The future of Star Wars is here, and it takes place…200 years before the sequel trilogy. Disney has finally revealed real details behind “Project Luminous”: A massive, over-arching Star Wars story titled Star Wars: The High Republic that will take place over multiple books and comics, in a time known as the High Republic Era.

“It’s a golden time,” said Michael Siglain, Creative Director, Lucasfilm. “A time of peace and prosperity…a time when the Jedi really are galactic guardians, stewards of peace and justice.”

The story will kick off with the novel Light of the Jedi by author Charles Soule (Star Wars: Darth Vader), available on August 25. The book will introduce us to “a different kind of Jedi, one that patrols the frontiers, a sort of Texas Ranger,” and begin with a cataclysmic event known as “The Great Disaster”.

“You see a lot of Jedi coming together to handle it,” Soule teased. “How would the Jedi handle something galactically terrible on a moment’s notice? That scene opens the novel and it goes from there…the whole [saga] builds from that.”

In the aftermath of the Great Disaster rises a new Star Wars villain, The Nihil, which the story group described as “space Vikings” that were purposely designed to be as different from the put-together Stormtroopers of the Empire as possible, something much more “punk rock”. Artist Iain McCaig, who designed the look of Darth Maul, was brought in to create concept art for everything from the Nihil to various creatures we’ll meet in the story.

“Hyperspace is something [the Nihil] are able to use and access that makes them very, very dangerous,” Soule said, “They’re not a bunch of uniformed soldiers serving a higher purpose. They’re unified, but they’re also all out for themselves.”

After Light of the Jedi, the “High Republic” schedule is as follows:

• A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland (Star Wars: Lando’s Luck), a middle-grade book.
• The High Republic by Cavan Scott (Star Wars Adventures), a Marvel comic series.
• Into the Dark by Claudia Gray (Star Wars: Master & Apprentice), a novel.
• The High Republic Adventures by Daniel Jose Older (Star Wars: Last Shot), an IDW comic series.

“Star Wars: The High Republic will allow creators to imagine entirely original stories in a new corner of the galaxy. Our incredible team of authors worked together alongside the Lucasfilm Story Group and Publishing teams to help craft a completely new era for the franchise that begins with Publishing,” says Lucasfilm Press Creative Director Michael Siglain.

Check out the full announcement trailer below:

via Collider