Han Solo and Lando Calrissian are walking complications.
When they tangle, they really tangle.
When theyre friends, it gets even worse.
Credit: Del Rey; John Midgley
The Empire has fallen after the events ofReturn of the Jediand Chuck WendigsAftermathtrilogy.
Theres a new Gungan character who objects to the Jar-Jar Binks-style stereotype.
An Ewok hacker who defies the notion that the furry little creatures are primitives.
Disney
Landos Twilek lover gives him a lesson in respect and consent.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congrats on the debut this week.
Are you doing a reading today or anything?DANIEL JOSE OLDER: Im doing my taxes!
Disney
They decided to put my book out on Tax Day, so here we are.
No, I mean Ive been enjoying myself on Twitter mostly.
Thats absolutely what Ive been doing.
What was the collaboration like with Lucasfilm?
The book has three main perspectives.
You have the books present, set a couple years afterReturn of the Jedi.
Ben Solo, the future Kylo Ren, is just a baby.
Leia is engaged as a senator trying to rebuild after the fall of the Empire.
That takes place about 20 years before a lot of the action.
Hes in the prequel era, right?Pre-prequel, almost.
Yeah, its awhile back.
Theres definitely a lot of time-jumping thats happening.
They all do tie together.
Theyre all very deeply entwined, but over the course of several decades.
Are there things in the book that will hint at theSolofilm?Theres definitely no spoilers.
Its almost like parentheses, right?
But the actual conflict and things that happen within the movie dont really affect the book much.
But Han and Lando dont even know what it is.
They can barely remember having interacted with it in the past, right?Right, exactly.
But its really important to Fyzen Gor, whos this, oh … [Laughs]
Hes a maniac, but hes a former doctor.Yes!
Its this awkward dynamic of him wanting to free them and rule them at the same time.
Gets him into a lot of complicated, savior-complex-pop in stuff.
The way it ages, the weakness that it has.Hes viscerally disgusted by it.
Hes disgruntled at the idea of organics in general, even though he is one.
Hes a true historical monster that has been lionized and worshiped in modern day culture, right?
So right there, history is full of people like that.
Thats what fantasy does so well.
But you take it away from our world, and suddenly it actually becomes pretty clear.Definitely.
Theres this constant dynamic with Gor, whos like, Yes!
Droids, rise up around the galaxy!
And hes doing it by literally trying to control them, right?
What kind of liberation involves being controlled by someone else?
That leads me to another thing I wanted to talk to you about with this book.
There seem to be two kind of parallel themes going on.
One, just talking about the way the body degrades and we get older, from Fyzen Gors perspective.
Then we see Lando and Han in soft middle age, right?
Landos thinking about settling down with a Twilek woman.
Han has already been domesticated.
I really love that connection that you made.
Thats one of the best things about writing a book.
Anyways, that was a great connection.
Theres another strong theme inLast Shotabout fairness and justice and equality.
So many of your side characters are really interesting.
The Gungan, Aro …The disgruntled Gungan!
[Laughs]
He tells Han, Dont hit me with this Meesa, meesa talk.
Then theres Preepka, a female Ewok whos a slicer, the galactic version of a hacker.
Were used to seeing the Ewoks as these primitives, right, and shes actually pretty tech-savvy.
Theyre gender non-binary, and thats who they are.
Im guessing that both of these themes are important to you, too.
I assume these are all personal to you?Well, Im not a father.
The hero of the galaxy, this guy whos known and beloved both within the galaxy.
Hes a legend, and its very hard to write people that are so gigantic and legendary.
How do you write that and make them feel human?
And theres a galactic incident unfolding.
The contrast between these guys is striking.
I guess, is girlfriend the right word?
[Laughs] I think its safe to say its complicated.
They have some intimacy there.
And he reaches to touch her … what are they called?The lekku.
Yeah, the lekku.
You dont touch those unless …Right, exactly.
Shes like, Ive literally cut off mens hands for those without permission.
You better make the next move very, very carefully.
Right.Both men are trying to negotiate what love looks like in a way that lasts.
And now having to settle down when he knows he has a rambling heart.
Thats when stories get good, when we really dig into those questions and explore them.
