Star Wars has officially announced a new novel focusing on Star Wars: The High Republic’s Vernestra Rwoh, which will officially bridge the publishing initiative to Star Wars: The Acolyte. Though first introduced to live-action in The Acolyte, Vernestra Rwoh was created for The High Republic, and the contrast between her character in both eras is stark. Though The Acolyte also takes place in the High Republic era, it’s set towards the tail end of this golden age, and the faults of the Jedi in that series prove as much. Now, however, Star Wars intends to explain what happened to Vernestra.
During a publishing panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Star Wars unveiled an upcoming novel entitled Wayseeker, written by Justina Ireland – the same writer who first brought Vernestra to life. Set 20 years before The Acolyte, this novel will focus on Vernestra as she gets drawn from wayseeking in the galaxy into the complicated politics of the Republic and its Senate. The Acolyte character Master Indara, portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss in the TV show, will also be a part of this story, which further helps to bridge the two together. Check out the temporary cover, official description, and other details below.
Before The Acolyte , Vernestra Rwoh must find her place in the Jedi Order.
Vernestra Rwoh has spent over a decade exploring the Outer Rim as a Wayseeker, answering to no other authority but the Force itself. When a request from the Jedi Council orders her back to Coruscant, Vernestra initially refuses, feeling that her first priority should be to the beings she’s already serving. But after Jedi Master Indara arrives to ask for Vernestra’s aid in person, Vernestra finds herself pulled back into Coruscant’s complicated world of Republic politics and underworld crime. As the two delve further into their investigation, and the lines between Jedi and Republic business blur, and Vernestra must reconsider what it means to serve for Light and Life.
Vernestra Rwoh’s Untold High Republic Story Is About To Be Revealed
Her Sudden Immersion into Politics Will Be Explained
While this novel is exciting due to a thrilling array of different factors, most notably the expansion of Vernestra’s story and the additional context on Moss’ Indara character, easily the most important part of it will be explaining how Vernestra went from being the adventurous and politically withdrawn Jedi she was in The High Republic to the liaison between the Jedi and the Senate in The Acolyte. The difference between these two iterations of the character was extremely jarring at first. Now, however, the reason for this will finally be shown.
With this novel in the hands of Vernestra’s creator, Ireland, there will honestly be no better way to tell this character’s story.
It will likely take something quite grave to make Vernestra into the Jedi she is in The Acolyte. She’s very much a free spirit in The High Republic, a young prodigy who can prove herself but also doesn’t restrain herself in the face of action. Even in the most recent High Republic book to date, Tessa Gratton’s Temptation of the Force, Vernestra makes it clear that she has no interest in the political side of Jedi affairs, and is quite eager to get away from it. This novel will do the work of showing how that all changes for her.
With this novel in the hands of Vernestra’s creator, Ireland, there will honestly be no better way to tell this character’s story. Vernestra will be undergoing an important transformation, one that will eventually motivate her to create a false conspiracy after a fallen friend’s death to protect herself and the rest of the Jedi, and there’s no one better to explain this change than the one who created her. Most importantly, this will be a truly effective bridge between The High Republic and The Acolyte, adding even more context to the greater Star Wars story.