‘Star Wars: Insider’ #226 Looks Back at 25 Years of ‘Lego Star Wars’ Plus Leslye Headland Interview and More
The latest issue of Star Wars: Insider arrives on June 25th (US/CAN) and July 25th (UK). The issue looks at how Star Wars and plastic bricks have become synonymous as LEGO Star Wars celebrates 25 years. The issue is also packed with interviews – including The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, Alphabet Squadron author Alexander Freed and sequel trilogy actress Amanda Lawrence.
Leslye Headland Interview
The creator of The Acolyte sits down to talk about her Star Wars fandom, devouring the original trilogy on VHS until getting to see them in the theatre with the release of the Special Editions. Leslye is evidently a huge fan, talking about her love for the Expanded Universe and The Clone Wars as impacting her work as a filmmaker in general before getting the dream opportunity to work on a Star Wars project outside of her own dreams and fanfiction.
Headland talks about how the launch of The High Republic, known back then as Project Luminous, coincided perfectly with her pitch for a series that was disconnected from the Skywalker Saga, in a time where the Jedi are at their height and the Sith are the underdogs allowing her to create a story set a century before the movies while bringing in visual elements from the publishing initiative and even characters like Vernestra Rwoh. While the series sits on the bridge between the High Republic and Prequel era, Headland is emphatic that she designed the series to be accessible to all viewers while rewarding to fans who dig into the lore.
After episode 3 debuted a new coven of force-sensitive witches, it was interesting to read about the ideas behind their inclusion in the series. The new coven was designed to be a step between the Nightsisters, who channel the Force through dark magic and the Jedi, with the witches using strange movements and incantations, yet having abilities not too dissimilar to those of a Jedi. Headland also used the ides to explore where Sith might come from outside of the fallen Jedi archetype we have seen on screen so far.
Purrgil Power
An in-depth look at the biology and design of the massive space whales with palaeontologist Gabriel-Philip Santos, who uses his passion for Star Wars to speak to kids about science at Celebration and other conventions. Santos compares the animated versions, seen in Rebels and the live-action version in Ahsoka and explores differences between our native whale species to comfortably explain how there could be several subspecies of the hyperspace-faring creatures. He also digs into the new lore we learned about them such as their extragalactic migration to Peridea to die, comparing this to a hybrid whale migration and elephant graveyards in our world.
25 Years of LEGO Star Wars
Insider sit down with key executives from LEGO and Lucasfilm, looking back on a partnership that has lasted a quarter-century and seen the launch of video games, TV series, apparel lines and, of course, thousands upon thousands of plastic bricks. The interview looks back at the very first sets created to tie-in with the launch of The Phantom Menace alongside classic original trilogy models such as the X-Wing. The team talk through their process of designing their range of sets, from simple designs that four-year-olds can play with to the more challenging adult sets, also discussing how the design process has developed over the decades with new digital tools available to builders.
Amanda Lawrence Interview
Insider reflects with Amanda Lawrence who, after being seen acting in a play by Rian Johnson, was cast in the role of Commander D’Acy for The Last Jedi. Initially expecting a non-speaking role, Lawrence speaks about her positive experience in working with Rian Johnson and later JJ Abrams as she returned to the role for The Rise of Skywalker, with the practicality and the ‘clunkiness’ of the sets capturing the charm and magic of the original movies. She also talks about the impact of losing Carrie Fisher on her role as she had to deliver the in-universe news of Leia’s passing to the Resistance.
Art Wars
This feature looks at the artworks that appear in Star Wars media, exploring how items such as Anakin’s japor snippet, Hera Syndula’s kalikori and the Mortis gods mural take inspiration from the rich history of real-world art.
Alexander Freed Interview
The Alphabet Squadron author takes us through his career in Star Wars, starting as a writer for BioWare working on storylines for the Sith faction in The Old Republic MMO game. Freed discusses the experience of writing novels linked to specific media, comparing the experience of writing the Rogue One novelization to Twilight Company, the tie-in novel for Star Wars: Battlefront. In writing post-Endor content for Alphabet Squadron as well as the short story ‘Shockwave’ for Insider, Freed talks about how he focused on themes of victory and loss intertwined and researched accounts of battles across history to pay respect to real-life war veterans in his depictions of the fight for freedom against tyranny. He also compares writing space and ground battle and reveals his favourite battle in all Star Wars.
Exclusive High Republic fiction
‘Family Ties’ by Lydia Kang continues the story of Joss and Pikka Adren, tying in to Phase 3 of The High Republic publishing. Having rescued a prisoner in the previous instalment, they now find themselves trapped on a Nihil prison ship that has succumbed to a mysterious pathogen with no way of returning to Republic space.
All this, and more, is available when Star Wars: Insider hits shelves soon!
REST OF THE WORLD SUBSCRIPTIONS
A teacher from Wales in the UK, Aled has loved Star Wars ever since that Star Destroyer flew over his head and blew his mind.
