An opening crawl for the High Republic era has been released!

There are many, many iconic things about Star Wars. One of them is the opening crawl, which right from the start throws you into the middle of a story already unfolding. All nine saga films have begun with it, and it looks like the High Republic is following suit.

In October, the Star Wars website updated the photo gallery for the High Republic project and included an opening crawl for the era. That crawl reads:

The galaxy is at peace, ruled by the glorious REPUBLIC and protected by the noble and wise JEDI KNIGHTS.

As a symbol of all that is good, the Republic is about to launch STARLIGHT BEACON into the far reaches of the Outer Rim. This new space station will serve as a ray of hope for all to see.

But just as a magnificent renaissance spreads throughout the Republic, so does a frightening new adversary. Now the guardians of peace and justice must face a threat to themselves, the galaxy, and the Force itself….

There’s not a whole lot of new information that we learn there, but it’s nonetheless very cool to have it laid out in the form of an opening crawl, like we’ve become accustomed to. This crawl tells us that it’s a time of peace (though not for long!), and it mentions the Starlight Beacon. This station has been mentioned in the current Star Wars comic line, filling in the events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, written by High Republic author Charles Soule. The Starlight Beacon was a space station that guided travelers on how to venture into the Outer Rim, since travel was still risky and dangerous there. But something happens, and that’s alluded to here, something that threatens even the Force itself. We’ve heard that warning before, and I’m still incredibly intrigued by what could threaten the Force itself. What could it be? Well, we know that the villains of this time are the Nihil, so maybe they have something to do with it? We’ll have to see, but we do know that the cataclysmic event that kicks things off in this era of storytelling (set 200 years before the prequel trilogy) is the Great Disaster, which sounds like something that disrupts hyperspace travel.

The High Republic era kicks off this January, and I’m really excited about it. Though this isn’t really much new information, it is nonetheless still very cool to see it in this incredibly familiar and beloved format.