A New Canonical Star Wars Novel Will Delve Into Leia’s Post-Return Of The Jedi Life

By the time that Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens takes place, Princess Leia has become General Organa, her son has turned against the Jedi and sought to embrace the Dark Side of the Force, and she has resumed her battle against galactic oppression—this time in the guise of the First Order. Hopefully, some of the details as to how this happened will be filled in by Claudia Gray’s canonical novel, Star Wars: Bloodline.

In an interview and excerpt shared with USA Today, Gray discussed Leia’s role in the New Republic as a senator 24 years after the events of Return of the Jedi. According to the author, “a new generation doesn’t remember the lessons of the Rebellion or recognize the wrongs of the Empire, and Leia begins to see the cracks in the foundation that could lead to a dangerous future for the galaxy.” Among the young guns featured will be a senator named Ransolm Casterfo who is “Leia’s political opposite in virtually every way,” per Gray. “He even collects artifacts from the Empire, like pro-Palpatine banners, pieces of armor, and so on.”

It seems unlikely that we’ll get to read about Ben Solo’s transformation into Kylo Ren, as that’s far too juicy a story not to somehow be worked into the films. But perhaps we’ll get a glimpse of the Vader in him.

Bloodline, out May 3, is the second canonical novel to focus on galactic events following the fall of the Empire; the first was Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath, released last September and describing the chaos that ensued after the second Death Star’s destruction. What with the delay of Episode VIII, it’s nice to at least have the novels to fill in the gaps in the story.