Star Wars

Chancellor Valorum is the subject of this week’s Star Wars Character Spotlight, the leader of the Galactic Republic before and during The Phantom Menace, portrayed by the late Terence Stamp in the film. Valorum was a good man but ultimately became the victim of Palpatine’s political machinations. George Lucas’ inspiration for the character was then-US President Bill Clinton. Early life Finis Valorum was born on Coruscant to House Valorum, one of the wealthy elite families in the Republic’s capital. The Valorums had a long and storied history in the Republic, as Finis’ direct ancestor Tarsus Valorum had been the first ever chancellor of the Republic roughly 800 years earlier (confusingly, the Republic had already existed for 200 years by that point).  The Valorums had their own very succ...

The latest issue of Star Wars: Insider will release on August 19th (US/CAN) and September 18th (UK) and is jam-packed with interviews. Genieveve O’Reilley and Stellan Skarskgard discuss their experiences playing Rebel leaders in Andor season 2 while Kriyana Kratter and Marti Matulis share their experiences playing KB and the Mandalorian crossover pirate Vane in Skeleton Crew. The issue also takes a look behind the curtain at Hasbro and launches a brand new series of short fiction. Genevieve O’Reilly and Stellan Skarsgård interview The actors behind Rebel Alliance founders Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael look back at the journey of their characters and what they sacrificed in the name of freedom. O’Reilly, who first played Mon Mothma in a scene for Revenge of the Sith that was cut from the fi...

The latest issue of Legacy of Vader was released and we’re back to witness the confrontation between Kylo Ren and former Jedi, Grandea, on the planet, Lahtee. As promised, a significant portion of this month’s issue was devoted to an Order 66 flashback. If you’re rolling your eyes at yet another Order 66 flashback, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by the end of it. For Ren, after last month’s easy sweep of Corellia, Grandea proves to be a much more challenging opponent for the Sith. No doubt, exactly what Vaneé had in mind when he suggested that Kylo Ren hunt for bigger game. In keeping with consistency for the series, both Ren and readers get a bit of a history lesson. However, the lesson gets taken a step further for Ren when he finally learns a valuable piece of information...

And so, the High Republic publishing initiative is finally over. After countless books, comics, manga volumes, short stories, audio dramas, television shows, and four and a half years, the High Republic era can finally just be. This week’s The Finale one-shot from Marvel gives us our one final goodbye to one of Star Wars‘ richest and most ambitious tales. Much will be made about the High Republic in the coming months and years, but one thing is for certain: Star Wars had the guts to give us something new and vibrant, and it will live with me for a long, long time. Cavan Scott’s The High Republic: The Finale is the swan song to it all. The Nihil are defeated, leaving the Jedi and the Republic to begin to rebuild. This issue does a great job putting a nice bow on everything that came befo...

Happy Sunday, and welcome to the latest edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away“. I took last Sunday off for personal reasons, but we’re now back! Despite that, there’s still not a lot going on in Star Wars, other than the Andor Emmy nominations (and a surprise Acolyte cameo!). There will not be another live-action show until Ahsoka Season 2 in 2026 (the show is currently in production) and the next animated series to debut will likely be Star Wars: Visions — Volume 3, on October 29. We are now two months away from Star Wars: Starfighter to start shooting, which means more members of the cast should start getting announced soon. Meanwhile, it seems like Kathleen Kennedy may have to wait even longer for her Taika Waititi Star Wars movie. Could the announcement of Waititi’s Judge...