Have you ever wondered what happened after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens? In the Star Wars galaxy, this is a particularly interesting period, one that hasn't been explored as much on screen. Yes, Disney+'s The Mandalorian has ventured into this territory a bitbut what happened to the likes of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa during this transitional period in the galaxy? We will get some answers.

Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm have announced a relaunch of the main Star Wars comic for later this year. The relaunched series will be written by Alex Segura ("Black Ghost") and art by Phil Noto ("Star Wars: After Dameron"). It is crucial that the series will begin after the events of "Return of the Jedi, which concluded the original Star Wars trilogy in 1983. What does that mean for readers, exactly? The synopsis for the new series reads as follows:

An epic new adventure begins for Luke, Leia and Han in the wake of Return of the Jedi! New York Times bestselling author Alex Segura launches the bold next era of Star Wars. Luke Skywalker must defend the New Republic from a bloodthirsty gang of mercenaries! Han Solo investigates a deadly underworld mystery - and rescues a surprising ally! Leia Organa must fight a new alliance opposed to the goals of the New Republic!

This is important because the New Republic era of the official Star Wars timeline. takes place right after the "Age of Rebellion", which is covered in the original trilogy. This is the period after the fall of Palpatine and the collapse of the Empire. However, as we've seen, it's not as if the Empire just went quietly into the night. The remnants of the organization continued to try and fight for power. As such, it's a rich area to explore, especially through the eyes of the saga's main heroes. Talking to StarWars.comSegura had this to say about it:

"Now that we've put the end of Civil War into the Galactic War with the Battle of Yaku, we can fast forward into a new, unknown era, with some new galactic threats, enemies and mysteries for our beloved heroes to tackle." with, merging the familiar with the new and the shocking. the galaxy and landscape we know, in order to ensure that people can jump easily and with any problems.

Segura mentions the Battle of Yaku, which was a pivotal battle that really marked the end of the Empire and the beginning of the New Republic. There are remnants of the Jakku battle in The Force Awakens, but the battle itself was not explored on screen. The Star Wars Battlefront video game did include the Battle of Yakubut the battle had major implications for our core heroes as they then had to enter rebuild mode rather than fight mode.

Many Star Wars fans stick to the movies and/or TV series, so although the New Republic era has been explored in media such as Chuck Wendig's Star Wars: The Aftermath novel trilogyit's a big blind spot for quite a few people. That could make this comic series a good place to jump on the Expanded Universe train, especially for those who love Luke, Leia, and/or Han. Speaking further about the book, Noto had this to add:

"I've been a huge Star Wars fan since A New Hope and have been lucky enough over the past decade to pursue my childhood dream of drawing Star Wars as a job... Alex is an amazing writer and has come up with some great stories and new characters for this series. and I'm thrilled to be able to bring them to life on the page era because there are no existing film or TV versions of them, I can I create a new look for them and also reference the 80's actors to help sell the look of this time frame.

Star Wars no. 1 hits shelves on May 7, 2025. Check out the main cover and variant cover for the first issue for yourself below.