Meeting a new character means learning a potentially interesting backstory. It’s exciting to find out about a character’s past because it adds context and nuance to who they are now; backstory can inform opinions, decisions a character makes, grudges, and so much more. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was focused on a mission: the rebels locating and stealing the plans for the Death Star. We got to know Jyn Erso and the members of her team, but we didn’t learn every fact about each person. There wasn’t time in the film, but there is time in other mediums. We learned through Slashfilm that a new Star Wars novel will dive into Jyn’s past.
Rebel Rising, a young adult novel by Beth Revis, is coming our way from Disney-Lucasfilm press. The book will visit a period in time referenced in Rogue One. We know Saw Gerrera picked Jyn up from Lah’mu after Director Krennic and the Empire killed her mother and took her father. Saw raised Jyn and taught her how to resist, but he eventually left her behind. He thought he was protecting her. That’s the territory Rebel Rising explores.
A recently released synopsis explains:
When Jyn Erso was five years old, her mother was murdered and her father taken from her to serve the Empire. But despite the loss of her parents she is not completely alone—Saw Gerrera, a man willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to resist Imperial tyranny, takes her in as his own, and gives her not only a home but all the abilities and resources she needs to become a rebel herself.
Jyn dedicates herself to the cause—and the man. But fighting alongside Saw and his people brings with it danger and the question of just how far Jyn is willing to go as one of Saw’s soldiers. When she faces an unthinkable betrayal that shatters her world, Jyn will have to pull the pieces of herself back together and figure out what she truly believes in…and who she can really trust.
Yes, yes, yes. Give me all this backstory deliciousness. I especially wants to see how Jyn deals with being abandoned by Saw because that moment seems key to her “I don’t have the luxury of political opinions” attitude displayed in Rogue One.
Rebel Rising will arrive on shelves on May 2, but you can devour the first two chapters now.
Visit the comments and tell me whether you’ll be picking up the title. I’m also into hearing your theories about what kind of father figure Saw Gerrera was to Jyn.
Images: Disney-Lucasfilm Press
