathan Wilkins STAR WARS INSIDER SPECIAL EDITION 2019
Editor (USPS 003-027) (ISSN 1041-5122)
Star Wars Insider is published eight times per year (January/February,
March/April, May, June/July, August, September/October,
November, December) by Titan Magazines,
a division of Titan Publishing Group Limited,
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP.
Contents © 2018 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved,
Titan Authorized User. TMN 13739
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© 2018 Lucasfilm Ltd. and ™ All Rights Reserved.

Used Under Authorization.

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STAR WARS INSIDER / 3

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SWI2019_04_05_Contents.indd 4 30/10/2018 14:12

006
The Women of
Star Wars
An overview of the saga’s
strongest female protaginists.
016
The First Lady of
Star Wars
A tribute to the late Carrie
Fisher, AKA Princess Leia.
026
Aphra Takes Flight
An interview with the team
behind Marvel Comics’
sassy anti-heroine.
032
Rebel Romance
A profile of the love story
between Hera Syndulla
and Kanan Jarrus.
038
One to Read
Writer Jody Houser on
adapting Rogue One as
a comic book.
044
Moments of Destiny
Meet the creative team
behind the popular web-
series, Forces of Destiny.
052
Red Five
Comic-book writer and
editor Jo Duffy chooses
her favorite Marvel Star
Wars stories.
SWI2019_04_05_Contents.indd 5
Contents
054
The Women of The Force
Awakens
Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher,
and Gwendoline Christie
discuss the movie.
058
Telling Tales
Writer/editor Elizabeth
Schaefer on Star Wars stories.
062
War Stories
Kathleen Kennedy and
Gareth Edwards interviewed.
068
The Return of Ahsoka Tano!
Ashley Eckstein on returning
to the Star Wars galaxy.
076
New Flames
Author Christie Golden on
writing or the troops.
080
Phantastic Phasma
The making of the captain’s
comic-book debut.
086
Who? What? Why? Wren!
A profile of Mandalorian
rebel Sabine Wren.
092
The Early Days of the
Expanded Universe
Meet the women who kick-
started Star Wars publishing!
098
Footprints in the Sand:
Impressions of Rey
An insightful, in-depth profile
of Rey based on Star Wars:
The Force Awakens.
110
“Inbrief”
A thrilling story from the
battlefield by acclaimed
author Janine K. Spendlove.
116
No More Heroes?
A profile of Rogue One’s
heroine Jyn Erso.
124
Asajj Ventress: A-Typical
Anti-Hero
A look at what makes one
of Star Wars’ most complex
characters tick.
130
Drawing on the Force
An interview with Star Wars
artist Arantzazu Martinez.
134
Fist of the Empire
Janina Gavankar talks about
her role as Iden Versio in
Star Wars: Battlefront II.
138
Long Live Leia
10 moments from the
ultimate Star Wars heroine.
30/10/2018 14:13
 HEROES

The Women
Of Star Wars
From Leia’s defiance to Jyn’s brave self-sacrifice
for the Rebellion, Star Wars has a proud history
of heroic female characters. Insider pays tribute...
WORDS: TRICIA BARR

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 HEROES

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Padmé Amidala
Strengths: Diplomacy, faith in people, warrior
When we meet Padmé in
The Phantom Menace,
she is obscured by her royal
mask as Queen Amidala. Her
planet Naboo is under siege by
the Trade Federation and she
refuses to capitulate. Her hard
stance doesn’t dissuade the
Federation’s leader, Nute
Gunray, and as his forces
capture the capital city, Padmé
flees with her handmaidens,
hoping to find a diplomatic
solution through the Galactic
Senate. Although her world is
in a tenuous position, the mask
remains, hiding fear in the face
of overwhelming circumstances
that find them stranded on the
backwater world of Tatooine.
When Padmé poses as
a lowly handmaiden to
accompany Qui-Gon Jinn in
search of repair parts for her
Royal Starship, she exposes
her true nature. Padmé is
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HEROES
Archetype: Queen
intellectually curious. The
chance to explore Tatooine is
an opportunity to learn more
about the galaxy. Her encounter
in Watto’s junk shop with a
young Anakin Skywalker reveals
her naiveté about slavery, but
also her ability to connect with
someone with very different life
experiences. Later, she comforts
Anakin as he accompanies
them to Coruscant.
Although diplomacy
ultimately fails, the Naboo
queen decides to fight for her
planet. The Phantom Menace
showcases women as warriors,
with the handmaidens an
integral part of Nute Gunray’s
capture in the Throne Room.
After the liberation of
Naboo, Padmé returns to the
world of diplomacy, joining
the Senate. She believes in the
process of democracy, and most
importantly in its people.
This faith in democracy
leads to one of the most
ominous moments in Star
Wars, as Palpatine declares
himself Emperor and Padmé
says to Senator Bail Organa, “So
this is how liberty dies… with
thunderous applause.”
To believe in something, to
trust in a process, requires faith
in people. That undoubtedly
leaves a person vulnerable to
the failings or evil intentions of
others. Ultimately, Padmé never
stopped believing in people,
even her husband Anakin
Skywalker who betrayed the
Republic and her. Her prophetic
words to Obi-Wan Kenobi,
“There is still good in him,”
were proven true decades later
by her son Luke Skywalker, who
found a way to connect with a
father who had very different
life experiences, and brought
him back into the light.
30/10/2018 11:40

Mon Mothma
Archetype: Leader
Strengths: Wisdom, persuasion, compassion
In 1983’s Return of the
Jedi, Mon Mothma stood
before the soldiers of the Rebel
Alliance to prepare them for
one of its most important
battles, and made an
impression on female fans of
the original trilogy.
Those fans didn’t have a lot
of women to look up to in Star
Wars, and though she wore
white similar to Leia Organa,
Mon Mothma was a different
type of character. As an ally
to Senators Amidala and Bail
Organa in the earliest days of
resisting Palpatine’s rule, to
her brief role in Rogue One,
which showed the difficulty
of leading an alliance of
disparate, volatile rebel
factions, we really only learn
a little about what drives her.
However, stand-out character
moments from the books and
animation get to the heart of
her character.
In the novel Lost Stars,
Thane Kyrell encounters the
Rebel Alliance leader after
drinking too much alcohol.
SWI2019_006-014_Heroines.indd 9
HEROES
Not revealing her identity, she
listens as he spills the story of
his love for the Imperial pilot
Ciena Ree. She offers him a
cup of water and ushers him
off to bed. Only later does
Thane learn who she is, and
she reassures him, “It's all
right if you still love someone
on the other side of this
war—as long as you love what
you're fighting for even more.”
In the Rebels episode
“Secret Cargo,” Mon Mothma
again brings nourishment to
a rebel, Hera Syndulla, who
is helping her escape after
condemning the Emperor.
In new territory now that her
life as a senator has ended,
Mon Mothma bonds with the
Ghost’s captain before their
desperate escape from the
clutches of Grand Admiral
Thrawn. They rendezvous
with other rebel factions for
a secret meeting, and Mon
Mothma delivers a powerful
speech that convinces them
to unite to fight the tyranny
of the Empire.
Ahsoka Tano
Archetype: Fighter
Strengths: Athleticism, trusts
her instincts, conviction
Sometimes peace can be achieved only
by fighting for it. Anakin Skywalker
believes that principle, ultimately taking it to
an extreme that taints his soul. His
apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, learns many lessons
from her Jedi Master. At the end of The Clone
Wars, though, she concludes that the Jedi are
going down a path she cannot follow. One of
the toughest decisions in life is to walk away
from something that has defined us. This
isn’t a female or a male moment; it is a
human one, and makes Ahsoka one of Star
Wars’ most relatable characters.
Through the novel Ahsoka, fans learn
about her path to becoming Fulcrum, an
agent of the Rebel Alliance. In finding this
role, she builds a new pair of lightsabers
from the kyber crystals taken from a Sith
Inquisitor she defeats. She heals the crystals
that glow red and they become white, a color
that to be seen by the human eye requires
all colors to be balanced in their intensity. It
represents good, beginnings, and exactitude.
Rebels reintroduces Ahsoka in a different
role. No longer the apprentice, she is now
the mentor who balances the teaching of
the Jedi with lessons learned on the run.
Her showdown with Darth Vader reflects
maturity, fortitude, and a continued respect
for the important lessons instilled by Anakin.
Ahsoka finds a way to be true to herself even
as she faces down an evil she knows. His
name: Darth Vader.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 9
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Sabine Wren
Archetype: Tech Expert
Strengths: Intellect, improvisation, Mandalorian training
Often we think of art and
science as opposing sides
of a dichotomy, and imagine
tough soldiers as people who
don’t have time for either.
Sabine Wren proves these
clichés wrong, combining all
these elements into a kind of
hero we haven’t seen before
in Star Wars.
Her upbringing brings
together Mandalorian heritage
and the rigorous training of
an Imperial academy cadet.
She learns to fight, but also
excels in intellectual pursuits.
In Season Three of Rebels we
learn that her scientific prowess
was exploited by the Empire
to develop a terrible weapon
that was turned against the
Mandalorians, leading to her
exile. Finding a new family
among the Ghost crew, Sabine
puts her knowledge of the
Empire to good use in fighting
back, while also letting her
own personality shine for
the first time. Her explosions
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HEROES
don’t simply blow things up,
but create colorful displays
in doing so. She marks their
missions with graffiti, and her
firebird logo finds a fitting
home in the Rebel Alliance.
When the fight against
the Empire brings her back to
her Mandalorian clan, Sabine
faces dual challenges: proving
that she deserves to wield the
ancient Darksaber retrieved
from Darth Maul’s lair, and
convincing her family to
accept her for who she is,
artist and all.
That she succeeds in
both of these endeavors is a
testament to her strength of
character as a person, and the
skillfulness of her character
design in Rebels.
By the Battle of Atollon,
Sabine has matured from a
vigilante teenager tagging
along in clashes with
stormtroopers to a confident
warrior willing to lead a strike
force against the Imperial fleet.
Maz Kanata
Archetype: Mentor
Strengths: Wisdom, Force
knowledge, insight
”She’s run this watering hole for
a thousand years.” It’s quite the
introduction for Finn and Rey as they
enter Maz Kanata’s lakeside castle on
Takodano alongside Han Solo. Inside,
the sights and sounds of gambling and
eclectic musicians are reminiscent of
cantinas found in previous Star Wars
films, but nothing prepares the
audience for the diminutive humanoid
who calls out the smuggler’s name and
asks after his first mate Chewbacca. It is
at Maz’s table that we see Rey and Finn
begin to become a part of something
new, to break bread with others.
It is also at this table where Maz
offers knowledge about the ways of
the galaxy and the darkness spreading
through it. She challenges Han to
go back home. Clambering atop the
table, she peers into the depths of
Finn’s soul with her goggle-adjusting
gaze into his eyes. Yet in the moment
that Rey discovers the horrific past
that accompanies Luke Skywalker’s
lightsaber, the wizened space pirate
pulls off her goggles and speaks to
Rey’s heart. Maz distills the essence
of the Force to the frightened girl, “It
moves through and surrounds every
living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it.
The light…it’s always been there. It
will guide you.” Rey doesn’t know it
at that moment, but Maz’s lesson is
the first step into a new extraordinary
world for her as a Force user.
30/10/2018 11:40

Leia Organa
Archetype: Rebel
Strengths: Persistence, courage, wit
From a young age, Leia
Organa knows what she
wants to achieve for the galaxy:
the toppling of the evil Empire
and the restoration of the
Republic’s democracy. For a
moment, this meant covert
resistance using the diplomatic
cover of her service in the
Imperial Senate, such as the
ruse to deliver three cruisers to
a rebel cell on Lothal. When
she absconds from the Battle of
Scarif with the stolen Death Star
plans, however, open rebellion
is unavoidable. Then Leia shifts
from a diplomat to a military
leader, overseeing the clashes at
Yavin, Hoth, and Endor until
the tide is turned in the
Galactic Civil War.
But the Rebellion does not
triumph easily. Time and again
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HEROES
Leia and her friends
suffer setbacks:
her capture by
Darth Vader and
imprisonment on
the Death Star; the
loss of Echo Base;
betrayal by Lando;
a rescue mission gone awry
at Jabba the Hutt’s palace; the
unanticipated interference of
Ewoks in the mission to the
Endor moon. Each time, Leia’s
persistence never falters. When
others are hesitant, she takes
charge and leads the way; even
when they aren’t, they find it
difficult to dissuade the princess
from her path.
The years after the victories
at Endor and Jakku see much
of Leia’s dream fulfilled. Like
the real world, though, the
galaxy far, far away does not
promise a happily ever after
fairy tale ending. The rise of the
First Order and betrayal by her
son cannot break Leia’s spirit.
Again she stands firm, despite
the personal toll, leading the
Resistance as a bulwark against
a new attempt to bring tyranny
to the galaxy. Leia has been a
role model to so many for so
long because she represents the
power of standing up for what
you believe in, and never, ever
giving up.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 11
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 HEROES

Jyn Erso
Archetype: Loner
Strengths: Survivor, hope, discipline

Sometimes before a person chooses

to become a hero to others, she
must have the inner fortitude simply to
survive, no matter how difficult the
circumstances. Jyn Erso endures hardship
upon hardship in her short life before
making the ultimate selfless sacrifice for
the Rebellion.
As a child, Jyn finds a life of luxury
on Coruscant exchanged for a desolate
farm on Lah’mu and a constant fear of
discovery by the Empire. After watching
Krennic murder her mother and abduct
her father, Jyn is retrieved by her new
guardian, the extremist rebel Saw Gerrera.
Though she learns much from him about
how to fight, his gruff demeanor and
protectiveness of the secret of her identity
as the daughter of an Imperial weapons
scientist leaves the teenager with very
little opportunity to trust anyone, much
less make friends. When Saw abandons
Jyn after a mission to spy on an Imperial
factory is disastrously exposed, she is
completely on her own.
Instead of succumbing to despair, Jyn
relies upon her ingenuity to turn her skills
into ways to survive. In the coming years
she negotiates with pilots, smugglers,
rebels, and Imperials to exchange her
talents for the funds, transportation, or
food and shelter she needs to make her
way in an unforgiving galaxy. Even a
lengthy imprisonment by the Empire,
shielded by the alias Lianna Hallik, does
not crack her will. Unlike other inmates,
Jyn’s self-discipline allows her to keep her
head down through the daily torments.
Despite the seemingly inevitable doom
of her situation, Jyn endures. When she
is unexpectedly retrieved by agents of the
Rebel Alliance, it is their appeal to her
long-honed instincts of self-preservation
that provides a reason to tentatively
cooperate with their mission to contact
Saw and investigate her father’s work.
When she realizes the stakes and finds
true camaraderie in her team, Jyn has
the courage to think beyond herself and
sacrifice herself for others.

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Hera Syndulla
Archetype: General
Strengths: Incredible pilot, nurturing spirit, team-builder
Don’t let initial
appearances fool you:
Hera Syndulla is much more
than the highly skilled pilot
of the Ghost. The traditions
of Star Wars might suggest
that Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi, is
the leader of their team of
rebels, but it is Hera who is
not only captain of the ship
but also in charge of their
operations. Over time her
talent at leadership takes her
from managing her small
crew to commanding a
squadron in the Rebel
Alliance military.
Hera’s interpersonal skills
and firm sense of justice are
honed in a childhood of war
on Ryloth. Her father Cham
fought alongside the Jedi
to liberate Ryloth from the
Separatist droid army during
the Clone Wars, only to see
the Empire rise from the
supposed peace. Taking to
the stars to oppose tyranny,
Hera gradually gathers her
crew and hones them into
a fierce team of vigilantes
on Lothal. When they draw
attention from stronger
Imperial forces, Hera refuses
SWI2019_006-014_Heroines.indd 13
HEROES
to back down. Instead, she
leads the Ghost crew to fight
even harder, which draws
notice from another faction,
as well. Though Kanan is
skeptical of committing to
the Rebel Alliance, Hera
knows that the resources
and opportunities accessible
as part of the larger fight
against the Empire will allow
them to do more good for
more people. This persuades
the reluctant Kanan—and
quickly impresses their new
allies, as well.
As the struggle against
the Empire transitions
from isolated acts of local
resistance to a civil war
fought by military units, Hera
adapts her role in turn. A
faceoff with Grand Admiral
Thrawn at Atollon is a long
journey from stealing crates
in the streets of Lothal, but
Hera proves she is ready for
it every step of the way. From
delivering Mon Mothma to a
top secret meeting to flying
in the Battle of Scarif, Hera
earned her rank of General by
getting the tough jobs done
when it counted the most.
Shmi Skywalker
Archetype: Mother
Strengths: Love of her child,
kindness, selflessness
Not all strength is physical, and not
every act of heroism involves
triumph over an evil adversary. One of the
hardest transitions in a parent’s life is to
watch a child grow up and move on to an
adulthood of their own. To cut that
process short, at a younger age, is all the
more emotionally fraught. Yet Shmi
Skywalker has the willpower to say
goodbye to her nine-year-old son,
recognizing that she may never see him
again, to grant to him an opportunity in
life that she could never provide.
That act of selfless love in the dusty
streets of Mos Espa is the culmination of
a lifetime of sacrifices Shmi has made for
Anakin. Living in slavery, Shmi does her
best to protect her son from the corruption
around them. Though he understands
that an explosive chip prevents escape,
Anakin finds joy in racing for Watto and
constructing his own podracer.
When a Jedi unexpectedly arrives,
Anakin offers to help them get the parts
they need to leave without requesting
anything in return, and Shmi tells Qui-
Gon Jinn that her son “knows nothing
of greed.” It was not biology or midi-
chlorians but her guidance in raising
Anakin that taught him those values.
When Qui-Gon confirms what she has
always believed, that Anakin is special—
gifted with supernatural abilities that offer
the prospect of training to become a Jedi
Knight—Shmi does not hesitate to make
the choice to let her son leave her behind
and cross the stars to fulfill his destiny.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 13
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 HEROES

Rey
Archetype: Prodigy
Strengths: Compassion, quick reflexes, fortitude

Our introduction to Rey, is one of the finest moments in Star Wars. Storytelling is about creating
something new out of elements that are familiar, and here it’s done with images rather than
words. A lithe form glides down a rope into the depths of a manufactured cavern. After her slide down
a sand dune, her physical strength is displayed as she drags scavenged loot to her speeder. A look
inside Rey’s AT-AT home reveals a doll in the form of an X-wing pilot and a solitary meal. A moment
of amusement, an imagined dogfight in a starfighter helmet, is interrupted by the cries of captive BB-8.
Rey answers her “Call to Adventure” and quickly gathers allies, much like Dorothy in The Wizard
of Oz (1939). Fleeing the First Order troopers, defector Finn says they need a pilot. “We’ve got one,”
she responds, and they escape in the battered Millennium Falcon. Rey may be capable of running
without someone holding her hand, but the appearance of Han Solo suggests her adventure will be
grander than she could possibly have imagined.
Everything about Rey’s introduction tells us that she is capable of surviving her capture by Kylo
Ren. She has been surviving on her own, and everything she needs to resist the fallen Jedi exists
inside her. Yes, she is afraid, but Leia, Ahsoka, Sabine, and all the Star Wars heroines that have come
before have taught us that fear is something that can be faced and conquered. Star Wars: Forces of
Destiny and The Last Jedi will explore new obstacles in her journey of heroism.

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KOTO SPECIAL Reduced TAC.indd 1 15/10/2018 12:33
 CARRIE
FISHER
THE FIRST LADY
OF STAR WARS
TRICIA BARR PAYS TRIBUTE TO CARRIE FISHER,
WHO PASSED AWAY DECEMBER 27, 2016.
can recall the day Carrie Fisher came
I into my life; and also the day she left all
of ours. Many people of my generation
vividly remember the first time we saw
Star Wars. I was eight years old. Carrie
Fisher, playing Princess Leia, appeared in
a hallway with the Death Star plans and put
them into a droid. The crawl had set up the
context—this was her ship and her goal was
to “save her people and restore freedom to
the galaxy.” In 1977 that was high stakes for
any character, but for a young girl watching,
Princess Leia was extraordinary. She spat
zingers at uber-villain Darth Vader, rescued
Han Solo and Luke Skywalker when their
plan to free her went awry, and instinctively
knew their escape from the Death Star was
too easy. As countless fans have attested
since Carrie Fisher’s death, our introduction
to her by way of Princess Leia was packed
with emotion and nostalgia. Powerful
feelings etch things in our memory—forever.
From the swell of tributes across the
internet and the lightsabers raised in unison
at fan-organized vigils, it is obvious that
Carrie Fisher made an impact on many lives
16 INSIDER
SWI2019_016_025_Carrie_Fisher.indd 16
far beyond her appearances as Leia Organa
in the Star Wars movies. As I prepared to
write about a woman who inspired me in so
many ways, I felt an immense burden, that
I might not be able to do her life justice.
I was afraid. As on many topics, though,
Carrie had thoughts. Here’s what she
said about fear in her book Wishful
Drinking: “Stay afraid, but do it anyway.”
So I’m kicking my shoes off, sprinkling
some glitter in the air—one of Carrie’s
touches of good cheer—and doing this.
A STAR IS BORN
Honoring her death on social media, the L.A.
Times tweeted a picture of the morning
edition for Tuesday, March 27, 1956, and
remarked, “Carrie Fisher had the rare
distinction of making our front page
before she was even born.” The pertinent
headline reads: “Debbie, Eddie Expect
Baby in November.” (Carrie’s birthday was
October 21.) Debbie Reynolds had danced
to stardom alongside Gene Kelly in Singin’
in the Rain (1952); Eddie Fisher had 35
songs in the top 40 between 1950 and
1956. Eddie’s affair with another acting
superstar and close mutual friend of the
couple, Elizabeth Taylor, precipitated a
1959 divorce that was as highly publicized
and scandalous in its day as any
contemporary equivalent. Both of her
parents remained fully in the public
eye throughout Carrie’s childhood and
adolescence, inevitably exposing their
daughter to the media spotlight along
with them. For years she resented the long
shadow of her mother’s fame in particular.
Formative years spent at the feet of
entertainment titans, though, gave Carrie
Fisher a firm foundation for her own
stellar career. At 16 she performed with
her mother in the Broadway revival of
Irene; at 18 she made her film debut in
Shampoo (1975) opposite Warren Beatty
and Goldie Hawn. Her starring role as
Princess Leia in Star Wars (1977) was
filmed when she was 19, the same age
as her mother during the production of
Singin’ in the Rain.
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 In The Princess Diarist (2016), Carrie
shares her reaction to hearing the news
from her agent that she got the role in
Star Wars:

“I laughed and dropped the phone

and ran out into the front yard… It was
raining. It didn’t rain in L.A. It was raining
in L.A. and I was Princess Leia. I had
never been Princess Leia before and now
I would be her forever.
I would never not be Princess Leia.
I had no idea how profoundly
true that was and how long
forever was.”

It’s difficult to comprehend what Princess

Leia will represent decades from today. Star
Wars is imbued in our daily lives. Famous
lines are spouted on television and referenced
throughout pop culture. In suggesting a
battle tactic in Captain America: Civil War, the
youthful Spider-Man says, “Hey guys, you ever
see that really old movie, The Empire Strikes
Back?” Star Wars is our mythology now; it will
be the mythology that is studied in the future.
It is what storytellers strive to emulate and
also a representation of society’s values at
the time it was made.
Over the years Carrie made light of the
fact that she was the “only girl in an all-boy
fantasy,” and she was candid about her
struggles with being objectified.Nevertheless,
it’s undeniable that she had an affinity for
her character from the beginning. In a recent
interview with National Public Radio she
told Terry Gross, “I like how she handles
things. I like how she treats people.”
Princess Leia came to life the same year
women, feeling undervalued and
underrepresented, gathered in Houston
for the National Women’s Conference.
On screen, Leia wasn’t fighting for an
opportunity to be equal; she led the
everyman characters of Han and Luke
down into the trash compactor, then
ultimately to the rebel base on Yavin 4. In
handling authority, Leia found time to stop
and console a farmboy who had lost a mentor. Previous spread:
While Carrie played a brash, brave new Carrie Fisher as
kind of heroine in Star Wars, The Princess Princess Leia Organa.
Diarist reveals a young woman who was
very alone and who recorded the demons
in Star Wars: A New
of her daily life on the 1976 set. Those diary Hope (1977).
pages memorialize a woman who was
desperate for approval, but also terrified This spread: On set
of it. One day her entry might be a series with director Irvin
of thoughts, another a scene of dialogue
or a poem that showcased a genius way
Kershner during the
with words. Despite her pain, 19-year-old shooting of The
Carrie already had begun to perceive what Empire Strikes Back
made people tick and what drove her own (1980).

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 choices and the choices
of others. This understanding of
motivations later served her well
as a storyteller known for having
a keen eye for characters.
Many filmmakers and fans
list The Empire Strikes Back as
the high bar for Star Wars. It’s
a slower-paced movie than the
special-effects spectacles that
followed in its footsteps. The film
took a moment to let all three of the
original trilogy’s main characters
breathe. Irvin Kershner’s movie
diverges from the B-movie,
monomythic format of A New Hope
and channels a fairy tale, bringing
Leia to the fore in a romance with
scoundrel Han while Luke is off
learning the ways of the Jedi. As a
young actress, Carrie thrived when
given the opportunity to showcase
the character’s vulnerability and
compassion, and her performance
elevates Leia Organa above most
other badass takes on strong
female characters that emerged
in the Princess’s wake. In my
2011 post at FANgirl Blog, I called
Leia the “gold standard for strong
female heroines.” It takes a writer
and director to create the shell
of a well-crafted character; Carrie
Fisher is the heart that elevates
Leia to the status of golden.
“They asked me on the day if
I wanted to have a stunt double
kill Jabba. No! That’s the best time
I ever had as an actor. And the only
reason to go into acting is if you
can kill a giant monster.”
~ Carrie Fisher at the Hay
Festival, 2014
An empowered and magnetic
character like Princess Leia, and
an actress as beautiful inside and
out as Carrie Fisher, would have
become a pop-culture phenomenon
no matter her attire in Return of the
Jedi. Carrie’s discomfort with the
frequently publicized imagery of
Leia as a scantily clad sex symbol
was deflected with her familiar
A suitably regal brazen, candid humor. Perhaps
Carrie Fisher returned as much as anything else though,
Carrie’s mockery emphasized that
as General Leia to
Leia’s undress in the Jabba’s Palace
much acclaim in sequence of the film has substantially
The Force Awakens overshadowed the rest of Leia’s
(2015). heroism in Return of the Jedi:
20 INSIDER
SWI2019_016_025_Carrie_Fisher.indd 20
infiltrating the gangster’s palace
in disguise for the rescue mission,
volunteering for the dangerous
strike team mission to the forest
moon, unhesitatingly hopping aboard
a speeder bike to chase down scout
troopers, and forging a key alliance
with the Ewoks. Carrie understood
how much more there is to Leia than
a metal bikini, just as there was so
much more to her than Princess Leia.
Long after the conclusion of the
original trilogy in 1983, even as she
joked about the overly merchandised
fate of Leia—including a hilarious
and bawdy roast of George Lucas
at the 2005 presentation of his
Lifetime Achievement Award from
the American Film Institute—Carrie
maintained her fierce protectiveness
of Leia and her importance. After
appearing onstage at Celebration
Anaheim in April 2015, she told
Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony
Breznican, “I’m the custodian
of Leia.”
If many fans might most
associate Carrie Fisher with her
acting role as Princess Leia, in the
hero’s journey of her life’s work she
found a passion in storytelling. Her
writing career took off when she
penned her first novel, Postcards
from the Edge (1987). Loosely based
on her contentious relationship with
her mother, its success led to Carrie
writing the screenplay for the 1990
film adaptation, which starred
Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.
Though more fiction and non-
fiction followed, much of Carrie’s
acclaim for writing remained hidden
from the public eye, as she quickly
became one of Hollywood’s most
sought-after script doctors. The
quality of her writing on Postcards
led to a request from Steven Spielberg
to rewrite the dialogue for Tinkerbell
in Hook (1991), then Whoopi Goldberg
requesting her input on Sister Act
(1992). Soon she was well known
for improving the roles of female
characters, including Rene Russo’s
Lorna Cole in Lethal Weapon 3
(1992) and Drew Barrymore’s
Julia Sullivan in The Wedding
Singer (1998).
“Make the women smarter
and the love scenes better.”
~ Carrie Fisher interview with
WebMD, 2010
It’s hard to imagine most
Hollywood stars delivering such
work in secret, never seeking credit
for these accomplishments. But that,
too, was part of who Carrie became
as her career developed. Sometimes
the private successes matter as
much, or more, than the public ones.
In notable interviews with AV Club
and Newsweek, she talked about why
she stopped script-doctoring: the
tendency shifted to studios soliciting
notes from numerous script doctors,
and then using the ideas without
hiring them. “That’s free work, and
that’s what I always call life-wasting
events,” said Fisher, a woman who
obviously knew her worth.
The other dominant theme
in Carrie Fisher’s journey beyond
Star Wars was her unflinching
commitment to candor and realism
about the challenges of mental
illness and addiction in her life.
Though sometimes played for
humor, as in Postcards from the Edge
and Wishful Drinking, she used that
storytelling tool not to minimize or
distract from the seriousness of the
topic, but rather to create a feeling
of empathy and relatability that
allowed others to understand the
struggles within.
“It’s kind of a virus of the brain. It
makes you go very fast or very sad.
Or both. Those are fun days. And
so judgment isn’t one of my big
good things. But I have a good
voice. I can write well. I’m not a
good bicycle rider. So I’m just like
anybody else—only louder, and
faster, and sleeps more.”
~ Carrie Fisher, explaining bipolar
disorder to a young boy during a panel
at Indiana Comic-Con, 2015
The power of her honesty made
Carrie one of the public figures who
has done the most in recent years to
remove the stigma associated with
mental illness and addiction, and
instead to acknowledge them as
treatable medical conditions no
different than other physical ailments.
In a moment where the comedienne
gets a last laugh and an impact
statement, Carrie Fisher’s ashes were
buried beside her beloved mother
in a giant replica of a Prozac pill.
Among many instances across
the years, she made memorable
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 appearances on The Late Late Show
with Craig Ferguson during its run, and
found a kindred spirit in the host, who
likewise speaks freely about addiction
and sobriety. Their conversations ran
the gamut from profoundly serious to
inexplicably silly, but always touched
on their shared battles with internal
demons. Mourning her death, Ferguson
tweeted, “She was the kindest coolest
smartest and most encouraging person
I ever met in Hollywood. I adored her.”
For all of her fame and brilliance,
Carrie Fisher had so great an impact on
so many of us because her adventure
through life is the story of the human
condition. She was a daughter, sister,
and mother; she had friends, rivals, and
lovers. Throughout her life she showed
us all a trait we possess: the need to be
accepted. Each of us could connect to
her in these ways, as we saw our own
highs and lows, joys and sacrifices
reflected in her very public life. For
that, as much as for Princess Leia, I will
always be deeply grateful to have been
able to share so much of my time on
Earth with Carrie Fisher.

