How Disney and Tencent plan to make China fall for Star Wars
China’s first Star Wars novel will be released chapter-by-chapter… and it’s all canon
The world and story of Star Wars has been shaped by plenty of artists, like JJ Abrams, Ron Howard and Jon Favreau. Now you can add a new name to the list: His Majesty the King.
That’s the name used by a Chinese online author tasked with writing a new Star Wars novel just for China. And Tencent’s China Literature, the country’s biggest online publisher, confirmed that the book will be canon.
What does that mean? Well, think about it this way. Remember Han Solo’s death at the hands of Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens? (Uh, spoilers!) That means any Star Wars stories set after The Force Awakens -- whether film, book, comic or game -- can’t show Han alive and well, because he’s dead. And any story set before The Force Awakens can’t show Han getting killed by, say, Chewbacca, because that’s not how or when he dies.
That same principle extends to whatever happens in the new Chinese novel, and it means that any future Star Wars stories will have to account for the events of His Majesty the King’s work.
“His Majesty the King will follow Star Wars’ overall worldview, and if other authors are involved with the history and stories created by His Majesty the King, they will need to follow his settings,” a China Literature spokesperson said.