New Star Wars Character is Inspired by Matthew McConaughey

A new era for the Star Wars franchise was ushered in earlier this week as the highly anticipated Star Wars: The High Republic was officially launched. To those wondering, no, it won't be a new live-action project and instead will be a series of novels and comics that will chronicle the Jedi's powerful history.

Set 200 years before the events of the Skywalker saga, The High Republic will consist of three separate phases — Phase I: Light of the Jedi, Phase II: Quest of the Jedi, and Phase III: Trials of the Jedi. One of its authors Claudia Gray who's working on Into the Dark, a novel revolving around a Jedi padawan and a crew of pilots

During the special launch event, Claudia revealed key details about one of her story's lead characters named Leox Gyasi. The character shares some similarities to Han Solo but to avoid comparison, she took inspiration from legendary actor Matthew McConaughey. "So what is a template for a pilot who has some of this scoundrel energy and isn't Han Solo at all? And somehow my brain was like, 'you need to give 1990s Matthew McConaughey a spaceship and see what would happen'."

Seeing as the infamous sequel trilogy was set in the present, it's only fitting that we explore Star Wars' rich history through The High Republic. So far, it's looking pretty promising and the possibility of it being presented in film or cartoon form isn't exactly out of the question.

The books and comics from Star Wars: The High Republic are already up for preorder here.

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