“I am a Pez dispenser, and I’m in

the abnormal psychology textbook.
Who says you can’t have it all?“

~ Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking, 2008

Although Princess Leia is the heroine

of a saga centered on fathers and sons,
Carrie Fisher’s life story is one of
mothers and daughters. When Debbie
Reynolds died a day after her daughter,
they left behind a granddaughter and
daughter, Billie Lourd. When asked in an
interview last year about advice from her
feminist mother, Billie told Teen Vogue:
“She told me to be true, and kind, and
confident in yourself. She raised me to
not think of men and women as different.
She raised me without gender. It’s kind of
the reason she named me Billie. It’s not
about being a strong woman—it’s about
being a strong person. She once told me,
‘I never sat you down with a credo. It was
more about leading by example.’
Be true. Be kind. Be confident.
Reminds me of a princess I met a long
time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. Carrie shows her
After we’ve all followed Carrie daughter, Billie
Fisher to be one with the Force, the Lourd, around the
myth of our time will live on in Star Star Wars set during
Wars. Luckily, Carrie Fisher infused
Leia Organa with those beautiful traits,
production of The
and her wisdom will be shared with Force Awakens
generations to come. a (2015).

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SWI2019_016_025_Carrie_Fisher.indd 24 30/10/2018 11:42
 WHAT CARRIE
MEANT TO US
At Celebration Anaheim in 2015, the panel “What Princess
Leia Means to Me” featured six women who had worked
professionally in Star Wars. After they praised many facets
of the character, most of all that she never falters and
always has hope, women and men went to the audience
microphone to share how they too were inspired. As the
woman behind the character, Carrie Fisher never let us
forget that while we should aspire to greatness, sometimes
we will falter—and that’s okay.
For women particularly, who for a long time felt like
the forgotten fanbase, Carrie Fisher became our unofficial
General. She was a leader brimming with compassion.
Acclaimed comics writer Gail Simone tweeted, “You can
look at almost any group of women writers and know in
your heart that they do this at least partially because of
Carrie Goddamn Fisher.” We admired her courage to speak
candidly on any topic, especially her own vulnerabilities.
She spoke out against sexism, double standards, and
body-shaming. After unflattering comments on her looks
and weight when she returned for The Force Awakens,
Carrie admitted that it hurt. Her feminism was punctuated
by forcing people to see her as a human being. She made
people uncomfortable by being totally honest, and then
released the tension with self-deprecating humor so
that the uncomfortable moment passed with a laugh.
Like Leia, Carrie is an aspirational figure for
everyone. Life will knock us down, but she taught us
always to get back up. Her relationship with her mother
Debbie Reynolds, strained for so many years before
being re-forged stronger than ever, reminds us of the
power of love to overcome hurt. Her dog Gary, the
ever-present sidekick in recent years, further affirmed
another truth Carrie showed us: We do not have to
face life alone, and that it’s okay to ask for help.
Carrie was not only a demigoddess atop the
mountain of Star Wars, sometimes lovingly teasing the
fandom who looked up to her: she also gave generously
of herself to fans, one panel or one person at a time. At
Celebration V in 2010, a few weeks before her father’s
death, she cut short her planned convention schedule to
go to his side—but first she took to the stage, delivering
an unnecessary apology and speaking at length to the
crowd anyway. Her autograph lines invariably were
long, and she treated each visitor with dignity and glee.
An entire convention might be worth it simply to be
anointed with glitter by Carrie, like Insider contributor
Amy Ratcliffe’s experience at Indiana Comic Con in 2015:
“I walked away not having said any of the things I meant
to say to her, but maybe it’s best that I didn’t. I wouldn’t
change a thing.” A stunning publicity
Like a mythic mentor, Carrie Fisher gave us the shot taken during
lessons to be our own heroes. She might not be here to
production of The
protect Princess Leia’s legacy, but I hope Carrie knows
we have picked up the mantle. I hope she knows that she Empire Strikes Back
is loved. a (1980)

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 COMICS: DOCTOR APHRA

STAR WARS COMICS

APHRA
MARVEL’S ANARCHIC ARCHAEOLOGIST IS CAUSING
CHAOS ACROSS THE STAR WARS GALAXY. MEGAN
CROUSE MET THE TEAM BEHIND DOCTOR APHRA.

MEET TEAM APHRA

KIERON GILLEN, WRITER
K E V WA L K E R , A R T I S T
H E AT H E R A N T O S , A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R , M A R V E L
JORDAN D. WHITE, EDITOR, MARVEL
F R A N K PA R I S I , S E N I O R E D I T O R , L U C A S F I L M

he groundbreaking best sidekicks the Star Wars universe

run of Marvel
Comics’
Darth Vader
introduced rogue
archaeologist
Doctor Aphra into Star Wars lore.
An instant hit with readers,
she now stars in her own comic
book series.
This is the first Marvel Star Wars
series led by a character created
for the comics. What drew you
to Aphra’s story?
Heather Antos: What’s not
interesting when it comes to
Aphra? She’s such a fascinating
character—she’s not a hero, but
she isn’t a villain either. It’s a
terribly fun mindset to play
with, this moral gray area. Not
to mention she has some of the
has ever seen! Between working for
the galaxy’s most evil Sith Lord,
and then turning hero to help
Princess Leia fight her way out of a
hostage situation, you never know
what sort of trouble Aphra will get
herself into—and out of! Every
page is an adventure.
Frank Parisi: The draw was Aphra
herself. Aphra is a revolutionary,
and I don’t use that term with
any thought of politics or ideology.
It’s clear that life hasn’t treated
Aphra fairly… which isn’t life’s
job, I suppose. She’s been on the
receiving end of some tough,
tough times and has dealt with
some tough, tough people. But
she’s the kind of person who
[spoiler alert!] gets lobbed out of
an airlock by Darth Vader into

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 COMICS: DOCTOR APHRA

Doctor Aphra
by Kamome
Shirahama as
seen on the
cover of Doctor
Aphra #1.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 27

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 COMICS: DOCTOR APHRA
the frigid emptiness of space,
brushes herself off, and says to
her crew with a grin, “That sucked.
Now let’s get back to work!” While
I wouldn’t go so far as to call her
optimistic, she is most definitely
anti-pessimistic and goal-driven,
and to retain that attitude and
sense of humor while contending
against the worst life the galaxy
has to throw at you… it’s a
revolutionary act. It certainly
does not hurt that Kieron Gilen
is a storytelling dynamo to boot.
Jordan D. White: I agree with
Heather and Frank—Aphra herself
was just a joy in every issue of
Darth Vader. We could not resist.
When Kieron told us he had
thought of a way to save her from
Vader’s vengeance, we all rejoiced!
If she can be a complete delight in
the midst of the bleakness of the
Darth Vader series, how much
more fun could we have on her
own adventures? That said, I think
I might disagree that she isn’t a
villain. She’s out for herself above
“SHE’S VERY MUCH A TWO-FISTED
ARCHAEOLOGIST ADVENTURER. SHE
GOES AND DIGS UP THE PAST, AND
PUNCHES PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY.
THAT’S A VERY CLEAN STORY ENGINE
FOR A CHARACTER”
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SWI2019_026-031_INTER_DoctorAphra_V2JW.indd 28
all, and it’s certainly not her most
admirable trait. If Darth Vader
was our Breaking Bad, then Doctor
Aphra is our Better Call Saul. You
might love how charming she is,
you might be rooting for her at
every turn… but she’s probably not
going to do the “right” thing. But
that’s why she’s relatable.
Kieron Gillen, you brought Aphra
to life in the Darth Vader series.
What was it like to learn that
Aphra would have her own story?
Kieron Gillen: It was great.
That she’d made enough of an
impression to get her own series
is amazing. I have never had a
character I created go on to have
their own book. For Aphra to be
my first, and the first non-movie
Star Wars character to have an
ongoing series of her own, is
obviously pretty humbling.
What was it about Aphra that
made her a good fit for an
ongoing series?
KG: In a real way, the series itself is
Black the answer to this
Krrsantan, question—but I’d
Triple Zero,
and Aphra pick a few key ones.
pilot the She’s a big, iconic,
Ark Angel archetypal character
into another
adventure. who fits into Star
Art by Kev Wars as a concept,
Walker. but hasn’t been
done before… but
also she’s a big, iconic, archetypal
character with a hard twist. She’s
very much a two-fisted archaeologist
adventurer. She goes and digs up
the past, and punches people along
the way. That’s a very clean story
engine for a character. Then there’s
the other side—that she’s immoral.
The book runs on the odd tension
of having someone who is often
likable, and even occasionally
relatable… but you can’t be sure
where her ethical line is. “What will
she do? What won’t she do?” That’s
unusual, and adds a certain tension.
A second reason—and the main
reason why I took the job—was
that as much fun as she had in
Darth Vader, there were huge
chunks of her we hadn’t explored.
She’s an archaeologist, but I wanted
to excavate her personality.
Oh—and with Star Wars’ long
history, her being an archaeologist
obviously lets us introduce a
bunch of fun stuff. Who doesn’t
like knowing more about the
history of the Star Wars universe?
Do you have a lot of back-and-
forth conversations in regards
to the art and the script? What’s
your collaboration process?
KG: Kev is fantastic. He’s the sort
of artist who annotates his
thumbnails and talks about his
choices. I consider my scripts the
start of a conversation rather than
a diktat. Kevin certainly rolls with
that—he’s a fantastic visual
storyteller and writer, and that
comes across in his active
engagement with the stories,
especially when world-building.
There are visual elements Kevin
adds that I then work back into
my thinking—like stuff in his
design for Captain Tolvan, the
first arc’s main antagonist. It’s
been wonderful.
30/10/2018 11:44

Kev Walker: I always worry that
I might come across as a bit of a
thug when it comes to my writers.
I have a habit of scribbling all over
their carefully crafted prose without
a second thought. Ideas are cruel.
They just hit you round the head
without any regard for the
creative process.
I’ve found that honesty is
the best policy—I draw it the way
I think it should look, regardless
of the script, but always with the
caveat that these are just ideas and
anyone else has exactly the same
right to scribble all over my layouts
and notes. The writer, the editors,
or Lucasfilm always make me
qualify an idea, and if it strays
too far from the path, they gently
poke me with a stick until I draw
what they’re happy with.
Seriously, though, I’ve been
blessed with writers and editors
“THE WRITER, THE EDITORS, OR LUCASFILM WILL
ALWAYS MAKE ME QUALIFY AN IDEA, AND IF IT STRAYS
TOO FAR FROM THE PATH, THEY GENTLY POKE ME WITH
A STICK UNTIL I DRAW WHAT THEY’RE HAPPY WITH.”
who don’t consider a book done
until the print deadline hit. It’s
an evolutionary process, and
everyone pitches in to try and
make this book the best that we
can in the time we have; pushing
and pulling the thing into shape.
Kieron, you developed Aphra as a
foil to Darth Vader. What’s it like
having her lead her own story?
KG: It changes things a bit. In Darth
Vader, she existed to do the things
that Vader couldn’t do. Most of all,
talk. Vader has to be stoic and
laconic. The more words he says,
the more it becomes untrue to the
character. Vader needed someone at
his side to do all that quiet
exposition; making her nervously
talkative is a fun contrast to the
Dark Lord himself. Equally, there’s
the comedy she added. Plus, there is
a bit of tension—we knew that
Vader wouldn’t die, but we couldn’t
SWI2019_026-031_INTER_DoctorAphra_V2JW.indd 29
COMICS: DOCTOR APHRA
tell if she would survive or not.
Now that she has her own
book, things change. She’s funny,
but she’s not the comic relief
anymore—she plays the lead and
gets to do the heavy lifting. With
Vader offstage, everyone else
appears more threatening in his
absence. Doctor Aphra is a fun
and often sarcastic presence, but
she’s also a darker creature.
What inspired the character of
Aphra’s father?
KG: We explored a little of her
background in Darth Vader when
we revealed Aphra’s mother was
killed by raiders during the war,
after splitting with her father. Pretty
much the first thing I knew when
I started thinking about Aphra as
an ongoing character is we would
have to meet the father as soon as
possible. If we’re going to talk
about Aphra’s past, he’s essential.
This is a book about emotional
archaeology as well as actual
archaeology, if you see what I
mean. He is like Aphra in many
ways, but desperately, incredibly
unlike her in others.
KW: When I first drew him, I didn’t
really have much of an idea of his
background. It would be easy to
draw parallels with Indiana Jones
and his father. To be honest, Aphra’s
father is way more closeted,
idealistic, and naïve than Henry
Jones ever was. When we first meet
Aphra’s father, he’s literally in an
ivory tower: he’s an academic with
no concept of what’s going on in
the world around him, let alone
the galaxy at large. He’s let all sorts
of important things fall by the
wayside, in pursuit of a myth. Aphra
begins this story as his polar
opposite, a complete egotist and
cynic, who believes he never cared
for anything but his obsession.
Gradually they realize they both
have each other wrong, and trying
to get that across, as both people
change, is a challenge I relish.
We see some of Aphra’s school
days in the comics too. Were
those scenes you had in mind
for a long time and are only
showing now, or was developing
Aphra’s history part of the
process of making the new series?
KG: The core is there, but there
is room to develop her history.
Thanoth hinted that Aphra’s
doctorate had a question mark over
it in the Darth Vader series, so there
was certainly foreshadowing. That
she manipulated an ethically
questionable superior was always
there. Of course, Aphra cheated.
Aphra could have earned it by
herself, but she’d much prefer to
cheat. Cheating is what smart
people do in her world.
Triple Zero and Bee Tee are both
friends and threats. What can
you tell us about how they’ll help
out Aphra?
KG: They’re our Greek chorus
in many ways, pointing out the
ironies and hypocrisies in the cast
in their own monstrous idiom. But,
like Aphra, they become a little
darker in the absence of Vader. Yes,
they’re funny, but in the first
episode they’re already murdering
people by themselves, for their own
ends. You have to suspect they’re a
ticking time bomb. As Triple Zero
said back in Darth Vader, “Heaven
help everyone if I get bored.”
What is your favorite moment
featuring the droids?
KG: There are too many to pick
STAR WARS INSIDER / 29
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 COMICS: DOCTOR APHRA

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from. The first one which I
genuinely loved from way back
in issue four of Darth Vader was
when he said, “Hahahaha! You’re
on fire and also dead!” The one
which tickles me in Doctor Aphra
is from the second issue, where
Triple Zero is threatening to torture
Aphra’s father. “Your daughter is
a truly horrible person. You must
be very proud.” Which is funny,
not least because of how Kev
drew the astounding array of
torture implements from his hand,
but because it also serves as a good
character beat for Aphra. I said that
they’re the Greek chorus? Well,
that’s an example. Aphra’s smart
enough to know that if that droid
is very much pro-you that
something has gone horribly,
horribly wrong.
KW: There’s a gag in Doctor Aphra
issue five which, for obvious
reasons, I can’t tell you about (I
haven’t even finished drawing it
yet), but it continually makes me
chuckle. Actually I have to stop
myself from running too far with
the humor, because this is Star
Wars, not SpongeBob SquarePants.
I mean, I thought I was pushing it a
little with Triple Zero’s torture hands
in issue two. How could he possibly
have a circular saw and a blowtorch
in his hands? They wouldn’t fit. But
it is funny. Like Beetee suddenly
having bazookas and grenade
launchers. It’s cartoon humor, but
sometimes if you get it just right, it
makes things scarier, like getting
well-loved comic actors to play serial
killers in movies or TV. The spoonful
of sugar laced with poison.
Then there’s Black Krrsantan,
who is a bit of an anti-
Chewbacca. What can you
tell us about his role?
KG: One of my favorite things about
Doctor Aphra is that we get a chance
to really dig into
Krrsantan. He gets
The crew of
the Ark Angel some of the best
confront a figure action beats in
from the doctor’s the whole series,
past in Doctor
Aphra #2. Art and his past
by Kev Walker. comes into play
SWI2019_026-031_INTER_DoctorAphra_V2JW.indd 31
COMICS: DOCTOR APHRA
APHRA’S CREW
TRIPLE ZERO
A protocol droid, specializing
in etiquette, customs,
translation, and torture. Once
designated to serve Darth
Vader, wherever Triple Zero
and his counterpart Bee Tee
One go, carnage will follow.
in a big way. Even from the start,
the relationship with Aphra lets us
show a lot about the book. He hangs
with Aphra, sure, but only because
she owes him a lot of money and
he considers her an investment…
and she has promised to locate the
people who trained him to be a
gladiator. Not that he minded being
a gladiator, he just objects to anyone
making him do anything.
KW: I like drawing Wookiees. That’s
all. I just wanted to say that.
Kev, did you have a favorite
character design in the new series?
KW: I do: Tolvan. I can’t say why,
because it’d be a spoiler, and it’s not
just because I got to design her, but
because I (sort of) know what’s
going to happen to her, which
influences how I draw her. Actually,
I enjoy drawing all the characters,
and if there’s something about their
design I don’t like, I find some way
I can change it. Because these are
characters who get dirty, get
injured, have stuff that tears or
breaks, or is unsuitable for the
environment they are in, I get to
continually mix things up—it helps
to keep things fresh.
What was the thought process
behind Aphra’s costume?
KW: Well it’s just trying to make
things fit with the Star Wars
universe. So the long duster coats
in issues two and three came
BEE TEE ONE BLACK KRRSANTAN
Cunningly disguised as A Wookiee bounty hunter
a astromech droid Bee Tee also known as Santy, Black
One is an assassin droid Krrsantan is deemed by
(a blastomech). Armed and Boba Fett to be one of the
dangerous, Bee Tee One best in his field. Krrsantan
was created by the Galactic was scarred in a skirmish
Empire’s Tarkin Initiative. with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
about from looking at the outfits
the rebels wore on Endor in Return
of the Jedi. They have a reason
for wearing the things they do,
and it’s not just to look cool.
I’m making things up, but
everything still needs to feel part
of a whole and to echo things
that have been seen in the Star
Wars universe. The Academic
installation harkens back to Bespin
Cloud City on purpose, and not
just because it might have been
built by the same company, but
because it grounds the location
and makes it a part of the things
we have seen on-screen. Soo-Tath
the money-lender in issue one has
a hat based on a Ralph McQuarrie
concept for Bib Fortuna that never
got used.
If you could see Doctor Aphra
interact with any Star Wars
character she hasn’t met
before, who would it be?
KG: I can just see an older
Aphra throwing her arm around
Kylo Ren and saying “Oh, the
things I could tell you about
your Grandpops.”
KW: Jar Jar Binks! It would make a
lot of people happy. Do you realize
that without him bumping into
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on
Naboo, nothing else would have
happened the way it has? It could
all have been so different. Makes
you think...
STAR WARS INSIDER / 31
30/10/2018 11:44
 RE
EBE
BEL
EL R
EL ROOMA
OMANC
MA
MAN
NCE
NC
CE

Galactic conflict has been the constant backdrop

to the relationship between Star Wars Rebels’
Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla. As the series
reaches its climax, we ask: will their love survive,
and how did it blossom in the first place?
WORDS: SHANA O’NEILL

SWI2019_032-037_FEAT_KananHera.indd 32 30/10/2018 13:27

 REBEL ROMANCE

omantic relationships in the

Star Wars universe can be a bit

R rocky to say the least. Look at

some of the most well-known
couplings: Han and Leia, Obi-
Wan and Satine Kryze, Anakin rhythm together as partners and friends as Kanan
and Padmé, Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree… It became Hera’s co-pilot onboard the Ghost.
is clear that the path of true love does tend As their efforts to disrupt the Empire grew, so
to be filled with some crater-sized obstacles, did their crew. The Spectres—their codename for
no matter how much we want our favorite the ship’s crew—became a party of five. Kanan, as
couples to make it work. Spectre 1, oversaw the planning and execution of
There’s one couple in the Star Wars universe, operations. As Spectre 2, Hera pilots the Ghost as
however, that’s been going strong for years now: captain and Kanan’s equal partner. Hera’s droid,
renegades Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla of Chopper became Spectre 3. Zeb Orrelios, a Lasat,
Star Wars Rebels. joined as Spectre 4, and the Mandalorian Sabine
Kanan and Hera, known by the nickname Wren came on board as Spectre 5.
of “Kanera” to a lot of fans, are a favorite for
many reasons, not least the equality in their A Love Story
relationship and their implicit trust in each other. By the time we meet the Ghost crew at the start
Kanan is a Jedi Knight and he’s been trained of Star Wars Rebels, Hera and Kanan have settled
against having attachments. Hera is committed into a companionable friendship, a partnership
to fighting the Empire first and foremost. But underscored by a loving bond. In fact, as far as a
they’ve learned how to fight for each other (and great many fans were concerned, Kanan and Hera
the rest of the Ghost crew) without forgetting were “Space Married.” In essence, the two are a
the needs of the overall mission—even if that couple in pretty much everything but name. Hera
puts one of them in danger in the short term. habitually calls Kanan “Love” or “Dear;” and
That’s not to say things bewteen them have they even refer to Ezra, Zeb, and Sabine as “the
always been easy. The couple have seen their fair kids;” they spar verbally; to offer reassurance they
share of obstacles. But if there’s one thing we’ve touch; and they fight side by side as one.
come to know about them, it’s that, no matter While there is no explicit recognition of what
what happens, Hera and Kanan will always find is going on between them in Season One, there is
their way back to each other. no denying that Hera’s clearly upset when Kanan
elects to be left on Lothal and allows himself to
A New Dawn be captured in order to save the rest of the Ghost
Kanan Jarrus fell in love with Hera Syndulla crew in “Call to Action.” Two episodes later, in
before he ever saw her face. One second she the first season finale, “Fire Across the Galaxy,”
was a cloaked figure asking for
directions in a seedy part of
town on Gorse, and the next he
was willing to follow that voice
“Kanan Jarrus fell
anywhere. Not that Hera made
it easy on him. She had gone to in love with Hera
Gorse to find intel for her own
rebellious efforts, not to pick
up some drifter, but the young
Syndulla before he
Kanan Jarrus and 18-year-old
Hera Syndulla teamed up to help
ever saw her face.”
save Gorse from total destruction
and to bring down Count Viridian, while dealing
a blow to the Empire at the same time. Talk about
the start of a beautiful friendship.
While Kanan set upon joining Hera on her
“damn fool idealistic crusade” largely based on
his attraction to her, Hera made it clear that any
romance between the two of them would need to
go unexplored when weighed against the larger
fight against the Empire. We sensed the attraction
was mutual, but Hera Syndulla isn’t one to let
herself get distracted. They soon found a perfect

STAR WARS INSIDER / 33

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 REBEL ROMANCE

01 When alone, there is a smile on Kanan’s face that shows he’s

Kanan and particularly happy to see Hera when the Spectres
Hera share
moments of come back to rescue him—especially during the
intimacy. hug they share. It’s a moment Kanera “shippers”
(Right)
(fan proponents of the relationship) point to as
02 Kanan and proof that there’s more going on here than just
Hera: ”Space a simple friendship.
Married”.
(Right) Moving into the second season of Rebels,
we watched as Kanan and Hera’s relationship
03 Kanan, became a foundation for deeper
blinded by
Darth Maul emotional moments. When Hera is
on Malachor,
is comforted
by Hera.
wounded while trying to orchestrate
an alliance with Fenn Rau in “The
“Hera can
(Right) Protector of Concord Dawn,” Kanan’s
concern runs deeper than friendship. empathize with
We also see Kanan lose his proverbial
cool when meeting Hera’s father,
Cham Syndulla. Cham may be a hero
Kanan while also
of the Rebellion, but Kanan’s nerves
aren’t those of a soldier meeting a
challenging him.”
soldier, but of a boyfriend meeting his
beloved’s father for the first time. Tongue-tied “Trials of the Darksaber,” we can see that the pair
Kanan is a favorite among Kanera fans. are close. Hera can empathize with Kanan while
The two most notable moments in Season also challenging him. She can see his frustration
Two for the couple come in the two-part finale, as he tries to train Sabine, but also tells him to get
“Twilight of the Apprentice.” Sabine gently hits his head out of his afterburners and stop trying to
Kanan upside the head when he seems to be protect the young woman, reminding him of her
unaware of Hera’s apparent concern about his own battles with her father. It’s a rare individual
mission to Malachor. While neither voices their who can tell Kanan that, “This is not about you,”
feelings for one another, Kanan promises Hera and have him actually take it to heart.
they’ll see each other again and the two share Not every Kanera interaction in Season Three
a long, comforting hug. It’s a goodbye neither is so serious, either. Kanan’s crack that he “gets
wants to say, but they know it needs to happen. the feeling Thrawn’s really trying” to kill them
Kanan does, indeed, return from Malachor, ellicits a chuckled threat from Hera before she
but is blind when he does so. He can no longer urges him to, “Come home, love.” Both of
see Hera, but her love still shines in her face as them are all too aware of the stakes, yet they
she cradles his face in her hands. Whatever they always try to lighten the mood. On more than
fight, they fight it together. one occasion, it is clear that Hera’s amused rage
at Kanan’s often cavalier attitude is mutually
Back to Business reassuring. Kanan blows off steam in times of
After these emotional moments at the end of the crisis by making wisecracks and Hera understands
second season, many fans were keen for things this. It allows them to remain focused while
to heat up between Kanan and Hera in Season knowing they do have each other’s backs. In
Three. But the appearance of Grand Admiral other words, they just get each other, in a
Thrawn put any romance on the backburner. wonderful way.
After all, would you take time out for canoodling Yet while Season Three kept Kanan and Hera’s
if there was a military genius on your tail? feelings under wraps, Season Four has put it all
That said, the moments we do get in the third on the table. Less than halfway through the
season are treasures. As they talk about Sabine in opening episode, “Heroes of Mandalore, Part
1,” the pair have a conversation via hologram
which reveals that Kanan’s priorities are in a very
different place when it comes to his relationship
with Hera. She is still all business, focusing on
the needs of the Rebellion, but he tries to turn
the conversation around to how she feels about
them being apart. It’s very reminiscent of Han
and Leia’s “We need? What about you need?”
conversation in the Rebel base on Hoth in The
Empire Strikes Back.

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 01

02

03

SWI2019_032-037_FEAT_KananHera.indd 35 30/10/2018 13:27

 REBEL ROMANCE

04

05

an
and Hera
ra
as a couplele
becomes es
an actuala
plot point in
the series.”
s.” 06

04 Hera and
Kanan finally
acknowledge
their feelings.

05 Do the Ghost
crew ever
realize these
guys are a
couple?

06 Kanan was
nervous
when first
meeting
Hera’s father,
Cham.

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This is the first time in the entire series that
either one of them has even remotely addressed
their relationship. Kanan believes that there is a
conversation they need to have, and Hera knows
exactly what he’s talking about. It’s hard to work
out what has caused his newfound urgency, but
it’s likely that almost dying on Atollon at the end
of Season Three put things in perspective for him.
But in this moment, Kanan and Hera as a couple
becomes an actual plot point in the series.
Wonderfully, it doesn’t stop there, either. Two
episodes later, “In the Name of the Rebellion” we
see Hera flying like an ace through a cloud-filled
canyon, her maneuvers guided solely by Kanan’s
Jedi senses. When she nervously quips, “I must
really trust you,” he replies, “I know you do.” It’s
another perfect example of what these two can
accomplish together.
Kanera: Past and Future
While undercover on Lothal in Season Four’s fifth
episode, “The Occupation,” Kanan and Hera end
up face to face in an alley and realize how long
it’s been since they’ve been alone together. It’s
a story beat filled with promise and back-story,
and a confirmation that these two have, indeed,
shared this sort of intimacy in the past.
That past is also evident in the “almost” kiss
that follows. There’s no awkwardness. These are
two people who have clearly kissed one another
before and, while the kiss is interrupted by Zeb
(dang it, Zeb!), there’s little doubt these two will
kiss again.
That promised kiss happens in episode seven,
“Kindred.” With Hera about to undertake a new
mission that will put her face to face with Grand
Admiral Thrawn and the might of the Imperial
fleet, Kanan finds himself unwilling to let her go
without finally addressing what we could call the
“Kanan Loves Hera” bantha in the room.
It’s funny that two people who can so easily
communicate on other topics have such a blind
spot when it comes to talking about their feelings
for each other. But great romantic moments are
built on these sorts of misunderstandings, and
Rebels’ executive producer, Dave Filoni, does an
excellent job of setting up what is arguably the
best kiss in Star Wars. For, as much as Kanan has
been her partner through their time together, it
seems they’ve never talked about whether they
are or aren’t a couple. The man who fell in love
with a voice on Gorse is head over heels for the
woman attached to that voice, and he wants to
know if she feels the same way.
In Hera’s mind, Kanan already knows. Once
the fighting is over, and once the Empire is gone,
only then can they indulge their feelings for each
other. But it takes Kanan openly addressing the
issue to make her realize she just assumed that
SWI2019_032-037_FEAT_KananHera.indd 37
REBEL ROMANCE
Putting the Romance
into Rebellion:
HERA SYNDULLA KANAN JARRUS
Born seven years before the start of the Before he was known as Kanan Jarrus,
Clone Wars, Hera Syndulla was raised to Caleb Dume was a youngling who was
fight: for her home, for her people, for brought to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant
her freedom. Trained by her father, the and left there. With no knowledge of his
Ryloth freedom-fighter Cham Syndulla, parents or homeworld, Caleb made the
Hera felt the cost of fighting the Empire temple his home and was apprenticed to
personally. The loss of her mother and Jedi Master Depa Billaba.
disagreements with her father saw her When Order 66 was initiated by
looking to the skies as a way to fight the Emperor, Billaba sacrificed herself to
the Empire in the best way she knew give Caleb a chance to save himself. On
how—as a pilot. the run and still reeling from her death,
With C1-10P, a droid recovered from he met a smuggler, Janus Kasmir, who
a fallen Y-wing on Ryloth, Hera set off in taught him the skills he would later use
her ship, the Ghost, to lend her skills as to survive. Caleb put aside the teachings
both a pilot and a fighter to the larger of the Jedi and became Kanan Jarrus:
struggle. Her search for new allies led scoundrel, pilot, and bounty hunter.
her to the planet Gorse, where she met A chance meeting with Hera Syndulla
Kanan Jarrus and recruited him to join set Kanan on a new path which would
the fight. eventually lead him, grudgingly, into the
Hera Syndulla, captain of the Ghost fight against the Empire. Once unwilling
and rebel leader, is the glue that holds to commit to anything, Kanan Jarrus
her team together and the heart and now dedicates himself to leading the
soul of Star Wars Rebels. Spectres, and mentoring Ezra Bridger.
he knew all of this and was 100 percent okay
with it, when clearly he wasn’t.
Kanan quickly realizes he may have pushed
too far and tries to apologize, but he’s promptly
silenced by Hera reaching up and pulling his
head down to meet hers in a kiss. It’s a promise,
a reassurance, and an answer to his question.
Not only does she initiate this kiss, but once it
ends, she cups his face in her hand and stares
directly into his eyes, as if to say, “Got it?” It’s
empowering, it’s loving, and is everything that
Kanan ever wanted—if the look on his face is
any indication.
Last we saw, Hera had been captured by the
foul Governor Pryce, which likely means that
a face-to-face confrontation with Grand Admiral
Thrawn comes next. We know that she survives
thanks to Rogue One, but, beyond that, who
knows? What will happen in the second half
of Rebels’ final season is anyone’s guess.
Will Hera and Kanan be reunited? Will they
get a chance to explore their relationship further?
Could things potentially get more intimate? Will
they live happily ever after?
The specter of doubt is raised as we already
know that the Jedi are supposed to be “all but
extinct” by the time we reach the events of A
New Hope. But a lot can happen between now
and then—and we all know that things can be
true, if only from a certain point of view.
Ultimately, wouldn’t we all like to see Kanan
and Hera end up together for a long, long time
in that galaxy far, far away?
STAR WARS INSIDER / 37
30/10/2018 13:27
 COMICS: ROGUE ONE

STAR WARS COMICS

ONE
TO
READ
Starting this April, Marvel Comics
is set to release the first in a
six-issue series for Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story to include content
not seen in the theatrical release.
Insider spoke to writer Jody
Houser to gain insight into this
highly anticipated, expanded
retelling of the blockbuster movie.
WORDS: MICHAEL KOGGE

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 Jon McCoy’s
stunning variant art
for Rogue One issue #2.

