Star Wars Will Release 20 Books Before The Force Awakens

EWis reporting that at least 20 Star Wars books -- novels for adults and teens, storybooks and stickerbooks for younger audiences -- will be released by multiple publishers to bridge the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. 32-year gap of missing continuity? 20 books should do the trick!

The new series of books will be fittingly known as Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You'll be able to find out what Luke, Leia, and Han have been up to for the past three decades, leading up to their adventures in The Force Awakens. The books will even include easter eggs foreshadowing events in the upcoming film.

Again, Del Rey has to build up an entirely new post-ROTJ timeline now that the old continuity has been erased. Sorry, Thrawn, Kyle Katarn, Corran Horn, Mara Jade, and plenty of other awesome characters we'll never get to know again. These new books will be considered canon, of course, so it's safe to dig into them.

Many of the books are still being written or edited, so not many details to share on the upcoming titles. But here are the books that have been revealed so far:

• Del Rey’s Star Wars: Aftermath -- probably taking place right after Return of the Jedi
• Marvel Comics prequel Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens plus another preview story told from C-3PO’s perspective
• Studio Fun International's Star Wars: Ships of the Galaxy
• Moving Target by Cecil Castellucci (author of Tin Star) -- an adventure following Princess Leia 
• The Weapon of the Jedi by Jason Fry (Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy) -- a Luke Skywalker adventure
• Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (Evernight series)
• Smuggler's Run by Greg Rucka (Atticus Kodiak novels and Detective Comics) -- a Han Solo tale.
• Disney-Lucasfilm Press will release several young adult books starring Luke, Han, and Leia

Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, says, “The Force Awakens is an extraordinarily, heavily guarded storyline. To track it, a lot of top-secret meetings were happening up in San Francisco as we worked through this program." Del Rey, Dorling Kindersley, Marvel Comics, and several other publishers have all gathered to create the new stories and coordinate their efforts.

“The partnership with the story group and the editorial team always had to be true to the sanctity of the film while making sure that we find these moments to introduce hints, clues, and puzzle pieces,” Sugerman says. “Without revealing what those pieces are, it will just allow readers to speculate about the new film: What could a location mean, or what could a character mean?” 

More on this as we learn it.