Yoda’s Past Adventures Will Finally Be Explored In New ‘Star Wars’ Comics

When it was first revealed that Disney would be making standalone anthology movies in the Star Wars universe, one of the many rumored projects in development included a Yoda film which would have been focused on the master Jedi in his early years. We even heard rumors of filmmaker Zack Snyder pitching Lucasfilm on a Seven Samurai-style movie which would have featured a younger Yoda.

Now Lucasfilm has revealed that a new Star Wars comic book series will explore Yoda’s past adventures. Learn more after the jump.

When Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the expanded universe became “Legends,” leaving only the six theatrical live-action Star Wars films and the Clone Wars animated series as canon. Over the last couple years, we’ve added a bunch of books, comic books, a video game and the Star Wars Rebels animated series to the mix. But the earliest any of this material takes us is a handful of years before A New Hope. Most of the comics are set in the time between the original film and The Empire Strikes Back, while the books have mainly been focusing on the years between Return of the Jediand The Force Awakens. So it’s interesting that Star Wars canon will finally explore an earlier period.

In an interview with StarWars.com, comic author Jason Aaron talked about his upcoming exploration of the untold adventures of Jedi Master Yoda. In Issue #26 of Marvel’s continuing Star Wars comic book series (previews seen above), Luke comes across Obi-Wan’s manuscripts about Yoda’s past adventures which will result in a flashback which will give us a glimpse into the master Jedi’s early years.

“We’ve been doing different issues between the arcs, focusing on Obi-Wan. I’ve really liked doing those. They’ve gotten a nice response from fans, people seem like they’ve really enjoyed those. So we’ve liked jumping around to different parts of the timeline like that, and [telling] a story that would connect tangentially, or just in terms of the overall theme but not necessarily vital to our ongoing plot. I kind of wanted to do something like that, but instead of having it be just a standalone issue between the arcs, have it be the actual arc. And of course, I was always trying to figure out a way for us to use Yoda. We’re a bit hamstrung in terms of the time period of our main story, because Yoda’s chilling on Dagobah. So this was kind of the only way we could kill all those birds with one stone — to do one story that connects Luke, Yoda, and Obi-Wan all at the same time, while still taking place in three different time periods.”

So what will we see in this story? Jason says he really wanted to see “what it was like when Yoda was going out into the galaxy and being a Jedi.” He elaborates:

“This story takes place before the Clone Wars and it’s set in a world we’ve never seen before. I was always just intrigued by that idea. You know, we’ve seen Yoda as the teacher, as the wise Jedi Master, but I wanted to see Yoda just as the Jedi. So this puts him on a very unusual adventure. The other big challenge with Yoda, of course, is finding something that’s a challenge for him, right? Who can pose a threat to Yoda? I think we came up with an interesting answer to that question. That’s part of the mystery of this story. There’s a very specific reason that this is going to be quite the challenge for Yoda. It’s not a matter of just him being the more powerful Jedi. It’s a bit trickier than that.”

Aaron confirms that the story takes place before Phantom Menace, although he wouldn’t say how much earlier in the Star Wars timeline. He mentions that we will get a brief appearance by Qui-Gon and young Obi-Wan, so that will probably help date it. Salvador Larroca is doing the art for this new arc and has the fun job of designing a world we’ve never seen before in the Star Wars universe. Apparently, the comic storyline will show a new planet which has “a very different sort of culture.”

The writer also mentions that he would “love to be able to figure out another way to work” Yoda into the comic book story again, but admits that while the old Jedi master is still alive in the comic book timeline (post-A New Hope, pre-Empire) they can’t have him leave Dagobah or “send anybody to him.” He mentions how Yoda was used in Star Wars Rebels as an interesting way to involve the character, and I’m guessing if he were to reappear in the comics it would be in this kind of way.

It’s interesting that Lucasfilm is allowing for us to explore an earlier time period. I also wonder if having a younger Yoda storyline in the comics might mean that they are no longer developing a Yoda standalone film, as Lucasfilm usually likes to space their new canonized expanded universe from the new film projects as to prevent any possible toes from being stepped on.