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I LIKE PROJECTS THAT
PUSH ME OUT OF MY
COMFORT ZONE.
omics fans
rejoice! Marvel’s
C new six-issue
adaptation of
Rogue One
promises not
only to capture the movie in
comic-book form, but also to
expand upon what was seen
onscreen. New details about
characters and situations
will include input from Rogue
One director, Gareth Edwards,
giving readers a fresh angle on
the blockbuster story.
The team bringing this exciting
prospect to life is Italian artist
Emilio Laiso (Star Wars: Shattered
Empire Part II) and writer Jody
Houser, a newcomer to Star
Wars comics, but a lifelong fan
of the saga. Insider spoke to
Houser as she was hard at
work on her adaptation.
Adapting Rogue One would be
a prestige project for any writer.
Did you have any trepidation
about taking it on?
My only bit of trepidation came
from the fact that it looked to
be a war story, which is something
I haven’t written before. It was
October 2016 when [Marvel
assistant editor] Heather Antos
approached me about it, so I
obviously hadn’t seen the movie.
But I like projects that push me
out of my comfort zone, so it was
a positive more than a real worry.
40 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_038-043_INTER_R1_JodyHouser.indd 40
COMICS: ROGUE ONE
“
”
Why do you think Marvel chose actually had a character who
you to be the writer? faked his death and didn’t come
I think Heather thought of me
because I did Orphan Black for
IDW. That was partly a TV
back for two years. There was
even an animated short to explain
how he faked it! That’s what
adaptation and partly new happens when writers and film
material. That made me a good fit editors and other creative types
for the Rogue One comic, because play an RPG. Crazy stuff happens.
I had to work in new scenes that Playing the game helped keep
aren’t in the movie. Heather knew Star Wars in my life before Rebels
I loved Star Wars, too, as we had and The Force Awakens came
met at New York Comic Con a few along. In the process, I also met
years before. Afterwards, we people who would become my
bonded on Twitter over our love most favorite in all of Los Angeles.
for Grand Admiral Thrawn! Coincidentally, the name of the
character I play is Lyra. It was
So you’ve always been a Star a little weird when I found out
Wars fan? that was also the name of Jyn’s
I loved the original trilogy as a mother in Rogue One!
kid, but it was the Timothy Zahn
trilogy of Thrawn novels that really How do you fit an epic like
won me over—I discovered them Rogue One into a six-issue series?
at an age when I was more into It’s all about the storytelling
reading than watching movies. “beats.” Before the film hit
theaters, I went to Lucasfilm and
On Twitter, you refer read the script, noting
that you like Star Wars down a beat-by-beat
role-playing games. PROFILE list of the things that
JODY HOUSER
Yeah, I’ve been a part jumped out at me.
Since creating the
of a Star Wars RPG acclaimed online Having that early
campaign that’s been comic Cupcake impression really
going on now for four POW! in 2010, helped me decipher
Jody Houser has
years! We started with written for numerous which moments I
the old West End physical comic-book wanted to emphasize,
series, including
system and moved to and which ones I could
Orphan Black and
“Edge of the Empire” X-Files: Origins for streamline or set in a
last year. IDW, Max Ride for different way. The most
Marvel, and Faith for
Our gamemaster is Valiant and Mother rewarding moments to
pretty epic in terms of Panic for DC. work on are those you
his storytelling. We can see from a
30/10/2018 11:49
 Phil Noto’s distinctive
cover art for the first
issue of Rogue One.

SWI2019_038-043_INTER_R1_JodyHouser.indd 41 30/10/2018 11:49


“
BODHI IS THE NEW CONVERT,
CASSIAN IS THE DEVOUT,
AND JYN IS THE LAPSED BELIEVER.
”
different perspective, so they’re
not exactly the same as they are
in the film. I think those moments
are going to be most exciting for
the readers.
How do you set about writing
each issue?
I generally start with page-by-
page breakdowns of the story,
followed by scripting out
everything panel-by-panel,
which is generally referred to as
“full script.” With Rogue One,
I’m pulling from a bunch of
different sources—the film, the
novelization, scenes and ideas
that didn’t make it into the film,
and the background material
in Rogue One: The Ultimate
Visual Dictionary.
In fact, one of my favorite parts
of the job was to read the James
Luceno prequel novel, Star Wars:
Catalyst. It does such a great job
of laying out the foundation for
Galen, Krennic, and Lyra, and
made me want to incorporate
more of their backgrounds into
the comic.
Which of your additions to the
story are you most proud of?
There’s a line Galen has when he’s
talking to Bodhi. He’s describing
how the Empire likes citizens who
don’t make trouble, and he says
“I was a good man for too long.”
Of all the lines I’ve written so far,
that one is probably my favorite.
42 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_038-043_INTER_R1_JodyHouser.indd 42
COMICS: ROGUE ONE
Which of the characters from the
movie were you most drawn to?
Bodhi Rook is probably my
favorite to write for. He’s the one
character whose life probably
would have been OK if he’d done
nothing, but he chose to rebel. All
of the events of the movie hinge
on his bravery, so that choice and
the repercussions he faces are
really fascinating to me.
Collectively, the trio of Bodhi,
Cassian, and Jyn is interesting to
me, too. Bodhi is the new convert,
Cassian is the devout, and Jyn is
the lapsed believer. They’re all
coming together from different
perspectives and have to get
over all their huge ideological
differences to accomplish one
goal. In the comic, I’m able to
show more about how they
make the decisions they do.
So much of the film is from
Jyn’s perspective, it’s not always
possible for it to show how
Cassian feels or what Bodhi is
thinking. I get to delve a little
deeper into some of those
moments and focus on what is
behind some of their choices.
Can you hint at what some
of those moments are?
A moment I was really excited
to write occurs in the first issue,
when Bodhi makes his decision
to defect and deliver Galen’s
message. If you think about it,
Bodhi’s at the heart of everything
that happens in the movie. For
me, this particular scene was
really important because it’s
when the story takes off. If
Bodhi had chosen another path,
everything would have turned
out differently.
How are you enjoying working
with artist Emilio Laiso?
Emilio is doing some really cool
things with his layouts! The way
he arranges images on the page
to impact the flow of the
storytelling is a strength of his,
and I’m glad he’s bringing that
strength in this series.
In terms of action beats I try
to give Emilio as much leeway
as possible. For almost any scene
I come up with, the artist usually
knows how to draw it better than
I can tell them.
I relate comics to poetry,
where you have to decide where
each line ends, and what it
means to have the line ending at
that moment. In comics you have
to work out what’s on each page,
where it ends, and what you’re
focusing on for the next page.
You get to fill things out that
you don’t necessarily get to do
while screenwriting, for example,
because when you write a
screenplay it’s up to the director
how long a moment lasts. With a
comic, it’s just you and the artist,
so you have a lot more control
over the pacing and feel.
30/10/2018 11:50
 Phil Noto’s art for
Rogue One issue #2
heralds the shift of
the action to Jedha.

SWI2019_038-043_INTER_R1_JodyHouser.indd 43 30/10/2018 11:50

SWI2019_044-051_FEAT_ForcesOfDestiny_FINAL.indd 44 30/10/2018 13:26
 FORCES OF DESTINY

Moments
- of -
Destiny
What makes a hero? Is it simply destiny, or must
holders of that title acquire certain qualities before
they can be worthy of it? Star Wars Forces of
Destiny is a new animated micro-series that explores
character-building moments for different heroines
spanning all eras of the saga. Insider spoke to two of
its key players to find out more...
WORDS BY TRICIA BARR

hen Star Wars It’s also notable for an all-star

Forces of Destiny cast that includes Daisy Ridley

W made its debut

at Star Wars
Celebration in
April this year,
two things in particular stood out
about the new animated series.
Firstly, it was remarkably female-
led. Secondly, it was remarkably
good. While each episode is just
three minutes long, the scale and
ambition on display are fully in
keeping with everything you
would expect from a Lucasfilm
Animation project.
(Rey), Felicity Jones (Jyn), Lupita
Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Ashley
Eckstein (Ahsoka), Catherine Taber
(Padmé) and Tiya Sircar (Sabine)—
not to mention a certain John
Boyega voicing Finn.
The project announcement at
StarWars.com says the Lucasfilm
Animation initiative “will remain
true to the Star Wars canon,
showing how choices both big and
small ultimately shape the destinies
of beloved characters.” The show
launched on Disney YouTube in

STAR WARS INSIDER / 45

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 FORCES OF DESTINY

01

02

July, ahead of a TV special that is

planned for the Disney Channel
this fall.
Lucasfilm boss Kathleen
Kennedy has described the series
as being “for anyone who has been
inspired by Leia’s heroism, Rey’s
courage, or Ahsoka’s tenacity,”
and as a way to explore “the small 03
moments and everyday decisions
that shape who these characters
are.” Alongside the animated
adventures, there will also be
Forces of Destiny books, and a cool
new range of 11-inch adventure
figures squarely aimed at the girl’s
roleplay market.
All in all, while it’s recognizably
Star Wars, it is also a departure for
the franchise. To find out what
forces shaped the series, Insider sat
down with Lucasfilm vice president
of animation development and
story-group member Carrie Beck,

46 / STAR WARS INSIDER

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“...Forces of destiny is an opportunity
to see the smaller moments that very
much make up who these women are...”
as well as stalwart Star Wars voice
actor Catherine Taber, who is
reprising the role of Padmé in the
new show.
CARRIE BECK
Star Wars Insider: What forces of
destiny led you to work on this
new show?
Carrie Beck: It’s been a long
path to this point. Animation
is actually pretty recent to me,
and something I started working
on here at Lucasfilm. Before that,
I was working in feature film
development for many years.
I worked on movies, TV pilots,
and some other things before
I ended up at the Sundance
Institute managing the New
Frontiers Story Lab, which was
all about the intersection of new
media and storytelling.
When the opportunity at
Lucasfilm came up, I jumped
at the chance to get back into
development to work with
Kathy Kennedy and [Lucasfilm
vice president of development]
Kiri Hart as part of the story
group. Very early on I met Dave
Filoni, and we started work on
Star Wars Rebels. Everything else
evolved from there, taking the
storytelling skills I had learned
in those previous jobs and driving
it forward at Lucasfilm.
Did working on Rebels change
your opinion of animation?
Well, my appreciation for what
[Rebels executive producer]
Dave Filoni and the team did
certainly grew exponentially, but
I’ve always been a huge fan of
animation. I spent most of my
youth watching animated movies
and loving cartoons. But coming
to Lucasfilm, getting to know the
team, and working with Dave
SWI2019_044-051_FEAT_ForcesOfDestiny_FINAL.indd 47
FORCES OF DESTINY
04
changed my perspective greatly
about what that team was working
on and creating. The amount of
love and craftsmanship that the
folks at Lucasfilm Animation were
bringing to their work was really
impressive to me.
Forces of Destiny has been
described as a way to highlight
character moments. What is
a “character moment” and
how does it differ from other
storytelling forms?
For me, “a character moment”
is really about what we can focus
on in under three minutes. As
we started to think about making
shorter content, we really had to
think about what it is that makes
something Star Wars. So much
of it is defined by the arc of the
Hero’s Journey: the ascensions and
calls to action, all the things that
are steps along the way. But it’s
not just those big moments that
make a hero. As well as the iconic 05
moments of sensing your destiny
as you stare out at the twin suns,
it also has a lot do with your
values and how you live your life.
So if a movie or the arc of
a season of a show like Rebels is changes of heart can have long-
about the major steps in character term implications.
growth—that journey the heroes We can’t go as far as, say, Luke’s
take from selfishness decision to redeem his father—we
to selflessness—then 01 We’ll find out much simply don’t have the time to tell
Forces of Destiny is an more about Rey those stories—but we can find
and BB-8 (left).
opportunity to see the some of the DNA that defines
smaller moments that 02 The series will our characters. To showcase their
still very much make up expand on iconic traits, their behaviors, and the
moments (left).
who these women are opportunities they take that speak
and define what their 03 There will be plenty to the person inside.
values are. of action as well as
insights (left).
Maybe the stakes are How does Forces of Destiny
not so elevated—perhaps 04 The series explores fit into the wider world of
Ahsoka and
it’s about helping your Padmé’s close
Star Wars storytelling?
friend out of a bind—but friendship. There are a couple of different
they are still moments ways. There’s the overt way, which
05 Of course, the
that resonate. Sometimes Imperial forces are is that the choice of characters
even small decisions and never far behind... reflects a lot of who you’re going
STAR WARS INSIDER / 47
30/10/2018 13:26

to be seeing on TV and in film.
But also—and this is one of things
that makes Forces of Destiny a real
opportunity—we’re telling stories
that fill in the gaps that you simply
can’t cover when you’re focusing
on those big beats. If the movies
and TV shows present the big rocks
in a character’s path, we get to be
some of the pebbles. That helps
paint a fuller, bigger picture of what
these characters might be doing in
the time that was previously off-
screen. For example, with Jyn, we
know where her tale ends. But this
is a great opportunity to see some
of the moments that really make
her who she is.
You’ve assembled an impressive
team for this show, including
writer Jennifer Muro and director
Brad Rau. How did you assemble
such a stellar line-up?
When we build a team, we look
within Lucasfilm and beyond it.
What’s really important about
our process is that it’s really
collaborative, and it’s important
that those of us on the Lucasfilm
side put forward a really strong
point of view around the types of
stories that we want to tell.
In something like Forces of Destiny,
we’re playing within existing
storytelling and there needs to
be those of us that have a larger
perspective around what’s going
on in each platform in this giant
galaxy of Star Wars. Those are
people like Dave Filoni, [Story
Group creative executive] Leland
Chee, and me.
But we also want to round out
the group with people like Brad and
Jen. Brad was a guest director on
the second season of Rebels and we
have a long relationship with him.
48 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_044-051_FEAT_ForcesOfDestiny_FINAL.indd 48
FORCES OF DESTINY
06
Jen brought her writing talent to
the table as we sat down together
and started to develop these stories.
Forces of Destiny has its own line
of female-focused “adventure”
figures. Gareth Edwards and
Dave Filoni have both talked
about how playing with action
figures inspired their careers.
Is there a similar hope with
Forces of Destiny?
We definitely want to reach all the
people who want to play Star Wars.
There shouldn’t be any boundaries
to that. Play is such an important
part of being immersed in and
expressing your love for
something. That should be
06 Leia, R2-D2 and
Chewbacca face available to everybody.
the “Beasts of
Echo Base.”
Among all the returning
07 Anakin and Yoda characters, one that fans
unite with Ahsoka seem especially excited by
(see right).
is Padmé. What can we
08 Leia and Chewie expect from her return?
share a moment
One of the wonderful
of friendship
(see right). things about The Clone
Wars on TV was that
09 Sabine and Leia
face a familiar foe you got to see so much
(see right). more of Padmé. Right
now, given where we are on the
timeline, we’re not getting as
much Padmé out there. For that
reason, I wanted to get her into a
lot of these shorts, and it’s great
to see her getting to have more
adventures—and with Ahsoka,
too! It’s wonderful being able
to keep that character present
and integrated within the larger
tapestry of Star Wars.
These pieces run the gamut
from all of these eras. What’s so
exciting about Forces of Destiny is
that it provides an opportunity for
kids who may not know anything
from these different eras to come
in and sample a piece of it, and
to get invested in those timelines.
You get it all. Even Ewoks!
What other team-ups
should we look out for?
There’s Ketsu with Sabine, and
Leia with Sabine. Oh, and Hera and
Sabine! We get to have so much
interaction between these various
women. It’s really fun to be able to
highlight these relationships, and
to see them working together and
solving problems.
30/10/2018 13:26
 FORCES OF DESTINY

07

Will we also be seeing some

male favorites joining in these
new adventures?
Absolutely. These shorts
take the point of view of the
female characters, but they are
still working with their male
counterparts. It’s really important
to us that we represent the whole
of Star Wars, so you’re going to
hear John Boyega voicing Finn,
and there will be appearances from
Han Solo, Chewbacca, Yoda, and
Anakin, too. If it makes sense for
a character to appear in Forces of
Destiny, they will do so, regardless
of gender.

Is Matt Lanter from The Clone

Wars going to be returning as the
voice of Anakin?
Yes, Matt is back as Anakin! It’s
really fun how we’re able to bring
in the actors that played these
parts on film and TV and get them
working together. It’s really a great
experience for me, and I think
for them, too. They can reprise
these roles and lean into those old
relationships. You get so much
dedication working on Star Wars
and it means so much to all the
people involved, so it’s really nice
to have opportunities to bring
everybody together.
CATHERINE
was like putting on your favorite
shoes. It was very familiar and very
comfortable, especially since we
have Dave Filoni working with us.
It felt like coming home.
You were a fan before you were
part of the cast. Are you excited
to be part of a show that aims to
inspire a new generation of fans?
I’m excited for my nieces, but they
are already huge fans. My parents
get Star Wars Insider and other
magazines if I’m interviewed, and
the girls pick them up. That led to
them watching the show Aunt Cat
was in, and then the movies. It’s
not that I made them watch any of

TABER it, but I probably would have tried,

Star Wars Insider: What’s it like
to come back to Padmé?
Catherine Taber: I was super
excited to get the call telling me
that Padmé was going to be part
of Forces of Destiny. Going back
if they hadn’t already! 08
For me, it’s hard to remember
a time when I wasn’t a fan. I’ve
always loved Star Wars. When
I started working in voice acting,
Mission Vao from the Knights of
the Old Republic videogame was

“You get so much dedication working

on star wars and it means so much
to all the people involved...” 09

STAR WARS INSIDER / 49

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my second audition and my first
job. Now, having been involved
with The Clone Wars, Rebels, and
Forces of Destiny, it feels really cool
to be part of this ongoing thing
that bridges generations.
You didn’t mention that you also
provided voices on the big screen
in The Force Awakens!
That’s true, but most people don’t
50 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_044-051_FEAT_ForcesOfDestiny_FINAL.indd 50
FORCES OF DESTINY
realize! I did two voices on
The Force Awakens: a hangar officer
and the Starkiller Base weapons
technician. The second one is the
one that people notice most often,
and which is recognizable as me.
It was so funny because I was
watching the movie at a cast and
crew screening here in L.A. and
it was the first time I had seen it.
I was so excited to have gotten
10
11
to be a part of that, but I wasn’t
sure if I would be identifiable. So
I was sitting there next to James
Arnold Taylor [Obi-Wan Kenobi
in The Clone Wars], and the line
happened and James looked at
me and said, “That was you!” And
I was like, “That was me!” It makes
me laugh because it sounds like
Padmé is charging the weapon.
That kind of Easter egg stuff is
fun and I love being a part of it.
Forces of Destiny is all about
what makes a hero. What do
you think are Padmé’s most
heroic traits?
She has diplomacy, which these
days is really a lost virtue. There’s
so much anger and animosity,
it seems like everyone is just yelling
at one another. I love that the first
thing she does is try to understand
the situation and the other person’s
side. But I also love that, when that
doesn’t work, she’s also willing
to get in there and fight a battle.
To quote another trilogy that
I love, there are some things worth
fighting for. That’s something
that Padmé really knows, and
friendships are right up there as one
of those things. What I love about
this new series is you really get to
see how important friendships are.
“There’s also a
great friendship
between Padmé
and ahsoka, so
it kind of feels
like getting the
old gang back
together!”
30/10/2018 13:26
 FORCES OF DESTINY

12

I can’t think of a better message

at this point in time. Some things
are worth fighting for, and your
friends are probably at the top of
the list.

Which of Padmé’s friendships

will Forces of Destiny explore?
There are some Padmé and Anakin
moments, which make me very
happy, because I love seeing them
together. There’s also a great
friendship between Padmé and
Ahsoka, so it’s kind of like getting
the old gang back together! I’m
excited for fans because I know
they miss that from The Clone
Wars. We’re all excited to be giving
them a little taste of that again.

Is there a part of you that is like,

or tries to be like, Padmé?
She is pretty close to me in the
sense that I like the idea of being
a lady, but I also like the idea of
getting in there and fighting when
necessary. So she’s pretty true to
me in that sense. She likes to keep
things positive, but when the time
comes, she’s willing to get her
hands dirty. That’s pretty easy for 13
me to step into.

Do you think Forces of Destiny
will remind people that little acts
of kindness are just as important
and heroic as the grander
conquests we often associate with
Star Wars?
I do, and I’m so glad you said that.
It is exactly what I was saying
before: it seems like we’re in such
a time of heightened anxiety and
heightened anger, and a lot of
people are stressed and unhappy.
One of the best ways to change
the world is day-to-day, when you
interact with other human beings.
With social media and
everything being in our faces, we
get so caught up that we 10 Ahsoka Tano The animation style of this series
forget about those human faces a haywire is so lovely. Padmé and Leia, who is
droid in “The
moments. That’s what Padawan Path.” voiced by Shelby Young, all of the
I love about Forces of (See left.) characters, I love the way they look.
Destiny. It’s about those It’s the kind of artwork that I would
11 Stormtroopers
little moments of human confiscate a child’s want to have framed and in my
contact and the differences loth cat (see left). house. That’s another thing that’s
they make. I’m really 12 Discover more cool. It’s another version of Star
hopeful, especially for our about Jyn’s life in Wars that’s unique and creative,
younger generation, and a “The Stranger.” but still has the same type of stories
show like Forces of Destiny 13 Ahsoka must and characters that we love.
reminds us that being protect Padmé
from an assassin.
a good friend and having Are you going to get a Forces
courage goes a long way. of Destiny Padmé action figure?
Not just in making your life better, Are you kidding me? Am I going to
but in making the whole world a get one? I’m going to get as many
better place for everyone to live in. as I can find!

STAR WARS INSIDER / 51

SWI2019_044-051_FEAT_ForcesOfDestiny_FINAL.indd 51 30/10/2018 13:26

 F Y ’ S V E L
O D T E M I C S ! UF A R
J VORI COM
A ARS RS WRI DUFglF
Y:
E F TER J O
eedin
y rare
as

FIVTAR WARVEL STAR WA

xc much
the e
exc u sing r n e d out to me,
u
nd la
rge, , thin
gs t iends work
od fr
. By a execution re like go nough to ts.”
S M
tm o st
y own
iss u e s
ly lea
den
cters
, of m expected ose chara ace it: I w
un th f
we cky e
as lu onderful
ray o f w
artis

, if no on or , and . Let’s ng ar
ve d many llaborati Star Wars ed family an amazi
o o d
l
nkly ongenial
c loved ird, exten with
“I fra ed. I
unc ision f not a we
I env i

“SILENT DRIFTING” & “ELLIE”

(#24, JUNE 1979) (#80, FEBRUARY 1984)

My Ben Kenobi flashback solo story. I was so thrilled to be doing
a Star Wars one-off, and even happier to be allowed to focus on
the fascinating General Kenobi. And then came the wonderful
news that Carmine Infantino, who drew so many gorgeous comics
I read as a kid, was the artist. It was just a blast.
Much as I love drama, action-adventure, and comedy,
sometimes you just want to tear people’s hearts out, throw
them on the floor, stomp on them, and just generally make
yourself and everyone else cry, if you can manage to do it in
a fair and un-manipulative way. These both accomplished that

52 INSIDER

SWI2019_052_053_RED_FIVE.indd 52 30/10/2018 11:53

 “MY HIROMI”
(#106, JULY 1986)

This is my personal love letter to Chuck Jones, and all of the wonderful Bugs Bunny
and Road Runner adventures, the insanely kinetic and well-crafted tales he created.
The Hiromi were just a blast, so convinced they were so smart and evil and deadly....
and such utter, craven buffoons. I loved whenever we could work them in, and it all
started here, the first time they appeared.

“RETURN TO STENOS”
#71, MAY 1983)

I almost felt guilty getting paid for this one! More than a bit of
“TAI” it was kind of autobiographical, being based on those crazy,
surreal, barely survivable bits of misdirection and “mess with the
(#103, JANUARY 1986),
tourists” malice Louise “Weezie” Simonson and I experienced
when we were doing either store signings or at cons a few
thousand miles from home. Weezie suggested it might make a
good Star Wars issue, and I had been dying to have some fun with
Lando. I laughed when I was writing it... and when Ron Frenz
turned the art in, I almost fell on the floor.

for me at least; and I think in each case the narrative turned

in unexpected directions toward the end that made the whole
tale great. And Cindy Martin and Ron Frenz both turned in
some of their finest, most nuanced work.

Interview by
INSIDER
IN
MarkNSSIINewbold
DER 53
DE 5
Photo: Alan Light

SWI2019_052_053_RED_FIVE.indd 53 30/10/2018 11:53

 INTERVIEW

THE WOMEN OF
THE FORCE
AWAKENS Back in 2015, the cast of Star Wars: The Force
Awakens assembled in London to discuss their work
on the movie. Star Wars Insider was lucky enough to
speak to the movie’s three leading actresses.

W O R D S : J O N AT H A N W I L K I N S

54 / STAR WARS INSIDER

SWI2019_054-057_WomenofForceAwakens.indd 54 30/10/2018 11:55

 “I HAVE NO IDEA
WHAT I DID. I JUST
TRIED VERY HARD AND
I HOPED VERY MUCH.”
Daisy
Ridley
On her Star Wars audition and
advice from the rest of the cast…
I have no idea what I did. I just
tried very hard and I hoped very
much. There wasn’t much advice
offered—there was a conversation
with Harrison Ford about
anonymity, but really it was just
people leading by example. It was
SWI2019_054-057_WomenofForceAwakens.indd 55
amazing to see people who are so
established and with a huge
career being kind and generous to
everyone on set.
On the most exciting moment
of filming
I do remember one of the most
touching moments was at the
end, because I looked back and
just couldn’t believe everything
that had happened over the many
months since I started on the film.
I couldn’t help but recall all the
incredible amounts of hard work,
passion, and energy that have
been given so graciously by the
cast and crew. It all just paid off.
I found the last day of filming to
be the most emotional, but it
was also the most exciting.
On becoming a star
I haven’t seen my image on the
side of a bus yet! It’s funny
because I was working in a pub
less than two years ago, and I
used to watch buses go past with
movie posters on. I used to think,
It would be really cool to see my
face on the side of a bus!
0n filming at Skellig Michael
I’m part Irish, so to be in Ireland
was very exciting; and the
approach to Skellig is unlike
anything I’ve ever seen. Firstly, I’d
never been in a helicopter before.
The weather was stunning. It’s
just one of the most amazing
places I’ve ever been. But it was
tough. There were many steps to
climb. But Colin Anderson, our
incredible Steadicam operator,
was walking backwards up the
stairs with a 100-pound camera,
so the whole thing was pretty
awe-inspiring. I was sick on the
last day, so I was feeling a bit
awful, but it kind of helped with
the emotion that Rey is feeling in
the scene.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 55
30/10/2018 11:55
 INTERVIEW

Carrie
On working with J.J. Abrams
J.J. was great to work with
because he talks a lot. And it’s
really good stuff that he says, so
that was exciting to hear. He

Fisher
remembers everyone’s name and
he’s got a lot of energy. He was
really excited to direct the film,
because he was young when I was
a teenager and so he was sort of a
fan! It was infectious excitement
and real focus, because he has
high verbal acuity. And he really
loved making the movie. Except
with me!

“J.J. ABRAMS WAS

GREAT TO WORK
WITH BECAUSE
HE TALKS A LOT.”

56 / STAR WARS INSIDER

SWI2019_054-057_WomenofForceAwakens.indd 56 30/10/2018 15:28

 INTERVIEW

Gwendoline
Christie
On wearing Captain Phasma’s
costume
The costume was so brilliantly
designed by Michael Kaplan, who
I’ve admired since I saw his work
on Blade Runner when I was 12
years old. I was really astounded
by how extraordinary Phasma’s
armor looked and how practical it
was to wear. I love the fact that
the costume hadn’t been
feminized or sexualized in any
way. It’s practical armor. What I
got from the costume was that
this was a woman who was
imposing, uncompromising, and
high-functioning. That informs the
way that I moved, and the way
that I walked. It all goes to
communicate something about
the character.”

“I LOVE THE FACT THAT

THE COSTUME HASN’T
BEEN FEMINIZED OR
SEXUALIZED IN ANY WAY”

STAR WARS INSIDER / 57

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SWI2019_058_061_ElizabethSchaefer.indd 58 30/10/2018 11:57
 INTERVIEW

Telling
Star Wars Insider: As creative director at
Del Rey, what does your job entail?
Elizabeth Schaefer: One of the greatest parts
of this job is that there is no typical day. One

Tales
morning I might be writing up a pitch for a new
novel, the next I’ll be reading the first pass of
a manuscript, and the next I’ll be working with
publicity to promote our latest publication.
But what I tell my confused family members at
Christmas is: my job is to connect great authors

Elizabeth Schaefer has written Star
Wars stories that have captured
children’s imaginations around the
word for Disney Lucasfilm Press
while also working as a creative
director for licensed publishing at Del
Rey. She shares her experiences in
with amazing franchises, and then help both
those groups create the best novel possible.
What was your first experience of Star Wars?
I literally cannot remember a time when I hadn’t
seen Star Wars. My brother and I would watch
our copies of the 1995 VHS releases over and over
and over again. I remember one morning we
woke up really early to watch Return of the Jedi

Star Wars publishing. (1983 ) for the billionth time. I warned my

brother that watching might wake our parents
up, and he said, “Then we’ll do it real quiet-like.”
I N T E R V I E W : J O N AT H A N W I L K I N S This was the funniest thing I had ever heard in
my 8-year-old life, and I still remember it today!

How does the process from idea to novel

typically work? Does the idea come from
Del Rey or Lucasfilm? At what point is
the author chosen and hired?
The people at Lucasfilm are such great
collaborators, and ideas usually flow both
ways. We’ll start talking with them about the
preliminary idea for a novel and develop it
to the point where we have a good sense of
the characters and tone. That way, we can
approach an author who is a perfect fit for
the material. The author then takes the
concept and transforms it into a real story
with a fleshed out outline, then manuscript.

Star Wars on screen is such a visual experience.

Why do you think it works so well in prose?
The Star Wars galaxy is so rich and complex.
There are literally billions of worlds and
millennia of history to explore. With such
diversity of characters and locations, there
are always new worlds and stories to discover.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 59

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 INTERVIEW

VONNEGUT,
AUSTEN, AND
DRAGONS…
What are you
currently reading?
His Majesty’s Dragon
by Naomi Novik. It’s
a story set during the
Napoleonic wars, but
with dragons. Sign
me up!

Which author, living

or dead, would you
most like to read a
Star Wars novel by?
How great would
a Jane Austen Star
Wars novel be? I’d
love to read her take
on The Courtship of
Princess Leia!

