What is Project Luminous, the next big thing in Star Wars?

Star Wars movies might be going away until 2022, but as we know, the franchise never really takes a break now. Project Luminous is a Lucasfilm Publishing-led "initiative" that was announced all the way back in April 2019 as part of Star Wars: Celebration. Now, it seems we're very close to learning what it is.

If you're only interested in Star Wars movies and TV shows, this will probably not be worth getting too excited about. Publishing means books and comics, and so far we only know about the involvement of authors and publishers in the project. But in a post-The Rise of Skywalker world, it may give us hints about how Lucasfilm is plotting the future of the series in terms of setting and types of story it wants to tell. Or, maybe it won't. 

Below, we've collected everything we know about the Star Wars event Project Luminous, including its reveal date, which writers are involved, and rumors of where in the Star Wars universe it will take us. We'll update this page when we know more.

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Project Luminous: what is the new Star Wars project?

Project Luminous is a "mysterious initiative" set in the Star Wars universe, and has so far been revealed as a collaboration between Disney Lucasfilm Publishing, Marvel Comics, IDW Publishing and Del Rey. It will probably not involve a movie or a TV show – expect it to be told with books and comics. Announced back in April 2019 at Star Wars: Celebration, it's a project led by Lucasfilm Publishing's Mike Siglain. It was previously known internally as the All-Star Initiative, and it's been in the works since at least summer 2018. Writer Charles Soule described it as a "massive Star Wars event".

In a promotional image released at NYCC 2019, Project Luminous was teased with an edit of Obi-Wan Kenobi quote, "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field, created by all living things...until...Project Luminous, 2020". This suggests the story will be about the changing nature of the Force in some way.

There are no more details about the story right now, but we do know who's writing the various parts of Project Luminous so far, as the image above reveals. Charles Soule (writer of various Star Wars comics for Marvel), Claudia Gray (author of various Star Wars books including Lost Stars), Justina Ireland (author of the book Lando’s Luck), Daniel José Older (Star Wars: Last Shot) and Cavan Scott (writer of IDW comics like Tales from Vader’s Castle) are all working on it. 

When will Project Luminous be revealed?

Monday, February 24, apparently, which is imminent as you're reading this. Del Rey's Star Wars Books Twiter account teased the reveal above on Friday. According to ABC's Clayton Sandell, details will start being released about Project Luminous at 7PM PT. 

Project Luminous is rumored to take place in the High Republic era

This is all rumor, and it's worth treating it as such. A report on Making Star Wars suggests Project Luminous will be set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe, which is apparently 400 years before the Skywalker Saga. "For some time, I have heard that Project Luminous was a build up to the next film era which my sources are calling The High Republic era," the piece says. 

That could be the new series of theatrical Star Wars movies that begins in December 2022. But, it's still worth keeping expectations in check, because there are no official details about those films right now other than their distant release dates. 

The High Republic era has been mentioned a few times in additional Star Wars fiction, including the recent Star Wars comic written by Charles Soule from January 2020. "The galaxy was not as settled as it is now," is how the era was characterized. The Rise of Kylo Ren, also written by Soule, mentioned the High Republic era too.

Where the movies go next is a total mystery, and a lot could happen before 2022. It's worth just taking Project Luminous as its own self-contained project of books and comics for the time being. 

Is Project Luminous anything to do with the Star Wars movies?

Like we said, it seems to be a publishing initiative. It's not impossible, though, that whatever Project Luminous is will pave the way or tie-in with the next few Star Wars projects in other media. If it explores a new part of the Star Wars universe – and we could do with a break from the Skywalker Saga timeframe after The Rise of Skywalker – it's possible this could be sowing the seeds of that. For now, though, it's best to keep expectations at a reasonable level until we know what it is. 

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