The Force Awakens' Prequel Story Incorporated Rian Johnson Ideas

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Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo has revealed the prequel novels for Star Wars: The Force Awakens incorporated ideas from Rian Johnson. Star Wars may be best known as one of the biggest film franchises of all time, but in truth, its even bigger than that - it's one of the most significant transmedia franchises in the world, with stories sweeping from one medium to another. This is a legacy of the old Expanded Universe, which saw Star Wars embrace the potential of books, comics, and computer games in the decade before the prequel trilogy's release.

Back in 2015, when Lucasfilm began marketing for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, they incorporated a range of tie-in books and comics into the build-up. Nineteen novels and comics were issued under the banner "Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens," telling stories that helped set the scene for the sequel era. The most important of these was Claudia Gray's Bloodline, which told the story of how the political career of Leia Organa came to an end at a time when she sensed the shadow of the dark side falling over the galaxy once again; the book ended with a key moment in galactic history, as Leia - now a political outcast - began to form the Resistance against the coming threat of the First Order.

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In a fascinating discussion on Twitter, Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo has revealed the story beats of Bloodline didn't originate with Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, but rather with Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson. As Hidalgo explains, at some point during production, a filmmaker is contacted by the franchise side of Lucasfilm with ideas for tie-ins. This soon establishes what Hidalgo calls "guard rails" - things that are to be avoided - and genuine opportunities. Johnson had sketched out what he thought happened between the end of Return of the Jedi and the beginning of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and part of that became the plot of Claudia Gray's novel Bloodline. Check out Hidalgo's tweet below:

Yep. He had sketched out what he thought happened between VI and VII and part of that became the basis of Bloodline.

— Pablo Hidalghoul (@pabl0hidalgo) October 8, 2021

Bloodline is generally considered one of the best Star Wars books of the Disney era, and Claudia Gray has gone on to write several more novels for Lucasfilm - including some of their most important tie-ins. Her firm grasp of Princess Leia led her to be commissioned to write Leia: Princess of Alderaan, the official story of how Leia first joined the Rebellion, and Master & Apprentice - a story starring Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi - finally revealed the text of the Chosen One prophecy. And it seems Gray's first book, the one that started her off with Lucasfilm Publishing, originated in the fertile imagination of Rian Johnson.

This director-led approach explains why Lucasfilm Publishing's approach seems to vary from movie to movie. The best transmedia campaign to date accompanied Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, with James Luceno's tie-in novel Catalyst and Alexander Freed's novelization perfectly complementing the movie and giving a complete history of the Death Star's construction. Meanwhile, Hidalgo noted J.J. Abrams and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker writer, Chris Terrio, sketched out the bare bones of what became Charles Soule's tie-in comic, The Rise of Kylo Ren, which released ahead of the final movie in the sequel trilogy and explored Kylo Ren's fall to the dark side. Presumably a similar approach is being taken to tie-ins with the Disney+ TV shows as well, given Lucasfilm is preparing a number of Star Wars books to tie in to The Mandalorian.

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