What word would

you use to describe
the novel you are
currently working on?
“Angst.”

What non-Star Wars

book should every
Star Wars fan read?
My favorite book is
Slaughterhouse Five
by Kurt Vonnegut.
Looking at war and
its consequences
through the lens
of science fiction?
Yeah, I think that’s
something Star Wars
fans could get into. I
can’t think of another
book where the
author tells you in
the very first chapter
everything that is
going to happen
in the rest of the
book—and yet the
storytelling surprises
and challenges you
anyway. Everything
is beautiful, but boy
does it hurt.
What Star Wars book
should every non-
Star Wars fan read?
I love Claudia Gray’s
Lost Stars. It takes the
huge conflict of the
Galactic Civil War and
gives it such personal
stakes through the
relationship of Thane
and Ciena. Even
though it’s classified
as a Young Adult
novel, it’s a beautiful
story for readers of
any age.
You’ve written Star Wars for very young
children. What was the most difficult part
in adapting The Last Jedi into a Little Golden
Book?
Writing The Last Jedi Little Golden Book was
both exciting and terrifying. I knew that this
would be some kids’ first experience with the
story until they were old enough to watch the
film. Talk about pressure!
Obviously you can’t fit every plot nuance into
24 pages of a children’s book, so I try to focus as
much as possible on the characters themselves.
What is it about Rey, Finn, and Poe that make
people of all ages want to root for them?
Which minor character would you most like
to see showcased in a novel and why?
I think Lobot needs more time to shine! I love
what the Marvel team has been doing with him
in the comics. The combination of loyalty and
tragedy make him such a compelling character.
Plus, who doesn’t want to read a cyberpunk
Star Wars novel?
Schaefer’s editing work for
Del Rey has included the
40th anniversary anthology,
A Certain Point of View (left)
and the movie adaptation,
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Expanded Edition (above).
What advice would you give to any young
authors who might hope to write a Star
Wars novel one day?
Write. Write a lot. Develop your style with
original stories. Prove you can hit a deadline
and tell inventive narratives.
How far do you think things have come
regarding representation in Star Wars
novels, and how much work is there left
to do?
The first time I saw The Force Awakens (2015)
and watched that lightsaber fly into Rey’s
hands, I wept. I felt like I belonged. Like
I mattered. I still get emotional whenever
I see little girls (and boys!) dressed as Rey.
Everyone deserves to have a moment like
that. And we’re not there yet. I’m so thrilled
that this generation will grow up with heroes
like Finn, Poe, Sabine, and Rose. And I hope
those characters are only the beginning.
The Star Wars galaxy should be big enough
for everyone.

60 / STAR WARS INSIDER

SWI2019_058_061_ElizabethSchaefer.indd 60 30/10/2018 11:57

 INTERVIEW

SELECTED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Star Wars Rebels: Chopper
Saves the Day (2014)
• World of Reading: Star Wars
Rebels: Hera’s Phantom Flight
(Level 2) (2015)
• 5-Minute Star Wars Stories
(2015)
• Finn & the First Order (2015)
• World of Reading: Star Wars
The Force Awakens: Rey
Meets BB-8 (Level 1) (2015)
• Star Wars: The Force
Awakens: Rey’s Story (2016)
• Star Wars: The Force
Awakens Storybook (2016)
• Star Wars: The Force
Awakens Read-Along
Storybook and CD (2016)
• Star Wars Forces of Destiny:
Tales of Hope & Courage
(2017)
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Movie Storybook (2018)

This page (clockwise from left): Star Wars: The Force

Awakens Rey’s Story, Little Golden Books’ The Last
Jedi, Star Wars Forces Of Destiny: Tales of Hope and
Courage, World of Reading: Star Wars: Rey Meets BB-8
(Level 1), Star Wars: The Last Jedi Movie Storybook.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 61

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 WAR STORIES
PRODUCER KATHLEEN KENNEDY AND DIRECTOR GARETH EDWARDS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON
THE FIRST STAR WARS STANDALONE MOVIE.

SWI2019_062_067_Kennedy_Edwards.indd 62 30/10/2018 12:00

 Kathleen Kennedy
in conversation with
producer Allison Shearmur,
Diego Luna, and
Riz Ahmed.

SWI2019_062_067_Kennedy_Edwards.indd 63 30/10/2018 12:00

 ON MAKING A GRITTIER STAR “YOU’VE GOT TO DO ABOUT A THOUSAND
WARS MOVIE DIFFERENT THINGS TOGETHER AND MIX THEM
Gareth Edwards: When we started the whole
process of making Rogue One, Kathy asked,
TOGETHER JUST RIGHT.”—GARETH EDWARDS
“How is this going to be different? We need to
differentiate ourselves from the saga.” We started
playing around and experimenting. We took real
war photography, like photographs from Vietnam,
World War II, and the Gulf, and used Photoshop
to put rebel helmets on the soldiers, and give them
rebel guns. We also added some X-wings in the
background instead of fighter jets.
People saw these images and said, “Wow. I really
want to see that film.” The studio loved it. They said,
“Just go make that.” That’s kind of what we did.
It was also like being in a war. The film crew
became like the characters, in a way. It’s sort of a
cliché that the process of making a film becomes
like the story you’re telling. In this case, we were
all in the trenches together, like the characters
were trying to steal the Death Star plans, trying
to achieve this impossible task. As a group, we
were trying to make a great Star Wars movie.

ON THE MOST IMPORTANT

INGREDIENT IN A
STAR WARS MOVIE
GE: There’s not an individual thing. It’s not
a case of “As long as you do this, it’s Star Wars
and you’re golden.” It’s more like, “You’ve got to
do about a thousand different things and mix them
all together, and get the balance just right!” It’s
a really tricky thing to emulate what we love about
the original movie, but to tell a different story that
feels fresh. We could have done a very specific
genre film and stuck the name Star Wars on it and
said, “That’s our movie.” George Lucas was always
really good at mixing the genres together and
creating this very emotional, mythological story
that just happened to have robots and spaceships
in it. It took us a long time to try and crack that code
and find all those different ingredients that we felt
it needed to have.

ON THE TONE OF ROGUE ONE

GE: We essentially got license to be different on this
movie and take a risk. The great thing about being
a standalone film is we don’t really have to exist for
other movies to continue the story. We could be
brave, and that’s what we did. We were aiming for
something like The Empire Strikes Back. We take
our movie quite seriously, but there’s still a lot of
fun and humor in it.
The story is really about all these different
people from all these different backgrounds that
have very little in common, but they all believe in Director Gareth Edwards
a good future for the galaxy. We are all are better calls the shots on the set
off when we work together than on our own. of Rogue One.

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SWI2019_062_067_Kennedy_Edwards.indd 65 30/10/2018 12:00
 ON DIVERSITY IN STAR WARS
Kathleen Kennedy: I think diversity is incredibly
important to Star Wars. I think it’s more important to
the film industry in general. I think having a cast that
represents and reflects the world today and having
characters that people all over the world can relate
to reflects that this is very much a global industry.
Films mean something to people all over the world.
[In] Rogue One, there is this group of people who
come together in ways that are kind of inexplicable.
They share a very common belief, and they feel very
strongly in their desire to do the right thing. Every
movie has reasons for casting certain people. I think
what we’re doing today is just being much more
mindful of that.

ON WOMEN IN STAR WARS

KK: I found it really interesting when I first stepped
into this job and I started to think, What does it mean
to be a female hero?
I think the characters of Rey and Jyn are
empowered women that are not necessarily just
taking on male characteristics. They’re genuinely
female heroines. I think that’s really important to the
way we tell stories. I think it will make a difference.

ON STRONG FEMALE LEADS

KK: In this movie, the irony is that Jyn’s not
necessarily just a female hero. She’s a very strong,
wonderful character in a movie, who happens to be
a woman. Gareth Edwards directs
members of the
Rogue One cast.
ON K-2SO
KK: Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO can proudly stand amongst
an amazing line-up of droids such as C-3PO and
R2-D2, and BB-8. He’s another great droid in
Star Wars.

GE: We shot the whole thing as if K2 was there.

Whatever Alan did on set was exactly what K2 was
going to do in the final film. Even though you might
think, You can just animate this stuff, you can’t.
There were times where we wanted to tweak
something in post-production. We’d try something
a little bit different to what Alan did, and every
single time, it didn’t work. We had to be true to his
performance all of the time. Even when we wanted
to tweak something, we got Alan back and we
re-recorded him on film and copied his performance.
He is K2. A lot of the humor that’s in the movie
comes from Alan improvising. He was given freedom
to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.
There are shots we couldn’t use because sometimes,
when I was holding the camera, I was laughing so
much it was rocking.

Rogue One presents

a grittier side to the
Star Wars franchise.

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 ON GEORGE LUCAS’ THOUGHTS
ON ROGUE ONE
GE: I don’t want to put words into George’s mouth,
but I can say that I can die happy now! He really liked
the movie, so that means a lot. It was the most
important review to me; he’s kind of God when it
comes to Star Wars!

ON WHETHER THE CHARACTERS

IN ROGUE ONE WILL APPEAR IN
ANOTHER MOVIE
KK: What’s liberating in many ways is the notion
that we can come up with these stories inside the
Star Wars universe that really have a beginning,
middle, and an end. They stand truly stand on their
own, and this movie does. a

Your new favorite

droid: K-2SO!

SWI2019_062_067_Kennedy_Edwards.indd 67 30/10/2018 12:00

 ASHLEY ECKSTEIN,
THE VOICE OF
AHSOKA TANO, ON
THE RETURN OF THE
CHARACTER TO STAR
WARS REBELS,
CELEBRATION
ANAHEIM, AND
PROVIDING FASHION
INSPIRATION FOR
KATHLEEN KENNEDY.
INTERVIEW BY AMY RATCLIFFE
tar Wars Insider: Star Wars Celebration

S Anaheim opened with The Force Awakens

panel, and Kathleen Kennedy walked onto
the stage wearing Her Universe’s lightsaber
T-shirt. Did you know that was happening?
Ashley Eckstein: No, I had no idea that Kathleen
Kennedy was going to wear our T-shirt [laughs]. It
was such an exciting surprise. I did know that she
bought it, but I thought that she was wearing it to
dinner the night before. So I thought that she had
already worn it and the last thing I expected was for
her to walk out on stage in our tee. It’s like when Kate
Middleton wears something and then everyone goes
crazy for it. I’m so grateful, and I now call it the
Kathleen Kennedy shirt! I feel like she is an icon.
Not only is she a fangirl icon, but I feel like she’s just
an icon for all fans. And if you see Kathleen Kennedy
wearing something, naturally in your head you think,
I now have to own a white blazer to pair with that T-shirt
because she looks so fantastic.

Her Universe offered several new items and styles at

Celebration. How did the new pin-up dresses go over?
It was great. The fans were incredibly supportive and
luckily we had a dressing room at the show. We had
long lines, but everyone was patient. This was our first
foray into a lot more fashion-forward designs, so we
learned a lot and definitely got everyone’s feedback—
good and bad—and we’re going to be improving on
that. It was a really exciting con; the lightsaber skirt
and cardigans were the most popular items.

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 ASHLEY ECKSTEIN IS AHSOKA TANO

From left to
right: Ashley
“I SAW THE REBELS
Eckstein; Ahsoka
emerges from her
PREMIERE EPISODE
Master’s shadow;
the beginning:
FOR THE FIRST TIME
Ahsoka’s debut
appearance in
IN A ROOM WITH
the Star Wars: The
Clone Wars movie
A COUPLE OF
(2008)
THOUSAND PEOPLE!”

What are some of the top highlights of

the rest of your Celebration experience?
The Star Wars Rebels panel with
everyone—especially the surprise
appearance of Dee [Bradley Baker] and
I on stage and everyone finding out that
Captain Rex was coming back. Dee and
I were standing backstage when Rex
appeared on the trailer and just hearing
the crowd roar at that moment was so
exciting. It was so electric, and then to
walk out on stage together with him
was incredible.
And then there was the Rebels
premiere. That was the first time I’d seen
the episode and to watch it with a couple
thousand people in the room for the first
time was really just surreal.
The third highlight was the Ahsoka
Lives Day. It was so special to see how the

SWI2019_068_075_AshleyEckstein.indd 69 30/10/2018 12:05

 fans still love Ahsoka and support her, and to see all
the little girls dressed as Ahsoka just melted my heart.
Honestly, I got goose bumps at the turnout.

How hard was it for you to keep the return of Ahsoka

under your hat?
It was a hard secret to keep. I’ve known the secret for
about a year now, and it’s just been so tough because
I haven’t lied to the fans, but I can’t tell the truth so
what do you really say? When friends would ask me
over and over again, “Is Ahsoka going to be in Rebels?
Are we going to see Ahsoka again?” I would just have
to say, “Well, you know, she’s still alive. It’s kind of too
soon to tell. You know, they’re still writing Rebels. Who
knows? Maybe we’ll see her one day.”
But once Fulcrum came into the storyline, it was
harder to be vague. The fans— who are so fantastic—
pitched up Fulcrum’s voice and said, “Okay, that sounds
like Ashley and the way that she speaks!” I pretty
much went into hiding after that because
I didn’t know what to say. I kind of
avoided interviews, all podcasts, really
all social media about the subject, until
after the finale aired because I didn’t
know what to say about it, and I didn’t
want to lie about it.

She’s not the only character from Clone Wars jumping

to Rebels. The Season Two trailer that premiered at
Celebration showed Captain Rex and Hondo Ohnaka.
What does it mean to you to see these characters
continue to live in Rebels?
I’m also a huge fan of these characters in Star Wars
and so, as a fan, I became so invested in them. We
spent six seasons on The Clone Wars getting to know
these characters so deeply—we really did. They’re
animated characters, but we became emotionally
attached to them. I can’t say enough about
Captain Rex and what he means, but also
Hondo is a personal favorite of mine. So for

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 “FOR THE CLONE WARS TO
END LIKE IT DID MEANS SO
MUCH MORE FOR AHSOKA
AND REX TO COME BACK.”

The Clone Wars to end like it did, kind of on a cliffhanger

and not knowing where these characters ended up, it
means so much for them to come back in Rebels because
we need more. We need more of their storylines, we
need to know where they went and what they’ve been
doing, what happened to them.

Rex and Ahsoka have quite a history. What kind of

relationship do they have now?
They have a bond like family. They really spent so much
time side-by-side fighting in Clone Wars. I think Ahsoka
has such a special bond with Rex because he was kind of
like a mentor in a way, along with Anakin—even though
she said in the show, “So, if you are a captain and I’m a
Jedi, then technically I outrank you, right?” Rex quickly
put her in her place and said, “Well, experience outranks
everything,” and I think she respected him from day one
for that and admired that she had to earn his respect.
I think along with Anakin and the rest of the gang, it’s
like an older brother and a family member. So they
have a really, really tight bond and we don’t know what
happened between them after she walked away from the
Clone Wars, but we do know that they’re both still alive,
and hopefully we’ll get to find out more about what
they’ve been doing since.

Opposite page,
from left: Ezra and
Ahsoka make battle
plans; the return of
the (former) Jedi!

This page, left from

the top: The iconic
moment “Fulcrum’s“
identity was finally
revealed to the
Ghost crew!

Left: Ashley models

a handy Wicket bag!

INSIDER 71

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 This page, right, from
top: Hera and Ahsoka;
Ashley models the T-shirt
as worn by Kathleen
Kennedy at Celebration
Anaheim; Ahsoka in action
on the bridge of the Ghost.
Opposite page, left
to right: Ahsoka’s
experiences have made
her a much tougher
Togruta! Bonding
with Chopper!
72 INSIDER
SWI2019_068_075_AshleyEckstein.indd 72
Both Rex and Ahsoka were close with Anakin
Skywalker, and Darth Vader is in the picture on
Rebels along with them. Is Ahsoka aware of Darth
Vader as a presence in the galaxy?
Darth Vader is a newer presence to the rebels. And,
what else can I say to that? [laughs] I can’t say much
about Ahsoka and Vader and what she knows and
what she doesn’t know. But I do know that once Dave
Filoni told me that if Ahsoka and Darth Vader were to
eventually confront each other, that it probably wouldn’t
be a good thing for Ahsoka. Dave said on the Rebels
panel that, obviously, it’s a natural progression for her
story. If that does happen—and I can honestly answer
you with if because I don’t know that part of her story—
I fear for her because of that looming advice Dave Filoni
once gave me.
If Vader is aware of who Ahsoka is, he probably
wouldn’t like having such a strong reminder of the
person he used to be around.
Absolutely. He is the most powerful, and as powerful
as I think Ahsoka is—and of course I am biased—it’s
still Darth Vader [laughs]. I don’t know how well she
would fair. So we’ll see.
We know Ahsoka is helping the rebels fight back
against the Empire. Will we learn more about her
specific role within the budding rebellion?
Ahsoka will continue to remain a mysterious
character. She’s a recurring character so she’s not
going to be a main character in every single episode.
And Ahsoka has questions that she needs answered,
so we’ll see her, but then she’s also going to be
on her own journey getting her questions answered.
30/10/2018 12:06
 “I THINK KANAN AND EZRA
HAVE A BOND THAT IS LIKE
AHSOKA AND ANAKIN’S, IN
THAT IT IS UNBREAKABLE.”

We saw Ahsoka walk away from the Jedi lifestyle, but

she likely received more training than Kanan. Will we
see Ezra wanting to learn from her?
I think Kanan and Ezra have a bond that is like Ahsoka
and Anakin’s in that it is unbreakable, and that can’t be
replaced by Ahsoka. I think how I would almost describe
it is how Ahsoka was with Obi-Wan. Ahsoka and Anakin
were really close, but Obi-Wan was this wise adviser that
Ahsoka almost cowered to a little bit, because there was
so much respect—like he was the master to the master,
if that makes sense. There was like an extra level of
respect there; she was always on her best behavior
around Obi-Wan. She always watched her manners
and Ps and Qs, and she wasn’t too snippy with Obi-Wan.
I almost think Ahsoka will be viewed by Ezra with a
sense of reverence of, “She is this master to the master,”

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 This page, from top:
Ahsoka is reminded of her
own journey when she
meets Kanan and Ezra;
a thoughtful Ahsoka;
the return of Ahsoka—
“THERE ARE SO MANY
and the rebels—in
the explosive Season
LESSONS I’VE LEARNED
Two opener!
FROM AHSOKA. I OFTEN
Opposite page, from
left: A strong, determined
THINK, WHAT WOULD
Ahsoka faces an uncertain
future; Ashley proudly
AHSOKA DO? ”
wears her “Ahsoka Lives!”
T-shirt.

essentially. Ahsoka’s not that, but I’m just

saying, Ezra has more of a friendly relationship
with Kanan with the banter and the wisecracks.

She is the mentor now, and, in some ways, so

are you with the Rebels cast. What has it been
like to be a veteran in both areas?
It’s so funny because I just experienced that at
Celebration. This was the first Celebration for
the whole cast of Rebels. And so backstage
I was giving them advice like, “Okay, here’s
what’s going to happen, and here’s what we are
going to do and here is what to expect!” They all
had several questions. Right before they walked
out on stage for the panel, they were like, “Oh my
gosh, we can’t believe all the fans out there,” and
they were nervous. It’s definitely like life imitates
art. I felt like Ahsoka—I was able to provide
advice because this was my fourth Celebration.

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 Ahsoka has come such a long way
from the character we first met in
2008. Have you learned any lessons
from her?
There are so many lessons that I’ve
learned from Ahsoka. Sometimes it
feels silly to say that this animated
character has taught us so much,
but she really has. I look up to her.
I often think, What would Ahsoka do?
I feel like she has such a good heart
and such a good moral compass
that she’ll always choose what’s
right, and I often keep that in mind.
But I think with Ahsoka in Rebels—
she’s now back with a sense of
confidence. It’s almost like when we
go to school for so many years and
then when we graduate, we’re out
in the real world. It’s like Ahsoka is
now out in the real world, and we
now see her in her job and she is
very confident in it. I think that’s
what we can take from her right
now in Rebels: Just be confident
in what you’re doing and go forward
with the story. a

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SWI2019_068_075_AshleyEckstein.indd 75 30/10/2018 12:06

 INFERNO SQUAD

NEW
FLAMES Set just after Rogue One: A Star Wars
story, Christie Golden’s new novel Inferno
Squad tells the story of a crack Imperial
unit tasked with destroying what’s left of
Saw Gerrera’s most loyal troops. Insider
asked her about the sparks that fire her
imagination. Words: Megan Crouse

76 / STAR WARS INSIDER

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SWI2019_076-079_InfernoSquad.indd 77 30/10/2018 12:09

new Star Wars
book from Christie
A Golden is always a
treat, but the
release of Inferno
Squad is even
more so as it harkens back to
characters and situations starting
before and continuing through
events that played out in the
blockbuster movie Rogue One.
Star Wars Insider: The book’s
eponymous Inferno Squad is
made up of the Empire’s best
and brightest. What made you
want to write about them?
Christie Golden: I enjoy exploring
gray areas, and one question that
almost all my books touch upon
is: What makes good people do
bad things? There aren’t a whole
lot of good people high up in the
Empire—by the time you’re in that
deep, you know what’s what. The
characters in Inferno Squad are
young, though. Del is 32, Iden and
Gideon are around 22, and Seyn is
the youngest at 20. They’ve been
raised to believe that the rebels
are the problem; that the Empire
is looking out for everyone’s best
interests; and that when the dust
settles everyone will be taken care
of—not “taken care of!” This is war,
and in order for things to get better,
the Empire has to win—at least,
that’s the justification. Plus, Saw
Gerrera’s partisans are not exactly
good guys. Both sides are proud of
their skills and accomplishments,
and are convinced they are on the
right side!
Who was your favorite
character to write?
Each of them has their appeal. It’s
an ensemble piece, so I enjoyed
getting to do point-of-view for all
the main characters. Iden Versio
is the main focus, and I had a little
difficulty finding her, but that’s
not surprising. There’s so much
to mine there, and she is very
good at keeping things locked
away. Once I “got” her though,
and realized how much was just
78 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_076-079_InfernoSquad.indd 78
INFERNO SQUAD
01
the tip of the iceberg, I loved
writing her.
Gideon Hask is charming, but
there’s definitely a cold, dark, very
classical Imperial side to him. Del is
quiet, with a sharp mind and great
heart. When he speaks, it’s usually
the right thing to say. And Seyn was
quite special because I got to create
her from a whole cloth. All of them
are what I call “good traveling
companions”—certainly for me,
and I hope for the readers, as well.
You’re bringing something new
to a familiar era, right after the
destruction of the first Death Star.
What were you most excited to
explore about this time period?
In 1977, I was 13 years old, and
I went to see Star Wars about a
billion times. So there is definitely
a special place in my heart for
that particular part of the saga.
I was always curious about what
happened afterward, and it’s an
honor to have a sliver of time and
place where I get to answer that.
What was it like to write for
Saw’s militia now there’s no
Saw to lead them? Was he still
an important character for you?
Absolutely! We don’t get to see a lot
of Saw in action, but when we do
see him, he’s in lots of different
“this is war,
and in order
for things to
get better, the
Empire has to
win—at least,
that’s the
justification.”
—Christie Golden
places. He’s in Star Wars: The Clone
Wars, Rebels, the young adult
novel Rebel Rising, and Rogue One,
so I was able to research him at a
variety of stages in his life. We also
get to see different “flavors” of his
people in each of those time
periods, and how they changed
from the idealists of Onderon
blowing up droids to the cold,
violent partisans seen in the movie.
With Inferno Squad, I was able to
harvest things from all those
versions and also create my own
characters. Who are these people
when Saw is no longer there to be
such a powerful figurehead? Where
are they left now? It’s wonderfully
juicy stuff to dive into.
You have a long history of writing
Star Wars books and other novels.
What has working on Star Wars
taught you about your craft?
My first venture into Star Wars was
Fate of the Jedi. I wrote three novels
in a nine-book series, each with
another author on either side. The
nature of that project means it still
ranks as the most challenging things
I’d ever done. It was also the first
project I did after my father passed
away. It really helped give me
confidence in myself and my work,
so I could tell myself, “Hey, I did
that, I can do this,” going forward.
30/10/2018 12:09
 INFERNO SQUAD

02 01 The stunning
cover art for
Star Wars
Battlefront II:
Inferno Squad.

02 While not in
the book,
Saw’s legacy
lives on through
his militant
partisans.

What’s your favorite part of

writing Star Wars novels?
I love how the thrill of “I am
writing Star Wars!” never goes
away. Plus the folks at Del Rey
and Lucasfilm are always
100-percent supportive of me
and my work. It makes for a
wonderful environment: to be
creative with people who know
how to navigate the challenges
of this giant shared world.

You’ve written more than 50

novels. How do you produce
so much so quickly?
Well, it’s been 25 years, so I’m not
as fast as some authors! My first
professional fiction project was
Ravenloft: Vampire of the Mists,
which came about when I answered
an audition. I won the job after
writing a sample chapter and an
outline, and then I was told, “You
have three months to write it…
Go!” What was I going to do, blow
my chance? So I hit the ground
running, and I haven’t stopped!

Do you have any tips for writers

working on novels of their own?
You have to make the time for
your writing. Make it a habit,
make it a routine. Work it into
your schedule and do it at a regular
time, preferably always in the
same place. Also, find a scent
that you like—candle, incense,
whatever. Scent is processed by
the same part of the brain as
memory. Doing all those things
regularly will make your brain go,
“Aha, I’m in writing mode now!”
But most of all: don’t quit! a

STAR WARS INSIDER / 79

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 80 / STAR WARS INSIDER

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 COMICS: CAPTAIN PHASMA

Phantastic
Phasma
The last time we saw the First Order’s
deadliest stormtrooper, she was headed
for a sticky end in a trash compactor. Now
she’s back and with vengeance on her
mind, in a new Marvel Comics series...
WORDS: MICHAEL KOGGE

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he jaws of a
trash compactor
T couldn’t end the
careers of Luke,
Han, and Leia,
and nor did
they do for the First Order’s lead
stormtrooper, Captain Phasma.
In a new, four-issue series from
Marvel Comics, the warrior woman
in gleaming armor rescues herself
from the refuse of Starkiller Base
and retakes her command. Star
Wars Insider spoke with artist
Marco Checchetto and writer Kelly
Thompson about the character’s
comic continuation.
Star Wars Insider: Let’s start at the
beginning. How did you come to
work on Captain Phasma?
Marco Checchetto: I was working
on Star Wars: The Screaming
Citadel when my editors at Marvel,
Jordan White and Heather Antos,
asked me if I was interested in
working on another Star Wars
miniseries. I had a lot of fun
drawing The Screaming Citadel,
which is wonderfully written by
Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron, and
01 The comic takes in some
strange new worlds—and
monstrous creatures.
02 Checcetto expertly uses
angles to convey a masked
character’s emotions.
03 The comic will find Phasma
escape the trash compactor
and hunt down her enemies.
(See opposite page.)
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COMICS: CAPTAIN PHASMA
I love to work on Marvel’s Star
Wars books, so the answer was
obviously a big “Yes!”
I’ve been lucky to have had the
opportunity to work on every era
of Star Wars—the five-issue series
Obi-Wan & Anakin in the prequel
era, Shattered Empire and The
Screaming Citadel during the
classic trilogy, and now Captain
Phasma in the new “sequel” era.
Kelly Thompson: I wrote Marvel’s
second Star Wars Annual and was
in the process of trying to pitch
another Star Wars story to Jordan
and Heather. We couldn’t get that
off the ground, but they offered
me Phasma, which was, of course,
a dream-come-true opportunity
that I jumped on immediately.
01
What role has Star Wars played
in your creative lives?
MC: The first time I saw Star Wars
I was child. I only saw the scene
where Luke saves Leia in A New
Hope. It was love at first sight. I’m
a fan because George Lucas showed
me not a story, not a world, but an
incredible new galaxy.
KT: The original Star Wars films are
some of my earliest film memories,
etched indelibly on my brain. Like
so many other fans, they sparked
my very early creativity and a deep
and lasting love of sci-fi and
fantasy. Funny stories? Well, I did
have my first kiss—six years old,
very chaste—in a living room
while watching A New Hope!
02
What makes this new adventure
for Phasma stand out?
KT: The parameters for this story
are quite strict, as our mission was
to tell the story of Phasma that
bridges the gap between The Force
Awakens and The Last Jedi.
In pitching, the goal for me
was figuring out what Phasma’s
priorities would be. And since
Phasma is always looking out for
number one, her priority becomes
escaping Starkiller Base alive and
making sure that the destruction
of the base cannot be traced back
to her. She hunts down the one
person inside the First Order who
she suspects knows that she lowered
the shields, and she is completely
focused on that goal. That gave us
a really great chase element to our
story that has real stakes and
potentially devastating effects for
Phasma and others.
Marco, you’ve been drawing the
likes of Daredevil for a decade
now. How does drawing Star Wars
differ from a superhero comic?
MC: Wow, 10 years! And it still
seems I’m the new guy here!
For me Star Wars is more
difficult to draw than a superhero
comic. You have to stay very close
to the look of the actors, and it’s
not good if a reader can’t recognize
30/10/2018 12:11
 COMICS: CAPTAIN PHASMA

03
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the characters immediately. At the
same time, you have to filter the
likenesses through your style. The
right balance of these two things
allows you to create a good Star
Wars comic book.
Kelly, you’ve written original
works like Storykiller and The
Girl Who Would Be King, and
licensed comics including
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
How has your experience fed
into Captain Phasma?
KT: I’ve definitely gotten a bit of
a reputation for writing complex
women in comics, and Phasma is
definitely complex. But in all other
ways she’s different from most of
my other licensed work, in that
she’s much darker, more serious,
and completely laconic. My
“voice” in comics has relied a lot
on sense of humor and tone, so
this was a total departure and the
challenge really excited me.
Phasma is a woman of action, not
words, and that was a tough line
to walk. But fortunately I had great
partners in Marco and our colorist,
Andres Mossa, so I was able to
trust them to help me get Phasma
right, even with far fewer words
than I’m used to.
Did you focus on any particular
themes in the comic?
KT: Survival. Phasma is all about
survival and doing whatever it
takes to make sure that she’s the
last one standing. She doesn’t fit
neatly into the First Order’s
traditional themes, which I think
makes her an even more
interesting character. She’s a
chameleon. Unlike a lot of other
Imperial and First Order characters,
she’s a villain not so much because
of her belief in their ideology, but
simply because she’s a survivor.
She’s fascinating because she will
“She’s a very dangerous
and powerful woman
to be around.”
Kelly Thompson
84 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_080-085_Phasma.indd 84
COMICS: CAPTAIN PHASMA
04
survive at all costs, and that often
includes picking the side that she
believes is the strongest. It also
means that everyone who’s not
her is vulnerable. She’s a very
dangerous and powerful woman
to be around.
Marco, you live in Italy, and
Kelly you’re based in Portland,
Oregon. How do the pair of
you collaborate?
KT: Seamlessly! I loved working
with Marco and was very familiar
with his work before we started.
I had a pretty good idea about the
kind of things he was interested in
illustrating: those big epic set
pieces and moments that make
you go “Whoa!” I tried to lean into
that as much as possible, to give
him room for those eye-popping
moments that readers love.
Because Phasma is light on
dialogue, I wrote pretty tightly to
make sure we got the story beats
we needed, and Marco kept pretty
close to the script. But I think we
were in great sync from day one,
particularly about what we
thought was so cool and engaging
about Phasma and her story. I’m
certainly going to try my hardest
to work with Marco again.
MC: I always try to stay very near
to what I read in the script, and
when I can have fun then it’s all
easier to draw. The story was so
intriguing and Kelly’s script was
so well written that it drew itself.
She has a great taste for spectacular
scenes and knows exactly when
the artist needs space to open the
scene. I hope to work with her
again in the future, too!
Much of Phasma’s attitude comes
from her armor, but it’s hardly
expressive. How did that
influence the storytelling?
MC: Depicting her character
through her armor was the hardest
part of the job at first. The armor is
very beautiful, but also a bit stiff.
I wanted Phasma to be fluent in
the movements but I did not want
to turn her armor into a superhero
costume. Andres Mossa and I
studied ways to make the chrome
realistic but not too heavy on the
eye. He did a great job. It was a big
challenge and I hope readers will
like the final result.
30/10/2018 12:11

KT: Phasma presents all the same
challenges as Darth Vader, actually:
we’re never inside her head. She’s
incredibly laconic and her face is
constantly hidden behind a mask.
In the hands of a lesser artist, that
could have been a huge problem,
but Marco is so good that I think
we often get to use the armor to
our advantage.
The armor is both glorious and
ominous, and through angles,
body language, and bunch of other
tricks, most of the time it ends up
working in our favor. That tells
SWI2019_080-085_Phasma.indd 85
COMICS: CAPTAIN PHASMA
05
06
you just how good Marco and
Andres really are!
Phasma’s biography is relatively
unknown. What do you build
on, other than her armor?
KT: Even though I had to pitch
and plot the series without a ton
of knowledge about Phasma’s
past, I did have some great
conversations with Lucasfilm that
really helped to flesh her out.
Also, by the time I was writing
later issues, I had read an early
draft of Delilah S. Dawson’s
04 Phasma’s quest will take
her to some far flung
corners of the galaxy. (See
opposite page.)
05 Getting the chrome effect
on Phasma’s armor correct
was an artistic challenge.
06 The comic will also
introduce some horrifying
new monsters to Star Wars.
Phasma novel, which is all about
her past. That really helped inform
some of the choices we made.
You don’t have to read the novel
to understand anything we’re
doing, but anyone who does read
the novel will pick up on some nice
details and extra layers when they
come to read the comic.
What new characters will we
meet in the comic?
KT: We’ve created a First Order
pilot, a new droid, and a First
Order lieutenant. But there’s also a
whole new planet with two
warring local populations and
some really incredible monsters!
What are your favorite moments
in the series?
MC: I really love all of the first
issue, because it takes place during
the last few minutes of The Force
Awakens. There is also a moment
in issue two when Phasma changes
her costume. I had fun creating
her new suit. Also, the first 10
pages of issue four, but I can’t say
why, because it’d spoil them!
KT: Oh, man, that’s so hard to
choose! I love the ticking time
bomb aspect of the first issue,
and the tiny Kylo Ren and Rey
cameo! In issue two, Phasma fights
a sea monster of sorts, and Marco
absolutely killed that scene. It’s so
cool! I also love how issue four
resolves. It’s really devastating and
thus awesome!
Any chance that Captain
Phasma’s adventures in comics
might continue?
MC: Never say never.
KT: I like that answer! a
STAR WARS INSIDER/ 85
30/10/2018 12:11
 who? what? why?

