Seven years after The Rise of Skywalker divided audiences and critics alike, Lucasfilm is finally returning to the sequel era with a brand-new novel — and it couldn’t be a more perfect story to enjoy while we wait for Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) return in Star Wars: New Jedi Order. Collider is thrilled to exclusively reveal the cover for Kwame Mbalia‘s Star Wars: The Last Order, which follows Finn (John Boyega) and Jannah (Naomi Ackie) through an action-packed adventure against the First Order as they wrestle with the challenges from their pasts as soldiers.
In addition to continuing the story of The Rise of Skywalker, which first introduced Jannah to audiences, The Last Order also celebrates the 10th anniversary of Finn’s introduction in The Force Awakens. Finn and Jannah were one of the highlights of the final chapter of the Sequel Trilogy, but the film didn’t have the time to really delve into their shared trauma, or what the evolving galaxy meant for them — and the stormtroopers who followed in their footsteps. The Last Order picks up at the end of The Rise of Skywalker as the Resistance rescues a ship full of young passengers who were kidnapped by the First Order — just as Finn and Jannah were as children. As the two former stormtroopers set out to find the First Order officer responsible before he can endanger any more children, they must wrestle with their own complicated pasts as soldiers of the oppressive regime.
The Last Order is penned by New York Times bestselling author Kwame Mbalia, who makes his Star Wars debut with the novel. Ahead of the debut of the cover art, Mbalia spoke with Collider about the novel, and he revealed how he tweeted his way into writing the YA novel. “My agents would yell at me because back when Twitter was tweets, I would just tweet out story ideas. I would just tweet them out. I’d be like, ‘Hey, what if this happened? What if we did this, that, and the third?’ So, I want to say it was on the way to Episode 9, so it hadn’t released yet, but we had all of these incredible photos and videos and teasers, and I would see Finn and Jannah, and we learned who they were, and I tweeted, ‘We need a Finn and Jannah backstory as the two stormtroopers who fled, who left, who turned to the Rebellion, and then joined forces!’ It’s like, ‘No, we need their backstory.’” He went on to say:
“So, I tweeted the version of that out, and it was up for, I want to say, a year and a half. Then I deleted it, one, because my agent was like, ‘Kwame, you’ve got to save your story ideas for you,’ and two, because Star Wars reached out and wanted to do a story, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to do this. I want to pitch this story so badly.’ I think I have a printout of it somewhere in my desk. I printed it out as evidence that I did tweet this.”
While Mbalia is no stranger to writing for major IP, having written Captain America: Brave New World: A Hero Looks Like You, writing for Star Wars was “a dream come true” for him. “Being able to work with Finn, who I think — if I had to write a character, Finn is the type of character that I like to write — someone who can be silly and irreverent at times, and also serious and loyal, and dedicated to his friends, allies, and family. And just being able to work with Jannah is amazing. It’s a dream.”
‘Star Wars: The Last Order’s Stunning Cover Is a Nod Toward Its Plot
“I don’t know if this is a spoiler, but there are these beautiful flowers on the cover that are framing these two characters, these stormtroopers, in their armor, their helmets off. You have these flowers framing them, and these flowers are integral to the story. When I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is gorgeous.’ In fact, I used to do something called Covers and Kicks, where a book cover would drop, and I would pick a pair of shoes, and I would just, ‘Hey, if you like this cover, these are some shoes…’ I went out, and I bought a pair of shoes that match the covers. So, I cannot wait until it drops so that I can do a little photo shoot with my new shoes.”
The cover is quite striking and sets The Last Order apart from many of the Star Wars novels currently on shelves. Something that feels quite fitting for a novel that is, for all intents and purposes, our first look at what the galaxy looks like following the events of The Rise of Skywalker. “This is a two-for-one,” Mbalia teases. “We get to see Finn and Jannah immediately after Episode 9, and then we also get to delve into that backstory and learn who they are, the choices they made, and why they became what they became.”
Will We See Other Sequel Trilogy Characters in ‘The Last Order’?
While Mbalia didn’t want to share too much about what happens in The Last Order, he did confirm with a simple “Yes” that Finn and Jannah won’t be the only members of the Resistance who appear in the novel. But this confirmation is far from the most exciting detail that he divulged. Mbalia spoke at length about how exciting it was to create brand-new characters for The Last Order, highlighting that we will get to meet other stormtroopers:
“Something about me is: I like a cast. I love a good cast of characters because it allows writers and authors to play off of tension, conflict, and differences. Everyone has different opinions, and it’s a way to bring up subtle obstacles beyond the main plot points that the characters are progressing through. I love a good cast. In this book, without giving any spoilers, it’s a great way to just show how, even amongst troopers who are trained the same way, who eat the same way, and who are instructed to act and perform the same way, there are all these differences subtly, drastically, and they come into play. You really lean into them and play off of them. So, it’s great to just be able to have a big group of characters and explore a little bit more into their daily lives and the arguments they would get into, the fun things they would talk about, the after-mission debriefs that they would absolutely complain about. It’s just fun to get into that.”
As we wrapped up the conversation, Mbalia shared the one word that sums up The Last Order, and it makes so much sense: Shenanigans.
Star Wars: The Last Order is on sale on October 21, 2025. You can pre-order the novel today.
via Collider