There’s never been a character quite like

sabine wren. a confident streetwise freedom
fighther who loves art just as much as she
loathes the empire, she has captured the
imaginations of Star wars Rebels’ fans
around the world.
words: Tricia Barr

86 INSIDER

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 INSIDER 87

SWI2019_086_091_Sabine_v2al.indd 87 30/10/2018 12:13

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ter
er
are women m off every ry ra
race,
ace,
ce ev e
everyeryy agage ge S what
So wh t d
wha doo we
we know
know so faffar
arr a
about
bo
bou
o t this
this two ye years
ars of tr trave
travels
avels
ave ls and nd adadven
adventure.
ventur
ve
ven t e.
tur e
a ev
and every
e very
r dedescription,
escr
s ipttion, doing inte interesting
nteres
nte resesstin
t g enigmatic
eni
en
n gma
gmatic character,
tic ch
chara
ara
r cte
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r, who wiwill
ill soo
sooner
oner
ne
er So wha whatt d does
oes Se Season
Seasoaso
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hre
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tthings
thi ngs
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ex
exp herself
re s hers
res h erself
ers elf wi
with explosion
th an exp
explos
losion
los ion
on th
o than
an store
sto re for Sa Sabine,
Sabinbin ne,
e, andnd d whwhat
w a lig
at light
ght wil willl
w
speak
sp
spe
peakk abo
about
ut her mo
ut motivations?
otiv
tivati
ations
ati ons?
ons member
? A me
membe
emmbe
ber it thr
it tthrow
hrowo on n her wa warrior
warri
rrior
rr
rri or paspast?
st? ?

88 INSIDER

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 INSIDER 89

SWI2019_086_091_Sabine_v2al.indd 89 30/10/2018 12:13

 now,
n
now o ,a and
n I’m
nd I’ ju just
stt as excexcite
excited
i da ass
THIRD STRIKE! thehe fa
things
thi
ffans
hiings
n to
ns
gs and
gs an
o seeeee he
nd encounter
enco
enco ouunt
nter
experience
herr expe
e xpe
e pe
perie
rience
ri
people
peo
eoople
nce
ce new
e ne
from
e frrom
o
ew

SABINE UPGRADED During

Dur
uring
at C
ing g th
Celebration
Cel
elebr
he S
the
ebratiion
Sta
Star
ar W
ar
o Eur
Warsars
Europe,
E
Eu
r Re Rebel
Rebels
ope,, S
ope
belss pan
Sircar
ircca
panel
arr hin
el
hinted
nteded
her
into
int
er papast
ntto a le
n
s …S Sabine
leadership
eadersh
ade
dersh
abine
abi
rship
n iss bei
ne
ip
pp
being
position,
pos
ositi
n thr
ng
it on,
on wh
thrust
which
ust
hichch
stt
h
that
tha
h t figu
figu guresres fr
res from
omm SabSabine’s
S
Sabine
abineine’s
ne s pas past
p ast a arere
re she is
sh
she isn’t
sn exactly
n’tt ex
e
exact
xact
a lyy hap
ac happy
ppy to ass assume,
a s ume
ss ume,
ume,
s to ap
set appear
ppea
pearr in in the
the e new
n seaso
se
season,
ason,
aso n,, butt there’s
thhere
ere’s
er ’s a ssort
’s ortrt of
o pr press
pressure
essure
ess ure e on
and th thereere iss a goo good cchance
od chan hance ce thathat
hat
ha at tthese
hesse her e to to ge experienced.
gett expe
e xperie
xp
xpe rience
rie nced.
ced.. And
And th then
hen
en
JETPACK
The jetpack that Sabine uses to flee Imper
Imperial
rial
could
could
the
h Im
he
l b

glimpsed
g mps
gl
gli p ed
ps
be e ((or co
IImperial-loyal
perial
per
e in
ial
could
al-lo
l-lo
confl
n con
uld be co
loya
yal
a Ma
flict
ict with
connected
onne
nn cte
Mandalorians
M nd
nda
d lor
wi h the
cted
lorian
the Gho
ian
a s
an
d tto)

Ghost
Gh h st
o)
o) her e backstory

seemed
seeme
see
backs
ba
Most
Mos
M
med
ckstor
cks
ost of
ed ex
e
tory
tor
of all,
comes
om s iinto
ory ccome
ome
ll however,
all,
excited
excit
cit
ited
ed
howev
ho wever,
wev
about
d abo
a
n pl
nto play...”
p
er, Sircar
er
bout Sab
S rca
Si
Sabine
Sa ine
n
ne
ay ..”
ay.
ar
.”

Loyalist Mandalorians in the preview show

shown
wn at
crew
cre wd during
urir ng the te tteaser
aserr ffootage
ease
ase ootage
oo
oot agege
g and
e an
a d getting
ge
get t g to
tin wield
to wiel
w ield
iel d ssome
ome co coolol new
ol new
Celebration Europe bears a close resembl
resemblance
ance
trailer.
traaile
leer.rS She al also
a mentioned
so men
m tio
io
oneded tth that
hat he her tech.
tece h. A An int
intense
intens
in ense
ens e cclip
li sh
lip shown
own at
to the Z-6 jetpack worn by Boba Fett in The e
character
charac
cha rac
a ter
ac ter wowoulduld co come
ome e to o the
he fo fore
re ofof Celebration
Celebr
Cel ebrrati
ebrat at on Europe
n Eur urope
op an
ope and d the
the
Empire Strikes Back k and Return of the Jedi.
the
th
h fig fig ghth ag
ht against
a ainst
ain s the Em Empire,
mpir
p e,
pi e alb albeit
lbeit
eit following
folo low
low wing se season
seaso
ason
aso n ttrailer
railer
rai ler rerevealed
evea
v led
ve led
The only time we see Fett take to the air
a
somewhat
somewh
som ewh
ew what
w reluctantly.
a rel e uctctant
anttlly.
y. that
ttha
hat S Sabine
abine
abi gets
ne get
g etss h
et her hands
er han
h ds on
in the movies is when he travels between Jabba’s
J
“Dave
“Da ave [Filoni]
[Filon
[Fi loni]] clued
clued d me e into
int
nto
nt o what
what
ha some
so e iconic
som icon
icon Mandolorian
o icc Man andold ori
do
dol orian kit:
an kit
ki i :a
it
barge and skiff in Jedi. But this scene high
highlights
lights
was
a ha happening
appe
pp nin n g withwiththh mo
more warning
r war
warnin nin
ning
ng jjetpack
je
jet pack
pac ka and
ndd Pre Vi Vizsla’s
Vizsl
z a’s da
zsl darksaber
darks
rrks
ksabe
aberr
the limitations of such powerful gear, as itt
than
h n iin p
tha past
ast seseasons,”
seaso
aso
s ns,ns,”” tthehe voivoice-ice- (see
see sidebar).
(se side
i barba ).
only takes a well-placed jab from the parti
partially
ally
actor
act or tea teased
easedsed d the
th
he room
room
o fu fulllll of fan fanss “She
“She gets getsts to hold
hold the darksaber,”
darks
da rksabe
rksabe
rks aber, r
r,
r,”
blind Han Solo to ignite the pack and send Fett
back
back iin nJ July.
l . ““He
uly H use
He used
sed tto o ssay,
ay,y Sircar
Sircar exclaimed
excla
ex claime
cl
cla ime ed a att tthe London
he Lon ndon
careening into the sail barge before plumm
plummeting
meting
‘Tomorrow,
‘To
T mor
morrow row,, when
whehen we
hen w re record,
ecorord, thi
o tthiss event.
eveent. “I ha had to ssteady
d to tea
eaady mysmyself
m elf
e lf
into the Sarlacc pit.
is what’s
is wha
w happening
t’ss ha appe
p nin
pp ning g iin Sabine’s
n Sabi
S ab
abi
bine’ne’ss life
ne’ llife!’
ife!’
ife !’ because
b aus
bec ause eIw was
wa ki g, Wha
as tthinking,
h kin
hin What at iiss
The jetpack made a triumphant return n in
Thiss time
Th
Thi ttime,
ime, h he’s
e’ss gi
e given
given n me a bet better ter
ter happening?
happen
hap pe ening
in
n ? I hahave
h ve a darksaber!
dark
darkrkksab ber!
e
Attack of the Clones when, pursued by Obi-
Obi-Wan
Wan
understanding
u ders
und ersr tan
tandindin
ing
in gooff what
what’s
w hat’s
hat ’ss to comcome, me,
e Why?
Why? What Whath d do I do wit with h iit?
t? It
t? It’s
’s al
’s all
l
Kenobi, Jango Fett held his own in battle against
a
which
wh
whi c iss awe
ch awesome,
wesom
we some,
som me because
e,, bec
b aususe tthere
e therhere
her e iiss pretty
pre t ex
tty exciting!”
e citing
cit ing
n !”
the Jedi Knight. The jetpack allowed Jango o to
s muc
so mu h m
mu
much more
ore to o cocomem forr Sa
me Sabine.
Sabin bine.
bin e.
rocket away from the reach of Kenobi’s
“I
“I feeleell like
fee like I have
have a better bette
be tterr
tte
lightsaber, and seemed unaffected by Kam
relentless rain.
Kamino’s
mino’s
understanding
u
und
unnd
ndersstandin
tan
andin i go off wwhoho she e iiss STEM CELL
In Star Wars: The Clone Wars we learn
learneded
With
Wit
th all
all that
tha
h t tto
o come
ccome,
ome
m , ther
me tthere
h e can
he
her can be
be nno
o
much more about the Mandalorians, and ssaw aw
doubt
dou bt that
bt th t Dave
tha Daveve
e Fi
F
Filoni
l ia
lon and
nd the R
d the Reb
Rebels
ebels
e
in numerous action sequences that a skille
skilled
ed
team are
tea re
e pay
p
payinging
ng
g mo
morere tha
than
han jjust
u
ust
Mandalorian warrior equipped with a jetpa
jetpack
ack
can equal a Force user in a fight.

DARKSABER
How Sabine finds herself in possession of the
darksaber is a mystery to be revealed in ththe
he
new season of Star Wars Rebels. What we do d
know about this ancient weapon, however,, is
that it was previously wielded by Pre Vizsla
Vizsla,a, the
leader of the Death Watch faction in Star Wars:
W
The Clone Wars.
Vizsla told Obi-Wan Kenobi in battle that
thaat the
black-bladed weapon was stolen from the Jedi
Temple by his ancestors during the fall of thet
Old Republic, with the sword handed down n
from generation to generation. Kenobi neanearly
arly
defeated Vizsla, but he was compelled to retreat
r
by the combined forces of Death Watch, wh which
hich
adhered to the ancient warrior ways of
Mandalorian culture.
Later, Vizsla nearly killed Ahsoka Tano with
the darksaber when she encountered the
banished Death Watch on Carlac. After strstriking
iking
an alliance with Darth Maul and his Shadow w
Collective to overthrow the New Mandalor
Mandalorian ian
government led by pacifist Satine Kryze, th the
he
Death Watch returned to Mandalore intent on
seizing power.
However, Maul betrayed Vizsla, killed him,
h
and took the darksaber as well as the thro one
throne
of Mandalore. When Kenobi arrived in resp
response
ponse
to a distress call from Kryze, Maul killed hherer
with the darksaber.

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 lip
lip
li
i se servi
service
rvice
rvi ce to
ce o tthe he ididea
dea
ea of str strong
strong,
ong, ccomp complex
omplex lex x
female
e ale characters
fem chara
ch ar cte ct rs in the the Sta Starr Wars Wars uni universe
un vere se
that
that rrefl eflect e and and inspireinspire
insp ire fefemale
emal male achi achievement
a chi
h ev
evevemenmentt
in th
the
h re real al worworld. ld
Sabine
Sa ine
Sab ine is is just
j stt one of the
ju the members
memb
memb bersrs
off the
t sh sshow’s
ow’
ow’s
w s rebe rrebel
ebell cell
celll whwho oe embodies
embo
mbob di die
ie s
the sc sscience,
ience,
ien ce, te techn
technology,
chn
h olo
ology, gyy en
gy, engin
engineering,
ngin
g eer eee ing
er ng,
ng
and
nd ma math th ski
skills lls that
lss th hat forform
rm tthe he “ST
he “STEM”
“SS EM”EM”
M
framework
fra
ramewmework ork thatthat is so poo poorly r re
rly rrepresented
preresesen
ented ed
among
amo
m ng g femfemale
e ale
em a ch characters
hara
a cte ers
r in n TV T andand film.
an m
Andn ye
nd yet, t, sshe re remains
emai
mains
ma n a
ns att th
thehe va vanguard
anngu
gua ardd as
rd
educators
edu
ducatca ors re reframe
refra
frame
frarame ST STEM
STE
S T Ma ass S STEAM,
TEA
EA
EAM,
AM M,, to
include
incclud
lude e a pl place
p cce in th
ace the ea acronym
cro onynym ym fo for
or a art.
rt.
“I
“I love
love that that
haa dichotomy
at dicho
di ch
cho
h tom my that thhata Sabine
Sabin
Sa bin
binene
is thi
this
th sstrong
his stro tro
trong
rong Man Mandoa dod war warrior
wa riorr a
rio and
ndd yet
draws
dra
raws bea beautiful
beauti utiful
ut
uti ful paintings
ull pa
p int
n ing
nt in
ngss in in h her
e rroo
er room,”
oom,”
Sircar
S car to
Sir old Th
told The
he S
he Star
Stta Wars
arr War
W ars S Show
how
how w re
recently.
ecen
cently
centlytly.
tl
“Or,
“O
“Or
O , when
when en sh she’s e’ss bl blowing
blowi
owing
owi ng up p the h Em Empire,
mpir irre,
e
she leave
leaves
le
eave es a li llittle
ttle
ttl
tt
tea
tl artistic
rtt sti
rti st c sign ssignature.”
g atu
gn turre e.”
How Sabine’s
Sabin
Sa b e’ss art
bi art will
will feature
f atu
fe ature ree in n the
the
th
new
nee se season
seaso s n rremains
aso emam ins ns to o be se sseen, en,
enn bu butt iitt iiss
b
worth
wor rth not noting
oting
ot in
ing
n th that
tha when
at whe
at w Grand
n Gran
G ra d A Admiral
dmi
dm m ral
Thrawn
Thr
h awn
hr aw iss firstt glimpsed mpsed in
glimp
gl n thtthe ttrailer,
e trai
rai
a ler,,
hee is standing
is sta
standi nd ng ami amid
am mda an na array
rrra
rrrray of artwork.
o artw twork
ork.
Inn Timothy
T oth
Tim othyy Zahn’s a ’s Thrawn
Zahn
Zahn
ah Thr
hrawn awn novels, n vel
no e s, the
villainous
villai
vil lai
a nou
nouss fan- ffan-favorite
an-
n fav
n- f orio te use usess h
u his enemies’
is enemie
ene emies’ s
s’
ar to be
art better
b tterr unde
tte understand
u nderst rstandand d th their motivations.
eir motiv i atitions
onsnss.
n
Could
C
Cou ld Sabine’s
d Sab
S ine
n ’ss sk skillss be e he herr undo undoing?
u d ingin
n ?
Surely
S
Su
Sururely
ely no not.
n ot.
t. But
B o one
on tthing
ne thinhinng iiss cert ccertain:
ertain
ert ain:
ain
in
n:
we are gu guaranteed
g arante
ara nteed ed the he cocomplex
compl mplex x
character
charac
cha racctert de
te development
d vellopm pment th that
hat at
Dave
D
Dav eF Filoni
ilooni has pr promised.
romi
omm sed e .
Sabine’s
S
Sa
Sab ine
ne’s character
’ss cha
charac raccter t ar arcc is is
a work
work o art
off ar
a rt in i itseitself.
tseelf.
lf
And lo longng
n g may
i con
it ccontinue!
tin nue!
ue

INSIDER 91

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 THE EARLY DAYS OF THE
EXPANDED UNIVERSE
BY MICHAEL KOGGE

REWIND TO 1977. THE

UNIVERSE OF STAR WARS
CONSISTED OF A TOTAL OF
FIVE PLANETS, A BUNCH OF
NON-HUMAN SPECIES
GLIMPSED IN A DIM CANTINA,
AN EVIL EMPIRE, A RAG-TAG
REBELLION, AND CURSORY
REFERENCES TO A MYSTICAL
WARRIOR CLAN.
FAST FORWARD 36 YEARS.
THIS GALAXY HAS EXPANDED
SO RAPIDLY THAT IT
NECESSITATES PUBLISHING
SEVERAL ESSENTIAL GUIDES,
A 256-PAGE ATLAS,
AND A THREE-VOLUME
ENCYCLOPEDIA. AND THAT’S
JUST A FEW OF THE BOOKS.
EVEN MORE INCREDIBLE
IS THAT THE CENTRAL
From right: The first
STORY OF THE FIRST Star Wars novel, a hit
before—and after—
MOVIE—THE REBEL the movie’s 1977
ALLIANCE’S EPIC release; the Star Wars
record and book set;
BATTLE AGAINST the first Expanded
book, Splinter
THE EMPIRE—IS NOW ofUniverse
the Minds Eye by
BUT A MOMENT IN Alan Dean Foster;
Lando Calrissian and
A VAST HISTORY THAT the Mindharp of Sharu;
assistant editor Sherry
SPANS MILLENNIA. Holstein and editor
BUT HOW DID Carol Titelman at the
Star Wars offices
THIS HAPPEN? circa 1980 (photo:
Sherry Kaplan).

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 INSIDER 93

SWI2019_092_097_Beginings_of_Eu_.indd 93 30/10/2018 12:15

 In the Beginning....

I
n the late 1970s, the
offices of “The Star Wars
Corporation” in Los Angeles
were a motley cluster of
trailers near the Universal lot.
Inside, no more than a dozen
full-time employees worked on
what outsiders thought to be a silly
science-fiction movie. “My check
literally was made out from ‘Star
Wars,’” says Sherry Kaplan, an
executive assistant at the time.
“You don’t know the funny looks
I got at the bank.”
Charles Lippincott, vice-
president of marketing and
merchandising, received slews
of similar funny looks when he
tried to make tie-in deals. Company
after company said no. His
persistence paid off when Marvel
Comics editor Roy Thomas and
artist Howard Chaykin agreed to
tackle a mini-series adaptation. Del
Rey Books editor Judy Lynn del Rey
also saw value in the property and
purchased the novelization rights.
Six months before the film even hit
theaters, thousands logged their
first hyperspace jump into the Star
Wars galaxy by reading that book.
The novelization topped the
paperback bestseller list not long
after it was published. SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE
FILM EVEN HIT THEATERS,
The Flood THOUSANDS JUMPED INTO
THE STAR WARS GALAXY BY
READING THAT BOOK.
W
hen the film shattered box-office records in
May 1977, phones in the Lucasfilm trailers
started to ring off-the-hook. Marvel wanted
to extend the comic into a monthly series. Del
Rey sought to recount new adventures of Luke Skywalker
and friends in novels and children’s storybooks. The tiny
The FFirst Editors
Th Ed

Lucasfilm team was quickly overwhelmed. “It looked like
three people looking up at a tsunami coming for them,”
says Bill Stout, who designed the original Star Wars
Coca-Cola cups for Lucasfilm.
With the sheer amount of work, continuity—the
consistency of a fictional universe’s events, characters,
and settings—was not a major concern at first. Alan Dean
Foster, ghost-writer of the Star Wars novelization and
author of its “sequel,” Splinter of the Mind’s Eye,
remembers that during these early days “there was no
continuity, and not much universe. There was just the one
film. Continuity came later with… continuing.”
Yet as the publishing program grew, Lucas wanted
official Star Wars books live up to a standard that other
Hollywood studios would have ignored in their rush to
license products. He had poured so much energy into
creating his universe, he wanted to be sure that new
stories did not cheapen the experience or interfere with
plots of future films. Someone needed to manage this
continuity before the Star Wars galaxy fell into chaos.
C
arol Wikarska (later Titelman), spent days hanging around
the Lucasfilm offices while her boyfriend, Lippincott,
worked all hours. She got a job answering the phones, yet
it became clear that her talents made her a much more
valuable asset to the company. Her experience as a film critic and
editor of the prestigious journal Women and Film prompted Lucas
to promote her to vice-president of publishing. She would be the first
gatekeeper to the Star Wars universe.
The job was a dream come true for Titelman, as she was suddenly
a power-broker in both Hollywood and New York. “Whoever
thought?” she says, reminiscing. “It was an energizing time. I ran
three departments—all of me!”
Titelman hired Valerie Hoffman and, later, Lindsay Smith, Diana
Attias, and Deborah Call to assist her. While she made deals and
served as the conduit to Lucas for story questions, her editorial
team supervised the expansion of Star Wars lore in books, comics,
and even radio. Titelman’s exploitation of the film’s storytelling
power across such diverse platforms would turn Star Wars into one
of the first modern “transmedia” franchises long before that term
came into vogue.

94 INSIDER

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 Opposite page:
Diana Attias poses
outside the Star Wars
production offices circa
1979. She first worked
for Star Wars producer
Gary Kurtz before
joining Titelman’s
editorial team. (photo:
Diana Attias); (inset)
Valerie Hoffman went
from editing Star Wars
books to teaching
psychology at San Jose
State University.

This page: Russ Helm

penned the script for
“Planet of the Kadril.“
The Empire Strikes Back
novelization by Donald
F. Glut.

Empire of Tales
EEmp

L
ucas’s decision to finance (with Fox distributing)
The Empire Strikes Back himself indicated that the
Star Wars universe would continue to expand.
The Marvel comics proceeded with their own
T
app
a approved
pp pro rov
oved
o d storylines, while Del Rey Books tempted Empire
sc
sscr
screenwriter
cre
creenee
een e wwrr Leigh Brackett and author Jack L. Chalker in
wri
wr
w writing
rriittin
tiin
ng rrespective
e
es novels about Princess Leia and Han Solo.
Wh
Whe
W Whenhe
h en B Brackett
ra
rac
ra passed away and Chalker chose to finish his
own
ow
o wn sse series,
erie
rriie
ess the editors gave Brian Daley, a relatively new
vvoi
voice
oiice
ce in in sci
scie
sc
science
e fiction, the controls to Han’s Millennium
Fal
Fa
FFalcon.
alco
a con. D
con Dale
Daley
a proved so adept at capturing the tone of the
al
ale
un
uni
uuniverse
niververse
ve
ver s iin n his Han Solo books that Titelman awarded him
tthe
h ch
he chance
hanc
annce tto write the Star Wars radio plays.
n
The
Th he newspaper
ne
n ewwss comic had its own share of troubles. Russ

he SStar
The
Th t WWarss Bibl
Bible M
Manning’s failing health made it impossible for him both to
write and draw the strip, so editor Lindsay Smith hired her
friend, Russ Helm, to pen the scripts. Helm enjoyed twisting

T
he publishing division’s primary task was
to maintain Star War’s continuity, from
checking names on action figure cards
to counting the toes on Chewbacca’s foot.
To this end, the editors generated a style sheet
of word spellings and capitalizations. Within
months, the sheet had swelled into what
Hoffman called “the Star Wars bible.” It included
everything from the color of characters’
lightsabers to the food Luke ate in a specific
story, essentially becoming Lucasfilm’s first
“Holocron”—the immense database of Star Wars
story continuity Lucasfilm uses today. Lucas held
a few early “lectures” where he set down the
characters’ backgrounds.
Sometimes overseeing the continuity led to
interesting discussions. When editing both The
Wookiee Storybook and the scripts for the Star
Wars Holiday Special, Hoffman had to decipher
the structure of Wookiee families. She wrote
a list of questions for Lucas, one which asked
how Wookiees reproduced. On a tape-recorded
response returned to her, she remembers
Lucas’s hesitation: “That is a very sensitive
issue... Wookiees have litters.”
his stories around current events. The Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan inspired him to write “Planet of Kadril”, the
story arc penciled by Alfredo Alcala that ran from August
to October 1979. In the strip, Rodno, a gentle Kadrillian
scientist, helps the rebels sabotage Darth Vader’s plans to
use a new Imperial weapon called “pacifog.”
“The pacifog idea came out of the fact that Russian
troops were using sarin gas against the Mujahideen freedom
fighters in Afghanistan and it was a United Nations issue. The
terrain in the strip looked like Afghanistan, mountainous and
rugged. Rodno was a small humble hero chameleon in
contrast,” says Helm.
Though Leia never received her own novel, Titelman and
Del Rey had other books in the pipeline. Donald F. Glut, who
initially had declined to write the Star Wars novelization, took
Lucasfilm’s offer to pen a Wookiee character novel. But
Lucasfilm axed the plans for a Wookiee book and instead
offered Glut the Empire novelization duties. This time,
Glut accepted.
Script revisions obliged Glut to write three drafts in six
weeks. The process went right down to the wire. The night
before the book was due, editor Diana Attias sat in Glut’s
living room and vetted pages as fast as Glut could type them.
“It was intense,” Attias recalls. “We had to respond to the
changes [immediately].”

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 The Art of Star Wars

O
ther printed matter, such as art
books and toy packaging also
added to the Star Wars mythology.
Often uncredited, the editors
labeled the technical components in
a Joe Johnston sketch or wrote character
descriptions on Topps’s bubblegum cards.
They also contributed articles to Lucasfilm’s
fan newsletter, Bantha Tracks, run by
Ira Friedman.
Of all the publications, Titelman
considered The Art of Star Wars to be her
crown jewel. Arranging Ralph McQuarrie’s
paintings and other Star Wars production
art—including fan-submitted pieces—
around Lucas’ screenplay took more than
a year. “People don’t have a clue nowadays
concerning how labor-intensive producing
a book like The Art of Star Wars was,” says
Lindsay Smith. “We didn’t have computers.
Every revised copy had to be typeset and
go to the lithographer.” With Titelman’s
insistence on the highest quality, Smith
spent five days at the printer’s offices in
upstate New York, rejecting proofs until
the colors were just right.

PRINTED MATTER
SUCH AS ART BOOKS
AND TOY PACKAGING
ADDED TO THE STAR
WARS MYTHOLOGY.

A New Egg Company’s kitchen. The director tested

his actresses by baking cookies with them.
Over time, the Egg Company veered

T
he surge of licensing deals
brought the Los Angeles branch
of Lucasfilm out of trailers and
into a building known as “the Egg
Company.” Lucas had purchased the site
from a poultry firm and renovated the
interior with walnut paneling, industrial
kitchens, and a tree-lined atrium. No
longer were the editors as cramped
for space when laying out images for
illustration-heavy tomes. Many fondly
recall Steven Spielberg’s actor auditions
for Raiders of the Lost Ark in the Egg
from the vision Lucas had of a casual,
creative environment into something
akin to a corporate Hollywood studio.
A strict dress code was enforced.
Executives received expensive luxury
cars. A fueling pump was installed in the
back. It was precisely the management
style that Lucas had rebelled against as
a filmmaker. In 1981, Lucas shut down the
Egg Company and relocated Lucasfilm’s
corporate headquarters to San Rafael,
next to ILM, in Marin County, far away
from Hollywood’s temptations.

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A Lasting
L Legacy
L Valerie Hoffman obtained a
M
ost of the editorial staff
decided not to head
north. Titelman had
married music producer
Russ Titelman and moved to New
York, where she worked as a
freelance writer and photographer.
Charley Lippincott and Sherry
Kaplan took jobs at Dino De
Laurentiis’s production company.
Lindsay Smith went on to write Back
in the U.S.S.R. (starring Roman
Polanski), the first American film to
employ a Russian crew and actors.
SWI2019_092_097_Beginings_of_Eu_.indd 97
doctorate in psychology. Deborah
Call became a vice-president of Avco
Embassy Pictures and the associate
dean of the University of Southern
California’s Law School. Ira
Friedman continued his association
with Star Wars, as the vice-president
of licensing and publishing at Topps.
Though none of the original team
remain today at Lucasfilm, their
effort to maintain a consistent,
story-driven universe became a
cornerstone of Star Wars publishing.
Hundreds of books and comics have
been published since, all part of an
inter-connected mythology. a
Opposite, from
top: Inside the Egg Co.
Offices circa 1979
(photo by Michael
Neese); an envelope
that commemorates
50 years of talking
pictures, from The Jazz
Singer to Star Wars
(courtesy Diana Attias);
the back of a Topps
trading card featuring
material edited by
the team.
This page (clockwise
from top right):
The Wookiee
Storybook; Marvel
Comics Star Wars #24;
The Star Wars Album, a
rare look behind the
scenes; The Art of The
Empire Strikes Back.
EXPANDED
MICHAEL KOGGE most recently wrote
“Gentleman of Virginia” for A Princess of Mars—
The Annotated Edition—and New Tales of the Red
Planet (Sword & Planet Press).
UNIVERSE
Special thanks to Carol Fazzio,
Valerie Hoffman, Lindsay Smith,
Sherry Kaplan, Diana Attias, Shelle
Neese, Deborah Call, Ira Friedman,
Barb Lakin, Arnie Carvalho, Russ
Helm, and Bill Stout.
INSIDER 97
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 BEFORE A HERO CAN
TAKE A SINGLE STEP,
THEY MUST BE CRAFTED
WITH THE POTENTIAL
TO WITHSTAND THE TESTS
TO FOLLOW. IN HER
ONGOING SERIES ON THE
HERO’S JOURNEY, TRICIA
BARR EXAMINES THE
FOUNDATION OF THE FORCE
AWAKENS ’ BREAKOUT
CHARACTER, REY.

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 FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND:
IMPRESSIONS OF
REY
I
magine Rey’s life story as footprints
across the Jakku desert. Over time,
the elements have erased or blurred
her earliest tracks and left behind
only what we see in The Force Awakens.
What comes after this brief glimpse
lies beyond the rise of a dune—to be
discovered at a later time. Over the
years, this occasional series of articles
has evaluated the long, winding paths
of many characters. But as Rey, Finn,
Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren begin
brand new adventures in a brand new
trilogy, we are granted a fresh
SWI2019_098_103_Rey_part1.indd 99
opportunity to explore a monomyth
from its very beginnings. Rather
than following in the footsteps of
these characters, we can walk beside
them on their journey.
As we navigate the shifting sands,
character development will be our
focus. This begins with the drawing-
board stage, where a storyteller
determines who each character
is and what motivates them. These
motivations do not need to be spelled
out for the audience at the beginning
of a tale, but they must become
apparent along the way. Motivations
can change significantly during an
adventure, and pivotal moments
must be carefully deployed. While
sudden shifts in a character’s
heroic journey should be surprising,
they must also be born out of the
fundamental traits established by
more gradual development. No single
trait is enough to make a character
interesting, but in combination they
can create compelling heroes such
as Rey.
SHOW AND TELL
When introducing a character, the
storyteller has two devices at his
or her disposal: showing the audience
events that reveal information about
the character and telling them pertinent
facts. The latter is best used sparingly,
and informs the well-known storyteller’s
maxim: “Show, don’t tell.”
Early on in The Force Awakens we
see Rey dragging her scavenged loot
to and from her speeder. This shows
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 she has a job—or at least a purpose—
and that she is physically strong. Later,
when she and Finn are fleeing Niima
Outpost, he says, “We need a pilot,” and
Rey tells him—and us—“We’ve got one.”
This brief telling of information leads into
an extended sequence of showing, with Rey
running up the Millennium Falcon’s ramp,
ordering Finn to the gunner station, and her
hopping into the pilot’s seat and quickly
taking the freighter aloft.
Examples of similar tells followed by
shows from A New Hope include Han
telling Obi-Wan about the Falcon’s speed
capabilities before escaping Imperial pursuit
on Tatooine, and Luke telling Wedge he used
to bulls-eye womp rats in his T-16 before
making the impossible shot that destroys
the first Death Star.
By the time Rey guides the Falcon
in its hair-raising escape from Niima
Outpost, the story has already laid the
groundwork to prepare the audience for
the thrilling chase through the ship
graveyard. Rey first appears with her face
obscured by a mask, in a shot tightly
framed behind a hatch she is opening.
This first impression doesn’t definitively
imply gender, but the costume suggests
practicality and a little flair (see sidebar).
Rey clings to a nearly vertical wall, then
jumps across to a rope. As the camera
angle shifts, it reveals that she is
descending into a massive man-made
cavern. This person is shown to be brave,
maybe even reckless. Immediately we
know that—whoever this is—they share
some of the attributes we associate with
being a pilot of the Millennium Falcon.
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When she is back outside, Rey
unmasks and bangs the last drops of
water from her canteen. She may be
brave, but she is still vulnerable to the
elements. A wide shot reveals her location
as a ruined Star Destroyer in an otherwise
featureless desert. She is isolated—not
only geographically but also from the
heart of the action. The ship is a relic
and the battle that downed it is long over.
This sense is reinforced as Rey dines
alone in the shell of an AT-AT. It is
a stark contrast to The Phantom Menace
and A New Hope, where food is used to
bring family dynamics into focus. Image
after image frames our hero as small,
from her speeder passing the starship
graveyard to her standing below Unkar
Plutt waiting for her trade. Combined with
a lack of dialogue during Rey’s first
minutes on screen, the imagery leaves
us in no doubt about the harsh, empty
world that Rey inhabits.
Yet, while contrasts such as Rey’s
lonely meal reinforce the idea that we
are seeing something new, images
such as Rey on her speeder hark back
to previous films in the Star Wars saga.
It is not uncommon for movies to draw
on well-known archetypes to create a
visual lexicon to which the audience can
relate, but Star Wars is in the unique
position of being able to draw from its
own widely recognized iconography.
Previously, both Luke and Anakin had
guided their own speeders across desert
landscapes (dressed in similar attire)
before setting out on adventures that put
their piloting skills to more dramatic use.
By the time Rey points the Falcon
toward space, our time spent with her
on Jakku has established many of the
traits that will drive her character arc
in the future. The vulnerability on Rey’s
face as she scrubs her scavenged wares
reappears in Maz’s castle on Takodana.
Her self-sufficiency comes back into play
following her escape from Kylo Ren’s
torture chamber on Starkiller Base.
Most importantly, the self-belief that
has sustained her during perilous
scavenger hunts on Jakku continues to
serve her well when she summons the
courage to close her eyes and call upon
the Force to help her defeat Kylo Ren.
A DIFFERENT TYPE
OF HERO
As so far revealed in The Force Awakens,
Rey shares many characteristics with
her predecessor protagonists, Anakin
and Luke. However, she exists in a
wider world of storytelling (across
all media) where female characters
do not share parity with their male
counterparts in either quantity or
quality. In the past few years, the
White House and the United Nations
have championed initiatives to promote
STEM (science, technology, engineering
30/10/2018 12:28
 THE SCAVENGER
COSTUME
Movie costumes aren’t just clothes:
they are visual clues about the
character wearing them. Even before
they knew Rey’s name, fans had
already been inspired to make their
own version of the costume based on
brief glimpses of the character from
the very first teaser trailer. Before
the movie opened in theaters, Insider
asked a couple of cosplayers what the
scavenger attire told them about Rey
as a character.

Lisa Curtis Saunders: It’s certainly

given me an appreciation for her
resourcefulness, learning all the
details of the costume and the
purposes behind them. It’s a
comfortable, practical costume for
a tough, practical lady. Beyond that
it’s hard to know, but I am ridiculously
excited to find out.

Kay Serna: With some of the

complications figuring out how all
the elements fit together, I had to
believe everything she wore was for
a reason beyond just looking good on
film. As I found all the pieces I needed
for my costume build, I felt connected
to Rey—being resourceful, making
things work. When I put on the whole
ensemble, I knew that much more
about what it’s like to be her: how the
fabrics make you stand; the range of
movement she has. I even learned
Taking aim! Rey the hard way where she needs to
takes on the First wear the equivalent of sunscreen!
Order during From Star Wars color theory, I knew
a pivotal scene in Rey is a hero. Just from the costume
The Force Awakens. you can tell she’s practical, clever,
and not afraid of getting dirty.

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 Taking on Kylo Ren
in the thrilling final
confrontation.

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 and math) careers for women. In storytelling,
particularly on television, the number of
female characters shown to have STEM
specialisms is increasing. But often these
roles are defined in relation to a male
protagonist’s story arc, for example
Felicity Smoak in Arrow or Amy Farrah
Fowler in The Big Bang Theory. In the
original trilogy, Leia participates in repairs
on the Falcon but she isn’t intended to be
a mechanically gifted character like Rey—
who fixes a dangerous leak and prevents
the hyperdrive from blowing. Rey is a
STEM protagonist in the same way as Anakin
in the prequel trilogy, but because she is front
and center as a STEM female, she offers a
more progressive role model for male and
female viewers alike.
SWI2019_098_103_Rey_part1.indd 103
Throughout The Force Awakens, Rey resists
bullies: from Unkar Plutt and his thugs who
want to take BB-8 to Kylo Ren who wishes
to take things from her mind against her
will. Her own experience gives her empathy
with others who are struggling against powerful
forces—not only BB-8 and Finn, but also the
largely absent Luke to whom she is inexorably
drawn. Of course, such characters are not
unique to Star Wars; but this is by no means
the only heroic archetype, and for Rey to
be molded along those lines shows a clear
dramatic intent. It is surely no coincidence
that during production of The Force Awakens
two of the guests who visited the set were Katie
Goldman—the young girl whose schoolmates
told her that Star Wars was “just for boys”—
and Malala Yousafzai—the Nobel Prize-winning
activist for female education who grew up under
repressive Taliban rule in Pakistan.
“CLASSIFIED, REALLY?
ME TOO.”
One of the most exciting things about
our journey with Rey is that it is only just
beginning. Though we think we have a clear
idea of the major players by the end of The
Force Awakens, we also know that Star Wars
has a track record of defying our initial
expectations. We believed that Padmé was
a handmaiden and had no reason to doubt the
story that Obi-Wan told about the fate of Luke’s
father. We could not have imagined that Leia
would be revealed as Luke’s sister, either. But
clues are often hidden in plain sight, and when
it comes to Rey there are moments when she
is clearly less forthcoming than she might be.
After she saves Finn from the rathtar, she
brushes off the blast door closing as lucky.
Later, when Finn asks how she got away from
Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base, she answers:
“I can’t explain it. And you wouldn’t believe
it.” Just like Finn, the audience doesn’t know
everything about Rey, and probably won’t
for a few more years. In other words,
“This is where the fun begins!”
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 A HEROINE’S
JOURNEY
REY’S ADVENTURE BEGINS
USING THE OPENING ACT OF REY’S ADVENTURE INTHE FORCE AWAKENS, TRICIA BARR CONTINUES HER
EXPLORATION OF THE HERO’S JOURNEY.
I
n a January 2013 tweet, Slashfilm’s Peter
Sciretta posed a question: “Who said the
lead character in Star Wars: Episode VII
is going to be a male star?” The internet
reacted. In some circles very enthusiastically,
in other places not so favorably. Speaking
shortly after the opening of The Force
Awakens, screenwriter Michael Arndt
confirmed that the earliest story pitch from
Kathleen Kennedy had been an “origin story
of a female Jedi.”
Storytelling is an organic process, which
often involves running toward an idea you
love only to watch it blow up magnificently
or fizzle into an ignominious nothingness.
Arndt has also noted that his earliest
versions of the script involved Luke joining
Rey’s journey earlier in the movie, but that
“any time Luke showed up, it suddenly
became his movie.” And that was not
the story he, Lawrence Kasdan, and J.J.
Abrams wanted to tell. Kasdan himself
said, in a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair,
that screenwriting requires a willingness
to “kill your darlings”—and if Abrams’
‘darling’ was a story featuring Luke
Skywalker, then the creative discovery that
brought Rey’s journey into focus was that
Luke was not a companion on that journey,
but the device or “MacGuffin” that drove it.
THE ART OF STORYTELLING
Though art constantly aspires to break
the mold, there are fundamental guiding
principles that help make artworks in
any format understandable and relatable.
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In Return of the Jedi, C-3PO sits before
the Ewoks, gesturing with his golden
hands as R2-D2 produces various sound
effects. The scene represents the ways in
which the earliest stories were told, and—
though we don’t speak Ewok—the droid’s
visuals and sounds form a story that the
audience recognizes because we have
seen it before.
That is how storytelling works best:
threading together familiar elements to
form a new experience that moves us
emotionally. This is why no words are
needed in the early part of The Force
Awakens, where Rey moves about in
her AT-AT home. A young woman eating
alone, countless etchings on the wall to
mark the passage of time, a free moment
spent leaning against the foot of a weapon
of war: These brief glimpses all suggest
a very particular life, not heroic, but
completely human, inspiring empathy
and understanding in the audience.
The earliest storytellers were limited
by the amount of time the audience was
willing to invest in listening, and perhaps
their own ability to keep talking. The earliest
writers were limited by resources: immobile
cave walls and stone tablets, then portable
papyrus, which had to be manufactured
by hand. The dawn of the printing press
saw the first stirrings of mass production,
leading to the explosion of the mass
media in the 20th century. Mythologist
Joseph Campbell studied storytelling
across this vast history and distilled the
framework of myths down to common
thematic beats in his 1949 book, The Hero
With A Thousand Faces.
George Lucas made explicit reference
to Campbell’s “monomyth” structure
when conceiving Star Wars, and established
that the concept could be applied to
moviemaking in the same way as it applied
to oral storytelling and prose. Given the
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SWI2019_104_109_Rey_part2.indd 105 30/10/2018 12:32
 success of Star Wars, it didn’t take
long for other filmmakers to latch
onto its potential, and in 1985,
studio storytelling consultant
Christopher Vogler set out a
Hollywood moviemaking formula
in a memo entitled “A Practical
Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The
Hero With a Thousand Faces.”
Today the internet is home to
a dizzying array of articles on the
Hero’s Journey, but few do a better
job of explaining the elements of
mythic structure and how they fit
together than Vogler. He expanded
his memo into a bestselling
book (see sidebar), and—in both
works—he doesn’t simply analyze
the nature of stories; he explains
the mechanics of making them.
ALWAYS IN MOTION,
latter category it helped if you
were a princess, and if you
were looking for wider social
representation… Well, it helped
if you were a Wookiee or a droid.
The civil rights campaign of the
1950s and the subsequent feminist
movement had destroyed their
fair share of Death Stars, but
the struggle to right wrongs
—or simply to change people’s
perspectives—was only
just beginning.
As an advocate for
better representations
of women in science-
fiction and fantasy
stories, I have
sometimes felt like
Finn in The Force
Awakens, bemoaning
everyone’s desire to
go back to Jakku.

THE FUTURE IS
It’s possible to envision Vogler
as the Maz Kanata to a Star Wars
fandom weaned on Campbell’s
monomyth. But as Maz tells Rey
to look ahead for the belonging
she seeks, Vogler reminds us to
look behind. Throughout history,
storytelling has served as a tool
to help model society and to
inculcate ways of behavior. Stories
have been used to keep people
in line, to reinforce notions that
only some people are destined
for greatness, and to warn against
rocking the boat. For every story
that serves as a rallying cry or a
trigger for social change, there
is another that perpetuates
the status quo—even if it does
so unintentionally. In 1977,
Star Wars reminded moviegoers
that individuals could rise up
against oppression—and that
their number could include
farm boys, down-at-heel
hustlers, and independent
women. However, in the

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 As recently as five years ago, well-
crafted heroic journeys for female
characters were harder to come by than
full portions at Niima Outpost. It didn’t help
that Campbell’s model framed women as
distractions from greatness (“Woman as
Temptress”) or unrealistic and unhealthy
expressions of love (“Meeting with the
Goddess”). Vogler’s original memo template
doesn’t address gender specifically, but
over the years his revised books highlight
journeys for heroes and heroines alike.
The third edition of The Writer’s Journey
identifies feminist scholars and their
writings on the Hero’s Journey, and
employs a simple yet effective technique
of splitting his explanations of the journey
between male and female pronouns.

“I’M NO ONE.”
The early grumblings from some quarters
about the prospect of a female-led trilogy of
Star Wars movies proved to be isolated and
unrepresentative, and Rey and her heroism
have been embraced by the public at large,
including longstanding Star Wars fans and
new ones. Yet, for fans to hoot and cheer
when the lightsaber slaps into her hand
in the movie’s third act, the character
needed to grab the audience’s heart in
the first act. The Force Awakens does
this by mostly conforming to Vogler and
Campbell’s structures. Vogler’s Act One
includes segments called “Ordinary World,”
“Call to Adventure,” “Refusal of the Call,”
“Meeting with the Mentor,” and “Crossing
the Threshold.” Campbell calls this initial
phase of the journey “The Departure,”
and includes an extra segment: “Belly of
the Whale.”
Those sparse opening sequences
with Rey on Jakku establish her “Ordinary
World,” prior to her “Call to Adventure,” as
she leans against the AT-AT’s foot and hears
the cries of BB-8, rushing across the dunes
THE EVOLUTION OF THE
HERO’S JOURNEY
For many fans of Star Wars, their
familiarity with the Hero’s Journey
comes from the Skywalker saga.
When writing the tale that became
A New Hope, George Lucas drew
upon the work of Joseph Campbell,
and this influence became widely
known thanks to The Power of Myth,
a 1988 Bill Moyers PBS miniseries
and book, and the Smithsonian
traveling exhibit, Star Wars: The
Magic of Myth, during the decade
that followed.
Campbell studied myths and
legends from all around the world
to generate what he called the
“monomyth.” Examining the paths
of many protagonists from humble
origins to epic destiny, Campbell
broke down the stages of the Hero’s
Journey based on patterns and
themes that he observed to be
common across many cultures
and millennia of storytelling. When
Lucas sought to create his modern
myth, Star Wars, he found much
that resonated in Campbell’s writing.
Due in no small part to the
groundbreaking success of Star
Wars, movies have become the
largest canvas upon which
contemporary storytellers can depict
their epic tales. It is no surprise,
therefore, that the Hero’s Journey
has adapted to today’s foremost
mythic medium.
A graduate of the same University
of Southern California film school
as George Lucas, Christopher
Vogler became a screenwriter,
story consultant, and Hollywood
development executive. In 1985
he wrote an internal memo for
Disney studio execs explaining
how Campbell’s framework could
serve as the template for successful
movies of all kinds. The memo’s
influence quickly took off well
beyond Disney’s gates, and its most
recent form is the third edition of
Vogler’s lengthy book, The Writer’s
Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers.
Approaching the Hero’s Journey
from the perspective of modern
storytelling in movies, Vogler
focuses its stages around the three-
act structure of films and illustrates
with examples as wide-ranging as
The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, Beverly Hills
Cop, The Lion King—and, of course,
A New Hope and the rest of the Star
Wars saga.

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 to save him. Her “Refusal of the Call” comes
as she rebuffs BB-8’s attempts to team up
with her. Vogler describes the “Refusal of
the Call” as being based in fear, and Rey’s
fear is of making personal connections
—as seen again later when she rips her
hand away from Finn’s.
The next step, “Meeting with the
Mentor,” was originally named by Campbell
SWI2019_104_109_Rey_part2.indd 109
as “Supernatural Aid.” Vogler’s update
reflects the fact that modern mythmaking
doesn’t necessarily need divine intervention
or supernatural beings. (Marvel’s The
Avengers, for example, inverts the trope
by having mortal Nick Fury mentor demi-
god Thor.)
In The Force Awakens, Rey’s mentor
is Han Solo. Before she meets him,
though, she experiences Campbell’s
“Belly of the Whale,” a literal swallowing
into the unknown as the ship she has stolen,
the Millennium Falcon, disappears inside
a massive space freighter. In A New Hope,
Luke has already teamed up with his
mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, when he enters
the bowels of the Death Star. The lesson
here is that, for all its seeming rigidity,
the Hero’s Journey remains fluid, and
the monomyth structure merely a guide.
Rey meets Han inside the Belly of the
Whale, where her mentor imparts his
knowledge—in this case his non-Jedi’s
understanding of the supernatural forces
at work in the galaxy. Mentors often pass
along a talisman to use on the heroic quest,
and for Luke this was his father’s lightsaber.
For Rey, it could be seen as the blaster
Han gives her on Takodana, or it could
be the Millennium Falcon itself, passed
on in stages throughout the story.
The final stage of Vogler’s first act,
“The Crossing of the Threshold,” occurs
with the help of the mentor. This is the
point where Rey fully commits to the
adventure that was offered when she
responded to BB-8’s initial cries for
help. Like Luke agreeing to accompany
Obi-Wan to Alderaan, Rey steps past her
reluctance to leave behind her ordinary
life (even when she initially agrees to go
with BB-8, she insists that it will only be
a brief distraction from her daily cares)
and accepts the path of the unknown.
It is at this stage that Vogler’s take
on the Hero’s Journey and Campbell’s
original begin to diverge significantly.
After the first act, Rey’s path takes her
to Takodana, where she encounters
archetypal “Tests,” “Enemies,” “Allies,”
and a character-defining “Ordeal.”
Campbell’s model focuses on both the
transformation this brings and the
reintegration back into the ordinary world
that follows. However, Vogler dispenses
with the reintegration and makes his
version all about the excitement of the
silver screen: After the hero transforms,
they race headlong into a rollercoaster
ride of danger and exhilaration until the
story reaches its climax.
Where Rey’s story differs most
importantly from the classic monomyth,
though, is that, within the context of the
movie, she is no one important. Unlike
Luke Skywalker, she isn’t identified as
the son of a Jedi hero, and she isn’t shown
with a supernatural guardian who has
been living nearby. Counter to most myths
and stories studied by Campbell, Rey isn’t
introduced to the audience as “chosen.”
The similarities between the two
models and Rey’s own journey show
that the foundation for creating compelling
heroes hasn’t changed much over the
centuries. But the differences prove there
is still innovation and excitement to be
had as we update our notions of just who
those heroes can be. a
MORE TO SAY
Tricia Barr is the co-author of Ultimate
Star Wars and host of the popular Star
Wars podcast Fangirls Going Rogue.
Follow her on Twitter @fangirlcantina.
HAVE YOU?
INSIDER 109
30/10/2018 12:32
 THE EVENTS OF THIS STORY
TIE IN WITH STAR WARS
BATTLEFRONT: TWILIGHT
COMPANY BY ALEXANDER
FREED, AVAILABLE NOW
FROM DEL REY BOOKS!

SWI2019_110_115_Fiction_indd.indd 110 30/10/2018 12:36

 EXCLUSIVE FICTION

INBRIEF
BY JANINE K. SPENDLOVE, WITH ART BY JOSE CABRERA

“I
don’t care what those rebels are blowing up! Howl’s Instead of taking the drink, a gloved hand reached up and
old scow is in orbit, which means Twilight Company tapped the release on the neck portion of the bounty hunter’s
is here and that scum is—” The door burst open mask. Metal and mesh peeled back to reveal the face of a
and Governor Magé slumped forward over her woman. The faintest beginnings of age lines creased the dark
desk. The comlink she’d been shouting into slid skin near her eyes and mouth, though there were no laughter
from her now limp hand. lines. Her blaster arm remained steady.
“Good shot, Brand.” Captain Micha “Howl” Evon ran Shrugging, the captain set the rounded glass down on the
a brown hand over his bearded chin as he strode into the opulent redwood desk between the two of them.
office. “Can’t abide anyone making fun of my ship or my people.” “Suit yourself.” He pulled up another chair, eased himself
He admired Brand’s efficient handiwork and decided he wanted into the supple leather behind him, and took another sip of the
the recipe to whatever juice was on the dart sticking out of the amber liquid with a contented sigh. “This chair is wonderful.
Imperial governor’s olive neck. The Governor’s long, dark hair had I think I may have to take it back to the Thunderstrike.” Evon
tumbled out of her tightly wound bun, and she was already drooling, returned his attention to Brand and indicated the plush chair
as was her aide, who’d attempted to guard the door. next to her. “Have a seat; if you were going to shoot
These backwater worlds always me, you’d have done it by now, Lauren.”
underestimated Twilight Company’s efficiency For the first time the bounty hunter’s
and resolve. Captain Evon always felt arm wavered and a glimmer of shock
sorrow at the unnecessary losses A G LOV E D momentarily raced through her dark
that resulted. brown eyes. “What did you call me?”
The noises from the battle
H A N D R E AC H E D Pulling a datapad from his vest
outside in the hallways of the U P A N D TA P P E D pocket, the captain scrolled
Imperial Headquarters were
already dying down and the luxury
T H E R E LE AS E O N through it with calloused, brown
fingers until he reached the
of the Governor’s office explained T H E N E C K P O RT I O N screen he was looking for.
a lot about why Twilight Company OF THE BOUNTY He angled it toward Brand so
hadn’t met much resistance from she could see the photo of a
the locals when they’d dropped
H U N T E R’ S M AS K. youngling in a blue and orange
into Allst Prime to take out the M E TA L A N D M E S H checked dress, with colorful,
Imperial outpost here.
“This’ll do nicely for the
P E E LE D B AC K TO beaded braids framing her face,
and an infant boy wrapped up at
recruiting interviews.” He waved REVEAL THE her hip.
vaguely behind him with his right FAC E O F “Lauren Mel Coelho,” Howl made
hand while he holstered his blaster sure to properly roll the R in her first
with his left. A WO M A N. name, and pronounce the “yo” sound
“Mind moving her over there?” in her last name. “Born approximately 38
Not one for many words, his companion years ago on Tangenine. Mother, Remba.
merely grunted in response, and gave the Father, Kelven. Brother, Julian, though you called
Governor’s chair a shove, rolling it noiselessly away from him Ju-ju.”
the massive desk.
“And if Governor Magé is like every other Imperial “Lau! Lau, come, please.”
leech with a taste for luxury…” The captain whistled as he Lauren stood up and shaded her eyes as she looked down the
pulled open a desk drawer. “Hope you like Nabooian whiskey. row of norango bushes separating her and her father. Her basket
I know I do.” He splashed the amber liquid into two crystal was already half-full of sweet red berries, and she had only snuck
glasses, savoring the spicy smell. “Go ahead and grab a chair a few to eat, so she couldn’t be in trouble. Not this early in the
for yourself, Brand. May as well knock out your official inbrief; morning.
it’s long overdue.” Her father saw her worried expression and his mouth split into
Turning around, Evon found himself staring down the front a wide grin. His perfectly straight teeth gleamed like white stars
sight of a blaster. against his skin, black as the night sky. It was beautiful. Lauren
Finally. wished she could smile like her father.
He extended one of the glasses out as a broad smile split “Don’t worry, little one, you’re not in trouble.”
his black and gray-bearded face. Relieved, she hefted her basket over to him, careful not to
“We can get to you collecting my bounty in a bit, Brand. squash a single berry. Inspecting her collection, he reached
Have a drink first.” Evon took a sip from his own glass and out a hand and fluffed up her braids.
smacked his lips in satisfaction. “Ada!” she whined, pushing his hand off. “I am not a youngling.”

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 Tucking a fist under his jaw, he eyed farmhouse in the center of it all—her home.
his daughter. “Hmmm, I think you’re THREE “Can’t I stay here and watch Ju-ju?
right. You are much taller now, and G UA R D S I promise I’m old enough now.” She stood
you have been doing very well with up straight, rising onto her tip-toes.
your chores.” He turned to pick up
C LI M B E D O U T O F “Why do I think you just don’t
a basket of berries beside him, T H E T R A N S P O RT. want to face what your mother
revealing Ju-ju gurgling happily
from his bound perch on their
L A U R E N F R OW N E D - has to say about your last school
report?” Laughing, her father
father’s back. Ju-ju’s eyes, round T H AT G R E E N - S K I N N E D reached out to fluff her braids
and green as a norango leaf, FA LLE E N , A N N A Z, again, and Lauren quickly ducked
locked with Lauren’s and he under his arm.
gave her a smile that mirrored WAS T H E O N LY “Ada!”
their father’s. Turning back to PERSON WHO EVER He sobered when he saw her
her, Lauren’s father gently poured serious expression. Reaching
some of his norangos into her
CA M E TO T H E FA R M back, he unbound Ju-ju and set
basket, topping it off. “Take these WITH HIRED him down between them.
in to Ama, please.”
Lauren looked across the sprawling
G U N S. “My little Lau, what is the most
important thing?”
berry field—past the workers filling baskets “Family,” she answered, without hesitation.
of their own with berries, toward the modest Any youngling knew that.

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 THE
G O R AC H
L A U G H E D N OW ,
A N D I T WAS A
P OW E R F U L, H O OT I N G
L AUG H. TH E H UT T
C O U LD H E A R I N T H E
L AUG H ECHOES OF
I T S B LO O DY PAST , O F
I T S G O R E-S OA K E D ,
P E T T Y E M P I R E.

“And so you, your brother, and Ama are more precious to
me than anything else.” He crouched and picked up a handful
of soil before crumbling it between his fingers. “Without family,
we are just dirt blowing uselessly in the wind.” Then he took
Lauren’s smaller hand in his and guided it to the base of a norango
bush. “Family is the root that gives the soil purpose and holds it in
place. We are nothing without our families.”
He placed both hands on her shoulders. “Someday you
will have your own family to take care of, little Lau—”
“—and I will have to make sure they are pruned and tended
to. I know, Ada.” Lauren forced herself not to roll her eyes
as she finished her father’s proverb.
The whine of a fancy-sounding landspeeder cut off her
father’s response, and Lauren followed his gaze down the
dirt road that led to their farm. Even from this distance she
could see the dust plume it kicked up.
“Lau, take your brother and go to your bisáma’s house.”
“But, Ada—”
“Now, Lau!”
Without sparing her or Ju-ju a second glance, he ran across
the norango field to join their mother. Ama was standing in front
of the house, hands in fists on her hips, tall, strong, and unyielding
as always.
“Come, Ju-ju.” Lauren picked up her little brother and gently
pried the black soil from his clenched fingers before he could
shove the dirt in his mouth. “That is not for eating!”
Bending over, she set Ju-ju on her back and pulled his carrying
wrap tight around her body, just as she’d always seen her parents
do. Straightening, she could now see the landspeeder—flashy and
yellow—pull up in front of her parents. All the farmhands had
gathered around it, too. Three guards climbed out of the transport,
carrying big blasters. Lauren frowned—that green-skinned
Falleen, Annaz, was the only person who ever came to the farm
with hired guns.
Captain Evon watched as Brand’s full lips compressed into a thin
line. “Annaz and her henchmen killed your parents, and all their
workers, after your mother refused to pay a protection fee to the
Malandro syndicate. You managed to get out with your baby brother,
and lived with your gran for a few years, until a fever took her.”

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 Brand narrowed her eyes and the finger on her blaster
curled around the trigger, but he was still alive, so Howl
pressed on. “Ju-ju took ill next. There was a cure; you just
didn’t have the money to pay Malandro for it. So you took a job.
Boosted a speeder. Got caught. Landed in jail. By the time you
got out, your little brother was dead.”
Evon set the datapad on the desk and leaned back in his
chair. “Lauren disappeared after that.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Have I missed anything?”
Brand tightened her grip on her blaster; Howl ignored it.
“A few years later the Empire showed up and tried to bring
their version of order to Tangenine. They just didn’t realize how
deeply imbedded Malandro was. It’s not unheard of, the Empire
turning to bounty hunters, but it was a desperate move, and
desperation sometimes breeds opportunity. That’s about when
Brand pops up; a bounty hunter who took jobs almost exclusively
against Malandro.” Giving her a wry smile, Howl waved lazily
at himself. “At least until recently.”
The Falleen jerked her head up in surprise. “Who let you
in here?”
Brand raised her blaster. “Hands where I can
see them.”
“Wait!” Annaz froze in the act of pressing
the comm button under her desk. “This is
a place of business; you can’t just barge
in here—”
“I T ’ S N OT
Brand lunged forward and jerked U N H E AR D OF, TH E
Annaz’s arm out from under the
desk. Holstering her blaster, the
E M P I R E T U R N I N G TO
bounty hunter pulled out a long, B O U N T Y H U N T E R S,
black, serrated blade and buried B U T I T WAS A
it up to the hilt in the Falleen’s
green hand, pinning it to the desk.
D E S P E R AT E M OV E,
She wasn’t being needlessly A N D D E S P E R AT I O N
cruel—which would be no less
than Annaz deserved; Brand knew
SOMETIMES
that the surge of pain would BREEDS
overwhelm any attempt the Falleen O P P O RT U N I T Y. ”
could make to release pheromones
in an attempt to subdue her attacker.
Annaz shrieked and tried to pull out the
knife with her free hand, but Brand’s blaster was
back out and trained on her. “Move, and you’ll lose that
arm for good.”
“Who sent you?” Blood oozed from the Falleen’s pinned hand,
and she was gasping between her words. “What do you want?”
Brand tugged off her hood.
She regarded Annaz carefully, wanting to savor this
moment. The Falleen stared up at Brand, her flint black eyes
holding no hint of recognition.
“You don’t know who I am.”
“Should I?” The Falleen hissed through gritted teeth.
“I remember the families of everyone I kill.” Brand fired
a shot into Annaz’s knee. The Falleen wailed incoherently
as Brand aimed her blaster between the woman’s eyes.
“No!” Annaz held up a shaking hand between the blaster
and her face. “What do you want? Credits?”
Brand’s gloved finger curled around the blaster’s trigger.
“Please! Don’t! I can give you anything! A new life even!”
“You already gave me that.”
Captain Evon took another sip. Brand still had the blaster
pointed at him, but if he was going to die, it might as well be
with the taste of good whiskey in his mouth.
“If you wouldn’t mind humoring me a bit longer before you
114 INSIDER
SWI2019_110_115_Fiction_indd.indd 114
shoot me, I’ve been wondering, once you got your revenge on
Annaz, why did you keep picking up bounties?” He swirled the
liquid in his glass before taking another sip. “Not to come off
as maudlin, but why me?” Evon eyed the woman before him
as she furrowed her brows, quietly considering his words.
To a casual bystander, Brand would have been mistaken for
a vagrant on any world. Her gray trousers were loose and worn,
with assorted bulging cargo pockets. But beneath her tattered
old cloak, the simple black blouse under a maroon, hip length
jacket in pristine condition gave the lie to Brand’s carefully
cultivated shabby appearance.
Brand spoke, drawing his attention back to her carefully
neutral face.
“Things were turning sour with the Empire. I needed off
planet, and this was my ticket.” She shrugged, meeting his
gaze fully. “It’s just business; nothing personal.”
“Well, you’ll excuse me if I do take it at least slightly
personally.” Angling his face up, Evon gazed at the vaulted,
marbled, ceiling. “You know what’s amazing? Office like this
for an Imp administrator,” he jutted his chin at the snoring
Governor, “on a back-world planet like Allst Prime, and there’s
a city full of half-naked kids just outside the gates,
digging through trash heaps for junk to sell or
trade so they can get a bite to eat.
“If you shoot me, Brand, you’re siding
with that system. And you know as well
as I do the Empire is, at heart, no
different than Malandro.”
“You saying the Rebellion is?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I can’t
speak for the Alliance as a whole.”
The captain laced his fingers
together in front of him, resting
them comfortably on his stomach.
“But you know Twilight Company
is different. Besides, if you kill me,
who’ll take care of the new recruits?”
“Fresh meat’s not my problem.”
A large belly laugh rumbled from
Evon as he swept his booted feet atop
the desk.
The bounty hunter furrowed her brows
together and the blaster wavered, just a little.
“I’ve been watching you ever since you joined us
on Veron. Oh sure, you tried to keep your distance—at least at
first—but when we picked up that load of recruits off Dorvalla,
I noticed you hovered.”
“I did no—”
Captain Evon raised a hand. “I don’t mean like a momma
bird with her chicks. That’d be too obvious for your liking.
More like a nexu supervising her cubs on their first hunt.
You only stepped in to keep someone from getting hurt.
And before you say it was just part of your cover to get at
me, why don’t you explain what happened out there today?”
Brand tackled the Mirialan boy to the ground just as the
All Terrain Scout Transport’s bolt sizzled into the tree behind
them, blasting it to pieces.
“Hey, Brand! I’ve been looking for you.” Lylee Anaraku
grinned as a shower of wood splinters rained over them.
Brand rolled off him with a grunt. “Seems to me like you
should have been looking out for the walker.”
“Pshhh.” Lylee waved his blaster dismissively toward the
maneuvering AT-ST. “That stalker doesn’t have a chance with you
around.” The gleeful curve of his lips made the young man’s black
diamond cheek markings spread out across his yellow-green skin.
30/10/2018 12:36
 “That what we’re calling scout walkers now? Stalkers?” Brand Howl’s boots thudded back onto the floor as he sat up.
gazed back across the heavily forested battlefield before them, “You’re making me tired. Please sit.” He indicated the soft chair
trying to reacquire her target. “What happens if I’m not around?” next to Brand once again. “We need to discuss your position in
“I heard Briala call them that.” Peering up over the log, Lylee Twilight Company. Now I was thinking—”
aimed his blaster at an approaching Imperial. “And of course you’ll “I’m not joining the Rebellion.” Brand’s
be around. You always survive!“ He aimed at another Imp and frown deepened.
squeezed the trigger. “Speaking
Speaking of Bria, she
she’ss got a card deck, and “I’m
I m not asking you to.
to.” Howl le leaned over the
once we mop up here, we’re going to play a game desk. “I’m asking you to actu
actually join Twilight
of Lifters back on Company this time.”
the Thunderstrike—” Brand straightened he her finger off
Brand jerked him back the trigger.
down as another blaster “Of course, you’ll have to renege on that
bolt singed by where his contract the Empire’s got on my head.” Evon
head had been just a grabbed his datapad again
again, swiped the
moment before. screen, and pointed at his own bounty.
Lylee’s eyes, green “Ignore a payout and m make an enemy of
as a norango leaf, glinted the Imps, just so I could be one of your
with barely contained subordinate commanders
commanders?” Brand shook
mischief. “Want to join her head. “You must be cra crazy.”
us for a game?” “I would never ask that
that.” He waved
Grunting, Brand his hand before him as if th the very idea was
pushed past him and preposterous. “That’s not w who you are. I don’t
crawled farther down the want you to change for us, Brand. We need
log. She’d found you as you are. All I want iis unswerving
her target. loyalty—not to the Allianc
Alliance, and not even
“Come on, to me—but to the people out there, the
Brand, it’ll be ones you saved today. Th The ones you’re
fun! We can be gonna play cards with when we get
partners—work out hand back to the ship.” HowHowl punctuated
signals to tell each other his words with a nod toward the door.
what other suits “The ones who al already think
we have, how many you’re one of th them. And in
tricks we can take…” return w we’ll give you
The boy’s voice and the sa
same.”
the rest of the battle H could see her
He
faded to the background. weig
weighing the words
She raised her blaster and and tthe offer, and
lined it up squarely on the what it must have
backlit profile of Captain Evon, mea
meant to someone
not twenty meters from her. He who’
who’d been a hired
was bent over the body of blas
blaster for so long—
Twilight Company’s Forward Air Brand suddenly
Controller, Cait, yelling into the pic
picked up the drink
receiver as he called for fire, directing the bef
before her and
X-wings to their target. The FAC stared back “ T H AT
A ’S’S star
stared at it for a long
at Brand with lifeless eyes; a dried smear of mo
moment, mumbling
blood across her ashen lips was the only W H AT T W E’R
E’ R E alm
almost inaudibly
evidence of her trauma.
“Brand!” Lylee’s strangled shout was
C A LLLI NG “and I will have to
ma
make sure they are
followed by a meaty thud. Brand whirled SCOUT pr
pruned and tended
around, and shot the Imp towering over to,
to,” before downing
the boy.
A LK
WA L K E R S N OW
O ? it iin one gulp.
Not another one… STA A L K E R S?
S
S?”” “D
“Don’t think
She dropped to Lylee’s side. th
this means
“You better not die on me, kid.” I won’t collect
She pulled off his cloth head yyour bounty.”
covering to get a look at the blood H
Holstering her
oozing from the back of his head. blas
blaster, she took a
“You owe me a game of Lifters.” seat, a and held her glass
out for more. “It’s just
not hhigh enough yet.”
Howl refilled
b
both their glasses
aand raised his in a
to
toast. “Welcome to
th
the family.”

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 A HEROINE’S JOURNEY

- A H E R O I N E ’ S J O U R N E Y -

N O M O R E H E R O E S ?
In her latest exploration of the Hero’s Journey, Tricia Barr looks at
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and how Jyn Erso’s arc reflects the
evolution of the monomyth.

116 / STAR WARS INSIDER

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SWI2019_116-123_JynErso.indd 117 30/10/2018 13:41

he Hero’s Journey
is changing. Throughout this
series of articles, we have seen
how Star Wars’ protagonists
fit into a long-established
“monomythic” structure that
has served storytellers since
classical times. But what makes
the established Hero’s Journey
so timeless is not so much its
fixed formula as its flexibility to
accommodate and embrace change.
Today, we are witnessing the
transformation of monomythic
storytelling from epic tales of the
supernatural to stories built around
characters who cannot draw on
unearthly powers. In the Marvel
Cinematic Universe, roles once
reserved for superheroes are
now just as likely to fall to
01
118 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_116-123_JynErso.indd 118
A HEROINE’S JOURNEY
“ordinary” humans, such as Nick
Fury or Natasha Romanoff.
The Hunger Games series takes
place in a world entirely removed
from the supernatural, yet still
conforms to the monomyth. In this
world, Games Makers exert their
technologically advanced influence
over the Hero’s Journey, just as gods
and goddesses do in classical myth.
This trend is also evident in
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and
its treatment of technological
terror, the Death Star. In A
New Hope, the battle station is
the classic monster, which the
supernaturally gifted hero must
battle to achieve his destiny. In
Rogue One, the Death Star
is simply a fact, and the
01 Jyn Erso (Felicity
heroes battling against it
have no special powers to
call upon. It is a pointed
reminder that our most 02 New allies
singular heroes stand
tall on the shoulders of
ordinary people, each
03 A mission to
of whom has their own,
more grounded version of
the Hero’s Journey.
04 Jyn surveys the
Of course, Jyn Erso
and The Hunger Games’
Katniss are not the first protagonists
without superpowers to undergo a
Hero’s Journey as originally outlined
by Joseph Campbell in 1949 (see
SWI #168). Many characters have
taken exceptional quests despite
being outwardly unexceptional
themselves. Interestingly, these
heroes who are not “chosen ones”
are often female—witness 1939’s
The Wizard of Oz, numerous
Disney films, and the likes of
today’s Hidden Figures (2016) and
La La Land (2016). Jyn Erso fits this
tradition, but also develops it, along
less obviously gendered lines.
Building Blocks
To understand Jyn’s
significance, we must first
Jones) must understand what she takes
choose her path from her forebears in the
– rebel or rogue?
Star Wars universe—both
to see what sets her apart,
Chirrut and Baze and to acknowledge that
follow Jyn on her
heroic quest. she is an evolution of
the archetype, not an
aberration. Though it is
Jedha, in search
of an old friend. not obvious at first, Jyn
shares common ground
rebel base on with both Princess Leia
Yavin 4. and Padmé Amidala,
despite having an
upbringing that was
anything but royal.
Both Jyn and Leia are raised
by adoptive father figures, who
school them in the ways of
rebellion against the Empire. Both
are eventually reunited with their
long-lost fathers, in unhappy
circumstances relating to the Death
Star. Though Leia does not know
she has been reunited with her
father, the resulting destruction
of her homeworld can be seen as
the moment she is transformed
from rebel ambassador to potential
gun-toting commando, willing to
do whatever it takes to destroy the
Empire. Jyn and Galen’s reunion
serves the same function, with
30/10/2018 13:41

02
03
Galen’s death turning a press-
ganged rebel into a willing hero.
By the time of The Force Awakens,
of course, Leia is just as aware as
Jyn of her Imperial father’s death
and redemption, and carries his
legacy with her.
The similarities to Padmé are
less apparent, mostly because the
prequels did not identify her as
a central character to the same
degree as Leia or Jyn. Nevertheless,
the Queen of Naboo does go
through her own Hero’s Journey
over the course of The Phantom
Menace. She leaves her ordinary
world, endures tests and trials, and
earns allies and an enemy—Darth
SWI2019_116-123_JynErso.indd 119
A HEROINE’S JOURNEY
04
Maul—on her quest to liberate her
planet. She confronts her greatest
fear—that she cannot rely on the
“To understand Republic—and crosses a threshold
by deciding that she must return
Jyn’s significance, to Naboo and fight. She does all
we must first this despite not being a Jedi (unlike
most of the prequels’ protagonists),
understand what setting the precedent for a non-
she takes from Force-sensitive female with a
mythic through-line in a Star Wars
her forebears film. Though it is obscured by her
in the Star Wars high office, Padmé is also from a
similarly modest background as
universe” Jyn. Her role as queen has been
earned through public service
from a very young age; she is not
anointed as a “chosen one.”
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 A HEROINE’S JOURNEY

Compressed motivation to help the rebels (in it takes Anakin three movies to
Storytelling the form of her father’s message), reverse (from selfless Ani; through
So, Leia, Padmé, and Jyn all on the way to committing selflessly romantically involved Anakin; to
progress from their “ordinary” to the rebel cause. This is a similar possessive, selfish Vader).
lives to become warrior leaders, journey to the one it takes Han Knowing also that Jyn’s story
and all have similar motivations: Solo four movies to complete (from must also have a definitive end—
to right a wrong and to fight self-interest, through personal and that it precedes a greater period
oppression. But Leia and Padmé’s commitment to his friends and of strife in the wider story—further
arcs have multiple films in which Leia, to seasoned believer in the truncates her Hero’s Journey. She
to evolve and expand. In time, light and dark sides), or the one is denied the final stage—the
both characters add romantic love
05
to their motivations, for example.
Jyn, however, was conceived as
a character who would reach
a definite end point within a
standalone movie. Her arc must take
us to a point we already know—
from A New Hope—and no further.
This limitation does not
make Jyn’s journey less involved,
however. It simply requires some
compression in the telling. For
this reason, Rogue One is the
first Star Wars movie to jump
forward in time after establishing
its protagonist. It establishes a
background for Jyn that allows
her to hit the ground running
as a justifiably selfish character,
who then quickly gains a personal

06

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 A HEROINE’S JOURNEY

triumphant return that takes the

form of a medal ceremony or Ewok
party—and instead completes her
Hero’s Journey in the only way
possible. She achieves her quest,
but pays the ultimate price to do so:
with the object of her journey, once
acquired, borne home to the rebels
without her. The Death Star plans
themselves enact the completion
of the monomyth when they are
placed in the hands of Princess
Leia. This again connects Jyn to
Padmé, who dies immediately after
bearing twins, bringing hope at the
cost of her own life.

Heroic Inspirations
Beyond the Star Wars universe,
two warrior leaders with similarly
unhappy ends have been cited
as inspirations for Jyn. Lucasfilm
president and Rogue One producer
Kathleen Kennedy has compared
her to Joan of Arc, while producer
Allison Shearmur has both echoed
CATALYST
this and mentioned Ripley from The chemical reaction of storytelling
the Alien franchise. Director Gareth
The Catalyst Hero is one of many heroic It is important to note that Catalysts can
Edwards has also called out Ripley archetypes and is often referred to as the be a Hero or an antagonistic Shadow. Often
as an influence, saying: “No part of Magician or Visionary. The term “catalyst” a character will be a Catalyst in one story
my brain thinks of her gender. She has scientific origins: it describes a substance but shift to a different archetype in another
that causes a chemical reaction without itself story. Notable Catalysts include Dumbledore
wouldn’t look feminine, and she being effected. Jyn Erso, a key figure in from Harry Potter, Professor X and Magneto
wouldn’t look masculine—she’d Rogue One—a story steeped in the lore of in X-Men; Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings
be neutral. Jyn is a person who just the scientific development of the Death Star’s trilogy, Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
superweapon—is just that: a catalyst in the and Willow from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer
happens to be a girl.” interaction of the Empire and Rebel Alliance. series. In Star Wars, iconic Catalysts include
Both Joan of Arc and Ripley are Even the novel Catalyst: A Rogue One Story, Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace and
female, however, so is it important a prequel about the events involving the Erso Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope; Darth
family written by James Luceno, gives a direct Maul and Darth Vader work as opposing
that Jyn is a woman? It is not
nod to the archetype. catalytic villains.
unknown for Star Wars storytelling
to use the feminine and masculine
as symbols within its light and
dark narrative. In Star Wars: The
Clone Wars, mysterious Force-
wielders known as the Son and the
“Jyn is the embodiment of both
Daughter embody selfishness and her mother and her father, and as a
selflessness respectively. Where
the Son walks, things die. In the
result feels empowered to confront
Daughter’s wake, life blooms. the man who tore them apart.”
These figures are archetypes,
however, and Anakin and Ahsoka,
who encounter them, each have within them. This is also true of Perhaps it is because Rogue One
elements of the Son and Daughter Rogue One’s ensemble cast, who was initially pitched as a team heist
are all compromised in one way that the dynamics between the
or another, and are just trying to characters take precedence over the
05 Father figure Saw Gerrera
do the best they can. They do not identity of any one character. Jyn’s
(Forest Whitaker) has a
message for Jyn. have a Jedi’s luxury of meditating ascent to become the audience’s
at length on the nature of good and main point of identification came
06 The fledging Rebel
Alliance threatens evil, nor the time to notice or care later in the creative process, along
to fall apart. about someone’s gender. with the elevation of Galen Erso

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 A HEROINE’S JOURNEY

as a pivotal figure. The inclusion

of two important father figures
in Galen and Saw Gerrera ties the
story more closely to established
Star Wars themes, and also sets
up a duality within Jyn that sets
her heroic journey in motion. Her
connection to Galen sets up her
personal journey, while her links to
Saw prepare her to become a leader.
Both men die in quick succession,
and for Jyn—who has seen neither
of them in years—their deaths
encapsulate their lives, giving her
a fresh impetus to draw from them
and follow in their footsteps. In
some ways, Jyn’s emotional journey
is complete here, giving full rein to
her heroic quest. From this point,
she becomes a Catalyst Hero: a
focal point for those around her,
who drives a heroic change in
them. As Jyn inspires the Rogue
One team to action, each one
finds a new selflessness within
themselves—even distrustful
droid, K-2SO.
A Heroine’s Journey
The notion of the Catalyst Hero
comes from Christopher Vogler’s
1992 book, The Writer’s Journey,
which updates Campbell’s Hero’s
Journey for screenwriters. Jyn’s
story embodies most of the steps
outlined in Vogler’s model, starting
with a “Call to Adventure” in the
form of her imposed prison break,
and a “Refusal of the Call” most
succinctly expressed in her shovel
attack on her rescuers. Stages of
mentoring, crossing the threshold,
tests, and ordeals follow, before the
final “Return with the Elixir” plays
out in the tragic way described
above, with the elixir (the Death
Star plans) returned from afar.
“As Jyn inspires the Rogue One team to
action, each one finds a new selflessness
within themselves”
Murdock’s book cites 10 steps
specific to female heroes, and in
many instances these, too, align WHO’S JOURNEY?
with Jyn’s heroic arc. Stepping beyond
In the opening scene of the Joseph Campbell’s Hero
movie, Jyn suffers “Separation from
Since it’s first publication in 1949, Campbell’s
the Feminine” when she loses her hugely influential book, The Hero with a Thousand
mother. This is swiftly followed by Faces, has engaged many writers and thinkers to
“Identification with the Masculine” build upon his work, or question it.
Of these, Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s
when she is rescued and raised Journey is the go-to screenwriters textbook of choice,
by Saw Gerrera. After escaping while Maureen Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey reveals a
Imperials and forging ties with model based specifically upon the female experience.
The diagrams below illustrate the journey paths
new allies, she has an “Awakening outlined in both models.
to Feelings of Spiritual Aridity”
by realizing that her life is on the
The
wrong path and that she has the ordinary
RETURN world
wrong priorities. This is the point WITH THE Call to
ELIXIR Adventure
in the Heroine’s Journey where
the protagonist must abandon
The Refusal
what Murdock calls “masculine Resurrection of the Call
strategies.” For Jyn, this means CHRISTOPHER
being a guarded and untrusting VOGLER’S
warrior. Rejecting this identity The HERO’S Meeting
Road with the
to unite a team of rebels sees her Back JOURNEY Mentor
“Reconnect with the Feminine,”
From Vogler’s 1992
while finally acknowledging her screenwriting textbook,
mother’s words to trust in the The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Crossing
Reward Structure for Writers. the Threshold
Force represents her “Healing the to the Special
World
Mother/Daughter Split” as she
fulfills her father’s dying wish. Tests, Allies,
The Ordeal and Enemies
The journey concludes with Approach to
the Innermost
the “Integration of the Masculine Cave
and Feminine,” as the protagonist
makes peace with the two
previously conflicting viewpoints Integration of Separation
Masculine and from the
Feminine Feminine
to create a new understanding
of life and its challenges. This is IDENTIFICATION
Healing WITH THE
most obviously embodied by Jyn the Wounded MASCULINE AND
Masculine GATHERING OF
defiantly giving both her parents’
names atop the Citadel Tower,
MAUREEN ALLIES

One of the reasons Vogler’s when Krennic asks her, “Who are MURDOCK’S
model remains influential among You?” Jyn is the embodiment of Healing
the Mother/
HEROINE’S Road of
Trials: Meeting
screenwriters is that he continues both her mother and her father, Daughter
Split JOURNEY Ogres and
Dragons
to re-evaluate it, and remains open and feels empowered to confront From Murdoch’s 1990 book,
to alternative viewpoints, having the man who tore them apart. The Heroine’s Journey,
a response to Joseph Campbell’s
published updates in 1998 and This brings us back to the Urgent Hero’s Journey.
Yearning to Finding
2007. The latest edition cites The question of whether it matters Reconnect with the Boon of
the Feminine Success
Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest that Jyn is female? Following her
for Wholeness in its bibliography— path along the Heroine’s Journey Awakening
Initiation and to Feelings
one of the first explicit alternatives might lead you to say “yes.” But Descent to of Spiritual
the Goddess Aridity;
to the Hero’s Journey, written by consider this: there is one Star Death
psychotherapist Maureen Murdock. Wars protagonist more than any

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 A HEROINE’S JOURNEY

07

08

07 The rebels prepare

to steal the plans to
the Death Star.

08 Jyn Erso and Cassian

Andor (Diego Luna).

09 A tough journey lies

ahead for Jyn Erso.

other whose journey leads to the

integration of the masculine and
feminine, and it is not Jyn, Leia,
or Padmé. It is Luke. At the end of
Return of the Jedi, Luke triumphs by 09
“Healing The Wounded Masculine,”
laying down his weapon, rather
than fulfilling his part as a warrior.
He integrates the “Son” and
the “Daughter” of the Force by
harnessing a Jedi’s great power for
destruction, and then not using
it. So perhaps we are asking the
wrong question. Instead of focusing
on a character’s gender, it is more
productive—more powerful—
to reject binary labels and see
our heroes in terms of balance,
synthesis, and integration.

Follow Tricia Barr on Twitter

@fangirlcantina

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 TRICIA BARR CONTINUES HER
ANALYSIS OF ICONIC STAR WARS
CHARACTERS. THIS ISSUE, ONE OF THE
SAGA’S MOST COMPLICATED VILLAINS.
ften heroes are born of ideas, grand

O notions of saviors. Heroes must face

down villains, the opponents over
whom the hero triumphs along their
epic journey. Sometimes, though, a
story focuses on the arc of a protagonist
who lacks usual heroic traits like nobility
and selflessness—an anti-hero. The
simplest example is Anakin Skywalker’s
descent into darkness in Revenge of the
Sith; he is no hero as that chapter of his
saga concludes. Since his tragic story
unfolded on screen, many more anti-
heroes have followed in his wake. One
of my favorites is assassin-turned-
bounty hunter Asajj Ventress, whose
path to greatness was far from typical.
When the Ultimate Star Wars
writing assignments were distributed,
I was excited to receive some of my
favorite characters, including Princess
Leia, Ahsoka Tano, and Asajj Ventress.
Condensing characters like Leia and Luke
Skywalker, while intimidating because of
their importance to the saga, actually
proved far simpler than the ladies from
Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Ultimate Star
Wars is intended to serve as a summary
of the canon events from the movies
and television shows. Within that scope,
both Luke and Leia have relatively tight
character arcs that play out over three
movies. Summarizing Ahsoka proved
easier than Asajj, even though Ventress
did not have quite the catalogue of episode
appearances. The sporadic nature of
her unfolding arc created part of the
challenge, but so did the fact that Asajj
Ventress started as an idea in George
Lucas’s imagination long before she
became a fascinating piece of Clone
Wars lore.

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 SMALL BEGINNINGS
Star Wars has a long legacy of characters
evolving from small beginnings to become
impactful participants in the fabric of the
saga. The most recognizable example is
Boba Fett, who began to take on a life of his
own with the release of his action-figure prior
to the theatrical debut of The Empire Strikes
Back. From there, the bounty
hunter’s tale is the stuff of
legend, or rather spread across
a vast portion of the Legends stories as well
as playing a role in the prequel trilogy and
The Clone Wars television show. Other
background characters, such as Aurra Sing
and Bossk, have earned more affection from
fans than was originally imagined for them.
Asajj Ventress’s origin is even more humble
than a character developed to populate the
world-building; she started as a visual that
did not make the original cut during the
movie-making process.
SWI2019_124_129_Ventress.indd 125
Concept art for a menacing Sith warrior
can be found in The Art of Star Wars Episode II:
Attack of the Clones. Villainous women were
championed by Iain McCaig, also known for
his designs of Padmé and Queen Amidala.
In the book, McCaig discusses the creation
process for the Attack of the Clones’ new Sith:
“I felt this was a great opportunity to introduce
a strong woman character, to give girl fans an
icon.” While McCaig experimented with
female Sith variations like a Padmé-inspired
dark queen and a medusa-like alien, Dermot
Power developed a vampiric, shaven-head
warrior and martial arts-inspired alien with
dual blades. This was not the first time a
female villain had been tossed around in the
conceptual phase; a fearsome Sith witch
appeared in The Phantom Menace concept art.
The Sith witch was set aside in favor of Darth
Maul, and the female Sith warriors did not
make the cut for the second prequel movie,
either. McCaig admits to being disappointed
by the decision to move away from the female
Sith conceptualization, but as with many good
ideas in Star Wars, these striking designs
would live to see another day.
Asajj Ventress was given a name when
the artwork was fleshed out into a character
(no longer a Sith) as part of the Clone Wars
multi-media project from 2002-2005, which
included the Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-
series, books, and comics. It sought to tell
stories within the timeline between Attack of
the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, giving depth
to the events that led to the fall of the Jedi
Order and the rise of the Empire. The heroes
of the Republic would face off with the
conquering villains in Episode III, but as they
moved toward their ultimate defeat, new foes
were necessary to create surmountable
obstacles, affording the heroes some victories
along the way.
INSIDER 125
30/10/2018 12:42
 Clockwise from “A COLD-HEARTED HARPY”
right: An attempted
takedown of Count Not every character in Star Wars will experience an
Dooku; the mysterious, arc, but when characters are used over an extended
alluring Ventress; number of stories across multiple mediums, arcs can
Ventress battles Ahsoka emerge. Asajj Ventress was a compelling presence.
Tano; proving a match She had an air of mystery and danger. She dueled Jedi
for Anakin Skywalker. standouts, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
with confidence, delivering biting banter. A female
warrior fighting Jedi men hinted at chemistry similar
to ill-fated relationships that have arisen over the
centuries in literature. While professional creators
bounced Obi-Wan or Anakin against Asajj like flint to
rock, fandom took those sparks and fanned the
flames. While Ventress created electricity in stories KATIE LUCAS SET OUT TO CREATE
from Gendy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars to Jedi Trial
and Obsession, her personal story consisted mostly A STORY WHERE ASAJJ VENTRESS
of being an adversary.
Asajj Ventress’s arc started to shine during the FINALLY “OWNS HERSELF.”
Star Wars: The Clone Wars television show when
writer Katie Lucas developed a fondness for the
character. In an interview with ComicBook.com
discussing the second trilogy of episodes she wrote
for the series, Lucas revealed, “I’ve really fallen for
Ventress, and here the audience gets to learn a lot
about her history. She’s an extremely complicated
character.” Calling Ventress a “cold-hearted harpy,”
Lucas set out to create a story where she finally
“owns herself.” With her powers growing, Ventress
becomes seen as a threat to Sidious’s machinations
and her mentor, Count Dooku is ordered to kill her.
Inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Tank Girl,

GET TO KNOW ASAJJ VENTRESS

THE FORMER SITH ACOLYTE-TURNED-BOUNTY HUNTER PLAYS KEY ROLES IN SOMEE OF THE MOST
EXCITING EPISODES OF STAR WARS:THE CLONE WARS. HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN FIND HER:

“The Hidden Enemy” (Season 1, episode
16) & Star Wars: The Clone Wars (movie)
Asajj Ventress duels Obi-Wan Kenobi
and Anakin Skywalker as she sets in
motion the events leading to the Battle
of Christophsis, then faces off with the
two Jedi again after she has kidnapped
Rotta the Huttlet in a plot to turn Jabba
the Hutt’s forces against the Republic.
“Ambush” (Season 1, episode 1)
Ventress attempts to intimidate the
Toydarian King Katunko from allying
with the Republic, but her efforts are
thwarted by Yoda.
“Cloak of Darkness” (Season 1, episode 9)
Ventress liberates Nute
ute Gunray from
Republic imprisonment,
ent, and duels Ahsoka
Tano and Luminara Unduli to a stalemate
in her escape.

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 Lucas expressed
an affinity for strong
female characters in several
interviews. She mapped that
sensibility into Ventress’s storyline
in The Clone Wars, describing the
character as an expression of “visceral
female rage.”
Since around the turn of the century,
fan academics have been extoling the
influence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on
pop culture at conventions and in scholarly
writing in books like Fan Phenomena: Buffy
the Vampire Slayer. With Buffy showrunner
Joss Whedon now helming superhero
blockbusters and writer Jane Espenson
branching out to shows like the ABC hit
drama Once Upon a Time, the relevance of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the direction of
popular storytelling may continue to be a
topic for many years to come. The
long-running arcs of characters like
Cordelia, Faith, Drusilla, and Glory
created roadmaps for future storytellers
to understand that female characters do
not have to all be likeable or good in order
for an audience to root for them. Buffy and
Tank Girl inspired Katie Lucas to take a
villain, one who could have remained a
sort of pastiche of the female bad girl,
and elevate her to the status of anti-hero-
ine, a character who might do bad things,
but the audience still hopes she prevails.

“ARC Troopers” (Season 3, episode 2)

While General Grievous’s droid army
invades Kamino to strike at the Republic’s
critical cloning facilities, Ventress’s task is to
steal the original Jango Fett genetic sample.
She nearly succeeds, but Anakin stops her.

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 A HERO REVEALED?
EALED?
Clockwise, from ASAJJ VENTRESS’S PATH THUS FAR LEADS
right: At her most Over the course of The e Clone Wars’ run,
brutal; the betrayal Ventress crosses paths hs with a character TO A FORK IN THE ROAD.
of Captain Argyus; spawned from the early rly Sith witch
ready for redemption? concept art, Nightsister ter leader Moth
Mother
other
er T
Talzin.
alzin
zin
n.
Seeing the future A complicated historyy is woven n
bounty hunter as between the two formative
mative
a child made Ventress women that shapes our ur
a more sympathetic understanding of Ventress,tress,
character than she first who had been born a
appeared; a skilled Nightsister and offered ed up to a crim
criminal
inall iin
rimina n
warrior, Ventress is order to protect the future
uture of the matriarchal
powerful enough to clan. In her backstoryy the classic elements of
take on more than a hero archetype begin in to appear, which might
one Jedi. not be surprising given en Katie Lucas’s mentor
was her father, George ge Lucas.
So who is Asajj Ventress?
ntress? She is a
Nightsister sacrificed d to slavery as a child,
then saved and trained ed by a Jedi mentor she
eventually loses. Where ere Luke had a mentor
and friends to keep his is path firmly entrenched
in the light side, Ventress
ress is left alone and gives
in to dark side temptations.
ations. As Sith do, Count
Dooku exploits her abilities
bilities for his own gain,
and the audience really lly gets to see glimpses
of her true self as she e is reborn a Nightsister.
Unlike the compact arcs rcs of the movies, The
Clone Wars gave Asajj Ventress the chance to
follow in the footsteps of Luke Skywalker, Anakin
Skywalker, and even Buffy Summers; Ventress
experiences multiple character journey cycles,
peeling back yet more layers over the course of
the television series. What we do know is that
finding a family in the Nightsisters would be
short-lived, and Dooku’su’s retribution would cause
Asajj to be left alone, yet
et again, when her clan
is slaughtered by General
eral Grievous’s army.
From there, we have ve clues of Asajj’s new
path. Embarking on a life as a bounty hunter,
her empathy for fugitive ive Jedi Ahsoka Tano leads

“Nightsisters,” “Monster” & “Witches of “Massacre” (Season 4, episode 19) “Bounty” (Season 4, episode 20)
the Mist” (Season 3, episodes 12-14) Dooku dispatches Grievous to wipe out Following a new path as a bounty
Ventress returns to her homeworld of the Nightsister clan. Despite the witches’ hunter, Ventress joins a crew assembled
Dathomir, reuniting with the witch leader best efforts, Talzin and Ventress are the by Boba Fett to undertake a subterranean
Mother Talzin. After a failed attempt to only survivors. transport mission.
assassinate Count Dooku, Talzin’s
Nightsister magicks transform Savage
Opress into a fearsome warrior to mount
a second strike at the Sith Lord.

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 to a remarka
remarkable turn of events when Ventress
the Padawan, even offering critical
allies with th
information to Ventress’s longtime adversary,
Anakin Skyw
Skywalker that helps clear Ahsoka’s
name. While the creative team on The Clone
Wars had mumuch more in store for the
character, th
the show came to an end with a
heroic-arc style closure for its central
fitting heroic
character, AAhsoka Tano. At Comic-Con
International: San Diego last summer, Dave
Internationa
Filoni revealed
reveal that Asajj’s story would indeed
be continued in the form of the adult
novelization Dark Disciple, based on eight
episodes wrwritten by Katie Lucas.
Asajj Ventress’s
Ven path thus far leads to a
road that has potential to branch in
fork in the ro
any number of ways. There could be a heroic
tragic fall. Either way, Star Wars has
rise or a trag
done both paths
pa exceptionally well, and it will
fascinating to see where the journey takes
be fascinatin
her, and the new shades she will cast in our
understanding of how character
collective un
arcs can create
crea impactful stories.a

MORE TO SAY
Tricia Barr is co-author on Ultimate
Star Wars from DK Publishing. Connect
with her on Twitter @fangirlcantina.

HAVE YOU?

“Brothers” & “Revenge” (Season 4,
episodes 21-22)
Maul and Opress wreak havoc in
the criminal underworld. After they
capture Obi-Wan, Ventress takes up
the bounty posted by the Jedi Council
and successfully rescues Kenobi from
their clutches.
“To Catch a Jedi” & “The Wrong Jedi”
(Season 5 episodes 19-20)
When Ahsoka is framed for treason, she
flees into the underbelly of Coruscant.
Ventress makes an unlikely ally for the
fugitive Padawan, but she provides
crucial clues that help Anakin clear
his apprentice’s name.
Dark Disciple (unproduced for television,
released as a book)
A stunning new chapter for Asajj Ventress,
proving that there is plenty of life in the
sultry avenger…

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 “Rancor” by Arantzazu Martinez

SWI2019_130_132_ARTFEATURE.indd 130 30/10/2018 12:43

 
ON THE

ACCLAIMED ARTIST ARANTZAZU An early study, without rancor,

MARTINEZ HAS CONTRIBUTED A and before Martinez opted to
give the woman a much more
STUNNING PIECE FOR THE STAR elaborate costume.

WARS ART: VISIONS BOOK DEPICTING

A NEVER-BEFORE SEEN ENCOUNTER.
INTERVIEWS: JONATHAN WILKINS

ARANTZAZU
MARTINEZ
tar Wars Insider: You saw your first Star Wars movie,

S Return of the Jedi, at the age of seven.

Arantzazu Martinez: When I first saw Return of the
Jedi I was absolutely fascinated. It was like a dream
that somebody else had dreamt for me. Every location
looked fabulous and the characters felt so real; now I look for that
feeling constantly in my artwork. It took a while for me to realize
that there were another two films to see! But now I couldn’t
choose a favorite. The three movies work perfectly together.

INSIDER 131

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 How did you come to work on this project?
I received an email from Jonathan Rinzler
(LucasBooks’ Executive Editor) inviting me
to participate. I had to read it several times
to convince myself it was real! Next day
I talked with him and he gave me complete
freedom to do what I wanted. It was perfect!

Did you have any other ideas before you

started the one that became the
finished piece?
This was the first idea. It was not exactly the
same, because I changed her dress, but it
was the same composition from the first
sketch to the final image. I suddenly thought
that I had endless options, but was choosing
the first one. So I spent weeks looking for
something different! Eventually, I went back
to the first one and I realized it was beautiful
and very strong.

What were the challenges of painting

characters or situations that don’t exist
in our world?
The main challenge for this painting
was making the rancor looks as real as
the human figure and creating the illusion
of both being in the same space. The first
steps must be very accurate because you
need to have control over the light, size, and
perspective of every single element. Once
you have that and it works, you have the
adventure of finishing the painting. Getting
to that point is the challenge.

How long did the piece take to finish?

Around four months, more or less.

How does this piece differ from what you

would normally paint?
Well, the rancor is the only monster I’ve
ever painted!

Have you any plans to do any more Star

Wars art?
Working again in the Star Wars universe
would be interesting. The character would
once again be a new one. I would have to
look for something spectacular.


Arantzazu Martinez is a painter from Vitoria, Spain.
She earned a B. A. from the Fine Arts University of the
Basque Country in 2000, and later graduated from the
New York Academy of Figurative Art.
Her works have been exhibited in the United States,
Spain, and Great Britain.
See more at:
www.arantzazumartinez.com

This image: Arantzazu at work

in her studio.

132 INSIDER

SWI2019_130_132_ARTFEATURE.indd 132 30/10/2018 12:43

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 INTERVIEW

134 / STAR WARS INSIDER

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 INTERVIEW
Fist Empire of
the
Iden Versio is the protagonist at the center of the recently released
Star Wars: Battlefront II videogame. Megan Crouse spoke to actress
Janina Gavankar to find out what it’s like to play the Empire’s finest…
anina Gavankar is
already known for
J television roles and
videogames including
Far Cry 4 and Halo 5:
Hunt the Truth. Now
she shows the world her talents as lead
character Iden Versio in Star Wars:
Battlefront II’s campaign mode.
Iden’s strength in battle is matched
only by her love for the Empire’s
ruthless strategies. In Battlefront II,
she and her team of Imperial agents
come up against some iconic heroes in
a brand-new Star Wars story. Fans may
have already learned about Iden and
her father, Admiral Garrick Versio, in
the novel Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
by Christie Golden. Now, Iden takes the
lead. Insider spoke to Gavankar about
her performance capture role.
SWI: You’re both a gamer and
a Star Wars fan. What’s it like to
act in a Star Wars game?
JG: It still feels surreal, and I was cast in
the game a year ago. I’d love to say that
it’s a dream come true, but it seemed
impossible for it to happen to me that I
didn’t even dream it. It just doesn’t feel
01
SWI2019_134-137_JaninaGavanka.indd 135
real. It’s the most incredible thing that
could have ever happened, because I’m
working in a medium that I care about.
When I was cast, I didn’t know just
how important her character would
be. For all I knew I was just going to be
an extra, which of course I would have
been okay with.
How did you first get started as an
actor in videogames?
The first videogame that I ever worked
on was Far Cry 4. The audition for a
videogame is exactly the same as an
audition for on-camera acting. For
Battlefront II, they sent me a fake
script; I recorded an autition on tape,
and I sent it in to them.
I understand you’re also a trained
vocalist. What skills from that did
you bring to your acting career?
Yes, I was a vocalist—and also a pianist,
and a percussionist. My process hasn’t
changed much over the years, I’m still
quite studious. I practice and practice.
As you can imagine, doing the same
thing over and over again can be very
straining on the voice. So all of my
vocal training has helped.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 135
30/10/2018 14:19

“She [iden] understands that there is
strength in quiet. She is very smart to hold
back and stay reserved until the moment
she needs to pounce.”
I also did the audiobook [of Inferno
Squad]. That was the hardest thing I’ve
ever done vocally. Since we were under
the gun, I did really long sessions. I
had to do more than eight one-hour
sessions just to get the book done,
which is not normal. The only way I got
through it was because I knew how to
support my breath and save my voice.
JANINA GAVANKAR
No stranger to the sci-fi and
fantasy genre, Gavankar has
starred in such notable series as
Stargate: Atlantis, True Blood
and Arrow. Having majored
in Theatre Performance at the
University of Illinois at Chicago,
she pursued a career in acting
after a long time training as a
pianist, vocalist, and percussionist.
A self-confessed fan, Janina is
an avid gamer who was thrilled
to earn the part of Iden Versio in
Star Wars: Battlefront II. Utilizing
her vocal training and ranging
skillset, Janina gives a powerful
performance as the Imperial
squad leader.
136 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_134-137_JaninaGavanka.indd 136
INTERVIEW
How did you find recording not
only Iden’s voice for the audiobook,
but the entire novel?
I was terrified! I was so scared I would
be terrible at doing all the voices
because most of the characters are male.
There’s such a huge variety of them
and I did not have long to prep for it.
Honestly, I only had time to read the
book once and jot down some notes
before we started recording. So, in
addition to voicing my entire squad, I
had to mimick Paul Blackthorne and TJ
Ramini’s characters, Gideon Hask and
Del Meeko respectively, and also play
my father! And all the while I had to
make each one of them sound different,
somehow. Even more daunting, there
are times when these three characters,
who are all English, are talking to one
another. So there are some cases where
I thought to myself, “Do they sound
different enough? How can I change my
voice to make these three Englishmen
sound different enough?” But it all
comes back to acting: I had to think
about the intention in every single line,
and that helped. I haven’t listened to
the audiobook yet; I’m a little terrified
of hearing it!
In an interview with StarWars.com
you talked about Iden Versio having
a certain “rhythm” of calmness.
Can you talk more about how you
portrayed that?
Her character is very different from me.
I’m easily excited about the things I’m
passionate about—I can’t hold back.
I’m quick to tell anyone who will listen
all of my thoughts! Iden is the opposite.
She understands that there is strength
in quiet. She holds back and stays
reserved until the moment she needs
to pounce. She knows how to ration
her energy. She has the ability to listen
and find a moment of vulnerability in
the person or environment she’s in.
There’s nothing superfluous about Iden,
she’s always ready to engage.
What were the core things you that
kept in mind when performing? Was
there an image or a line that you
based your performance around?
With Iden it was more of a breath and a
stance than basing it around a line from
the script.
We worked with military consultants
before we began shooting, and there’s
obviously a physicality that comes with
that training. We were very adamant
about getting the way we hold our guns
in combat correct. By the way, the way
to do that and the tactics of how to
move in combat have changed. So we
were moving in a way that I had not
moved on camera before. That was a
huge thing! Where my body would be
in rest in this character was different
to other characters, so that helped a
lot. Any time they called action, I was
standing in a position with a gun in my
hand. As the hours, days, and months
went by of being this character, it
started becoming easier to fall right into
the physicality of what is rest for her.
One of my favorite things about
Iden’s characterization is one of her
great hardships—how much she
expects her father’s disappointment.
What did you dig into when thinking
about that troubled relationship?
How many times, especially growing
up nerdy, have you felt that someone is
expecting you to fail?
I don’t feel that the Admiral wants
Iden to fail. I think that he wants her to
succeed but perhaps he expects her to
fail. I have certainly felt underestimated
in my life. You can either be defeated
by that or you can use it to your
advantage. Iden does the latter.
30/10/2018 14:19
 INTERVIEW

02

03

01 Taking charge
of fellow Inferno
Squad members,
Hask and Del,
Iden is ready to
take the fight
to the Rebellion.
(See opening
spread.)

02 Iden gets ready

for an upcoming
mission.

03 Iden prepares
to engage rebel
forces aboard
an MC80 Star
Cruiser.

How about the other characters
on the team? Who does Iden have
the strongest connection with?
Hask and Iden spent their formative
years together. They feel like family.
Hask is an orphan, so Iden is the most
family he’s ever had. They have so
many years of friendship and support
with one another. He makes fighting
for the Empire easier for Iden.
Is there anything else you want to
add about the experience?
I completely didn’t expect it, but this
has turned out to be one of the most
collaborative and creative experiences of
any project I’ve worked on in my career.
I got a chance to talk to John Boyega
about this at D23, backstage. While we
were making the game, I talked to the
writers, Mitch Dyer and Walt Williams,
almost every day and had access to
Christie Golden. Mark Thompson, who
is the game director of the campaign,
was so open to ideas and Lucasfilm
Story Group member Steve Blank was
with us every day to help while we
were shooting. Everyone involved
was so adamant about making this an
authentic Star Wars story, and that’s
something that I’m so happy about.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 137

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 LEIA ORGANA

AN UNFORGETTABLE HERO

Insider looks back on the character Carrie Fisher

made her own, and picks 10 immortal Leia
moments that will live forever in the hearts of fans.
WORDS: TRICIA BARR

S
electing 10 memorable moments for a character
should be an easy task. But consider the legacy of Leia
Organa in the Star Wars universe and beyond it, and
you realize it is no such thing. Leia is heroic and flawed,
like any good character should be, and so was Carrie Fisher,
the actor who portrayed her.
Fisher was candid about her own life, and made us laugh,
even when she was hurting on the inside. She was aware of
how important her character was to fans facing their own
struggles, especially when they involved mental illness,
substance abuse, or bigotry—all battles that she fought herself.
Little girls aspired to be Leia in 1977, and little girls are still
putting on the white robes and signature buns to this day.
But what are the moments that make her character resonate?
Is it the princess planting a kiss on the dashing hero before
they swing across a chasm? The adopted daughter seeing
her father’s world destroyed? Or the mother asking her
former partner to bring their child home? There are so
many instances throughout the saga that fans could
cite as their favorite instance of Leia gracing the
screen. Here are a few that are special to me.

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 10
IntroDUCing a hero
Fearless. That is the main
trait that comes to mind when
we first meet Princess Leia in
A New Hope. She is confident
in the face of adversity, and
has the steely composure of a
warrior. As the movie continues,
everything we see of her only
reinforces our initial assessment.
Indeed, over 40 years of the
Star Wars franchise, nothing has
made the character waver from
those traits. We have seen her as
a daughter, a lover, a friend, and
a mother, but always as a
woman who defies fear. When
she reappears in The Force
Awakens, she still radiates the
confidence needed to lead the
Resistance, and inspires it in
others—now as a general.
From the start, everything
we learn about her is garnered
through “show not tell”
techniques. A woman concealed
by a hood hides something in a
small droid. As the droid leaves,
she peeks out from cover and
draws back her hood to reveal
herself. Immediately, we know
she is hunted, she is beautiful,
and she is brave. She is clearly
a fighter, as she draws a weapon,
but she is also a tactician, as she
allows herself to be captured so
that her droid can escape. It is
a selfless, heroic moment. She
is then taken to Darth Vader,
but does not cower before his
towering figure. Instead she
asserts her rights, insisting that
she is on a diplomatic mission.
Everything we have seen so far
suggests otherwise, and we can
only admire her brazen attitude
in the face of overwhelming
odds. Though she seems
doomed, we know this character
will be one to watch.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 139

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 LEIA ORGANA

09
Self-Rescuing
Princess
The escape from the Death
Star detention block is one
of Star Wars’ most iconic
scenes. From Han’s awkward
conversation with Imperials to
Luke’s breathless introduction
as he bursts into Leia’s cell, the
rescuers seem to be in over their
heads. But the prisoner remains
calmly acerbic, with Leia coolly
declaring Luke “a little short for
a stormtrooper,” and critiquing
the lack of an escape plan even
as she gratefully flees with her
rescuers.
This is the first time that Leia,
Luke, and Han are all together,
and they quickly fall into their
familiar roles. The rebel leader
Leia takes charge, snatching
Luke’s blaster and firing across

08
the hall to a spot right next to
Han. Han shows his trademark
incredulity as she explains:
“Someone has to save our skins.
Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”
Luke is the only one not to
question Leia’s actions (even
Chewie has his doubts), acting
on youthful, reckless bravery,
and perhaps already feeling
a bond of trust with Leia.
Yavin Medal
Ceremony
Leia does many awesome
things over the course of A New
Hope, but in keeping with her
selflessness, she doesn’t give herself
an award at the end of it. When
she presents medals to Luke and
Han, she does so as a princess and
a symbol of something greater. She
has responsibilities beyond those
of other rebel fighters, and must
stand apart from time to time.
The pomp of her role provides
a sense of structure and tradition
in a galaxy that the Empire would
remake as new. In storytelling
terms, her presence on the dais
reminds us just how important
she is to the Rebel Alliance, even
after the destruction of her home
planet, Alderaan.
Of course, in this moment
we are not invited to remember
Alderaan: it is a scene of triumph,
and—in a way—the best tribute
the atomized planet could have.
Life finds a way, and the young,
vivacious princess flirting with
two handsome men represents
the fun, romantic spirit that the
Empire simply cannot quash, even
with a superlaser. Leia has a new
outfit and new hair, the assembled
audience is huge, the medals are
magnificent, and the music is
rousing. It is a lavish, uplifting
scene that makes the heart soar
and imaginations run wild.

140 / STAR WARS INSIDER

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 LEIA ORGANA

07
Briefing the Pilots on Hoth
Some Leia scenes gain greater significance
with hindsight. The Hoth scenes in The Empire
Strikes Back include some fun Leia moments
that build on the romantic possibilities set up
in A New Hope. Yet it is the briefing of the rebel
pilots on the icy planet that invites reassessment
after seeing The Force Awakens. Whereas, in
A New Hope, Leia is the natural leader of a small
group, and a proficient fighter, on Hoth she is
already in her element as a military commander.
The screenplay captures this accepted authority
in a few lines:

LEIA: All troop carriers will assemble at the

north entrance. The heavy transport ships will
leave as soon as they’re loaded. Only two fighter
escorts per ship. The energy shield can only be
opened for a short time, so you’ll have to stay
very close to your transports.
HOBBIE: Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?
LEIA: The ion cannon will fire several shots to
make sure that any enemy ships will be out of
your flight path. When you’ve gotten past the
energy shield, proceed directly to the rendezvous
point. Understood?
PILOTS: (in unison) Right. OK.
LEIA: Good luck.

She might still be known as ‘Princess,’ but

to all intents and purposes, this is our first
glimpse of ‘General’ Leia. She is an even more
empowering figure than the one we meet in A
New Hope, and in 1980, she helped to convince
a generation of women that they had a place in
the military and other high-status strategic roles.
The scene remains inspirational today.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 141

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 LEIA ORGANA
06
The Kiss
If romance is your thing,
The Empire Strikes Back delivers
it in spades. Much of it is played
for laughs, which lightens the dire
situation on Hoth—such as when
Han comes back for Leia to make
sure she escapes from Echo Base.
The snarky banter that follows sets
up a woman who is trying to stay
emotionally detached. Dedicated
to thinking about others’ safety,
she finds herself faced with a
man who thinks about hers—and
is therefore forced to think about
her own needs, too. The tension
builds as Han chips away at the
wall she erected after Alderaan
was destroyed.
Even as the story builds toward
the release of this tension, Leia is
portrayed as capable. The script
SWI2019_138-145_LeiaMoments.indd 142
says she has finished “welding
the valves she has been working
on” on the Falcon as Han steps
in to the confined area to help
her “reengage the system.”
In this moment, we can feel
Leia resisting the temptation to
give into the proximity and the
attraction. It starts out with a
return to the playful repartee.
Han calls Leia “Your Worship”
and she asks him to stop. She
calls him a scoundrel, and he
accepts the insult with delight.
All the while Han is moving
closer and Leia’s inner conflict
becomes more obvious. Then
Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford
deliver on an ambitious moment
in the screenplay:
HAN: You’re trembling.
LEIA: I’m not trembling.
Then with an irresistible
combination of physical strength
and emotional power, the space
pirate begins to draw Leia toward
him...very slowly.
HAN: You like me because I’m a
scoundrel. There aren’t enough
scoundrels in your life.
Leia is now very close to Han and
as she speaks, her voice becomes an
excited whisper, a tone completely
in opposition to her words.
LEIA: I happen to like nice men.
HAN: I’m a nice man.
LEIA: No, you’re not. You’re...
He kisses her now, with slow, hot
lips. He takes his time, as though
he had forever, bending her body
backward…
To see Leia give in to feelings of
intimacy is rare and unexpected.
It is a standard storytelling move
for a male hero to convince a
woman of his charms, but here the
moment is more about Leia than it
is about Han. This is owing to the
skill with which the character has
been written and performed up to
this point, and it makes the kiss
beautiful. Leia is enriched by her
romance, rather than reduced to
the side role of ‘love interest,’ and
fans continue to find satisfaction
and empowerment in how it plays
out in this movie.
30/10/2018 13:48

05
The Force
Calls to Her
In 1980, the world sat stunned
as Darth Vader revealed, “No. I am
your father.” Yet while that one
moment has become a shorthand
for the entire Skywalker saga,
The Empire Strikes Back contains
another key moment for that
crucial clan. Though it would not
become a movie title for another
35 years, the idea that the Force
could awaken within a character
was seeded as Leia sensed Luke’s
peril on Cloud City. Where Luke
himself had trained to unlock his
Force potential, Leia’s awakening is
spontaneous and—tantalizingly—
never fully explained.
As Luke hangs by his one hand
from an antenna on the underside
of Cloud City, still reeling from
Vader’s revelation, he calls out to his
SWI2019_138-145_LeiaMoments.indd 143
LEIA ORGANA
mentor, “Ben” Kenobi. We
know from A New Hope that
Ben can still reach out to Luke
through the Force, but Luke does
not get the spectral assistance he
is presumably hoping for. Instead,
it is Leia who senses her brother’s
plight (though she doesn’t yet
know they are related), and turns
the Falcon around to go back and
find him.
Does Ben nudge Luke’s own
Force powers in Leia’s direction,
or help Leia’s own sensitivity on its
way? Do Luke and Leia unwittingly
tune into a Force link they have
always had without realizing it?
Perhaps the best part of this scene is
that we can all decide for ourselves
and have lively, fun-filled debates
about it.
What is not up for debate,
however, is that Leia takes control
of the situation without pause.
She does not stop to question her
instincts or to weigh up the odds.
Having just lost Han to the carbon-
freeze chamber, she is not about to
ignore a chance to save Luke, and
the call to action is just the sliver of
hope she needs. In that moment,
the Force is perhaps her own
salvation as much as it is Luke’s.
04
Ewok First Contact
After pursuing a personal quest to
rescue Han in the first act of Return
of the Jedi, Leia returns to the thick
of the fight against the Empire.
Before long, she is on Endor,
piloting a speeder bike as part of a
coordinated attack on the second
Death Star: the latest iteration of
the superweapon that destroyed
her homeworld. For a presumed
first-timer, Leia handles the bike like
a boss—her latent Force abilities no
doubt allowing her to keep up with
Luke. But a scout trooper gets off
a lucky shot, causing Leia to crash
and pass out.
When she wakes up, Leia has a
new companion: a small, bear-like
creature that is eyeing her with
caution and curiosity. Though the
creature doesn’t look like a serious
threat, Leia knows well enough
not to judge by appearances, and
affords it respect and space. This
leads to a tentative alliance that
proves surprisingly instrumental
in the downfall of the Empire.
On a straightforward level, it’s a
heartwarming scene that makes
good on Leia’s earliest claims to be
a diplomat. On a broader scale, it’s
indicative of how Leia’s sometimes
snarky attitude is merely a shield
for a deep humanity—something
that proves as powerful against the
Empire as Luke’s mercy for Darth
Vader in their final reckoning.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 143
30/10/2018 13:48

02
Reunion With Han Solo
With a new generation of
heroes on the front line in The
Force Awakens, Leia’s screen time
is markedly reduced. Her presence,
however, is felt throughout the
film. For a start, it is Leia who has
been instrumental in establishing
the New Republic that has brought
relative peace to the galaxy. Again, it
is General Leia who has spearheaded
the Resistance against the First Order
when the New Republic has proved
too peaceful for its own good. Rey
is inspired by the Resistance long
before she meets Leia, and is no
doubt representative of many others
across the galaxy who believe in the
same things (even if they lack Rey’s
innate abilities).
But for all that Leia is a
figurehead in The Force Awakens,
she is also allowed her intimate
moments. She has suffered
144 / STAR WARS INSIDER
SWI2019_138-145_LeiaMoments.indd 144
LEIA ORGANA
03
Brother and Sister
Return of the Jedi is undoubtedly
memorable for its big set pieces and
special effects, but its story works
because of the intimate character
moments. Perhaps the only thing
harder than finding out you are
the child of the galaxy’s most
fearsome bad guy is admitting that
you are the child of the galaxy’s
most fearsome bad guy. Even for
many deeply personal losses—
her brother, her son, her husband—
and yet she fights on with quiet
resilience. When she is reunited with
Han, her composure almost falters,
but she holds it together
and they exchange a few words—
an awkward echo of their one-time
back and forth. It’s a stark reminder
that heroes stay human, and that
their stories don’t finish when their
epic quests are complete.
To reintroduce Leia in such
a different place from where
cinemagoers left her in Return of the
Jedi is daring and far from an easy
a diplomat, Leia has a hard time
disguising her horror when Luke
reveals his lineage to her. But then he
also tells her that she is his sister, and
therefore Vader’s daughter, too! Leia
accepts this news with a simple: “I
know. Somehow, I’ve always known,”
but still the truth clearly shocks her.
When Luke leaves and Han enters, she
has no words to explain to him what
she has learned, but takes comfort in
his presence nonetheless. At first, Han
is angry that Leia and Luke are keeping
secrets from him, but this swiftly
passes. As Leia trusts Luke to face their
father despite the risks, so Han has
learned to support Leia’s choices, and
to stand by her regardless. As the core
of a rebellion built on trust, they are
all part of a family, whether or not
they are bonded by blood.
option in story terms. But it has
still more significance for audiences
who know the battles Carrie Fisher
fought in her own personal life.
For Leia to have had an easy time
over the past 30 years would have
shattered the symbiosis that existed
with actor and character, and done
a disservice to Fisher’s own life story.
As a result of these choices,
and Fisher’s subtle, sensitive
performance, Leia’s return to the
screen is a triumph, and as her
body language lets us know that
she still loves Han, we can’t help but
be reminded that we still love Leia.
30/10/2018 13:48
 LEIA ORGANA
01
Leia Hugs Rey
Not long after she asks
Han to bring back their son,
she realizes she has lost him
forever. As she senses his death
through her connection to the
Force, she is left in the darkest
place she has been since the
destruction of Alderaan, all those
years ago. Leia hasn’t simply lost
a husband; the fact he is slain
by Kylo Ren means she is losing
her son all over again. When the
Millennium Falcon returns to the
SWI2019_138-145_LeiaMoments.indd 145
Resistance base, Leia locks
eyes with Rey, who witnessed
Han’s death and Kylo Ren’s rage
on Starkiller Base. Heavy with her
loss, Leia holds Rey, and the pair
seem to support each other. But
this is not the act of a widow
seeking solace; it is the work of a
tireless empath, giving comfort to
relieve another’s pain.
Decades earlier, Leia embraced
her new friend Luke as he mourned
the loss of his mentor, Ben Kenobi.
Now Luke is missing, and a new
young friend needs her help to
come to terms with the loss of her
own mentor—Han. It is a moment
of beautiful symmetry, but also
of circularity, as it is Rey who will
finally track down Luke, and seek
to cast him in the role of mentor,
too. Luke is the start and end point
of the circle, but Leia is the thread
that gives it shape.
GENERAL SLAYER
Carrie Fisher could slay anyone with
her wit, and she brought that sharp
tongue to her portrayal of Princess
Leia as well. Here are just some of
Leia’s best and funniest lines.
“Governor Tarkin, I should have
expected to find you holding
Vader’s leash. I recognized your
foul stench when I was brought on
board.” (A New Hope)
“Aren’t you a little short for a
stormtrooper?” (On first meeting
the disguised Luke Skywalker in
A New Hope)
“You came in that thing? You’re
braver than I thought.” (On first
seeing the Millennium Falcon in
A New Hope)
“Will somebody get this big walking
carpet out of my way?”
(On Chewbacca in A New Hope)
“Why you stuck up, half-witted,
scruffy-looking, nerf-herder!” (To
Han after he brags about her to
Luke and Chewie in The Empire
Strikes Back)
“I don’t know where you get your
delusions, laser brain.” (To Han in
The Empire Strikes Back)
“Would it help if I got out and
pushed?” (To Han when the
Millennium Falcon stalls on Hoth
in The Empire Strikes Back)
“You have your moments. Not many
of them, but you do have them.”
(To Han, with a peck on the cheek,
after he hides the Falcon amid
an Imperial Star Destroyer’s trash
release in The Empire Strikes Back)
“Oh, it’s not like that at all. He’s my
brother.” (To Han when he asks if
she loves Luke in Return of the Jedi)
“When did that ever help? And
don’t say the Death Star.” (To Han,
when he says he is trying to be
helpful in The Force Awakens)
30/10/2018 13:48
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