If the Star Wars prequels established anything, it's that the Jedi Council was incredibly flawed. The way they treated Anakin Skywalker, for example, undoubtedly played a role in him falling under Darth Sidious' influence and their inaction ultimately made it easy for Palpatine to become Emperor and enact Order 66.
io9 has revealed that author John Jackson Miller, who penned Expanded Universe classics like Kenobi and the Knights of the Old Republic comic, will pen Star Wars: The Living Force. In that, we'll follow one Jedi's attempt to make his fellow Council members realise they're heading in the wrong direction.
"Many of my Star Wars works have explored what it meant to be a Jedi alone, cut off from the Jedi Order," Miller says. "The organization came in for criticism in those books, and I found myself sympathizing with Qui-Gon Jinn, who felt they’d lost touch."
The story will see Qui-Gon Jinn (alongside his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi) implore the Jedi Council to look beyond their chambers on Coruscant and see the wider problems afflicting the Galaxy.
With that, Mace Windu, Yoda, Yaddle, Depa Billaba, Oppo Rancisis, Even Piell, Yarael Poof, Plo Koon, Eeth Koth, Saesee Tiin, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Adi Gallia set off an outreach mission...only for a nefarious force to attempt to wipe the Jedi Council out in one swoop.
"Qui-Gon challenges them to get out of the Council Chamber and rediscover the Jedi they used to be," Miller adds. "Their response is a 'road trip' for all 12 Councilors, giving us our first in-depth adventures with many of them—and a look into a side of the galaxy that can’t be seen from their Temple on Coruscant."
Here's the full synopsis for Star Wars: The Living Force:
In the year before The Phantom Menace, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the entire Jedi Council confront a galaxy on the brink of change.
The Jedi have always traveled the stars, defending peace and justice across the galaxy. But, the galaxy is changing, and along with it, the Jedi Order. More and more, the Order finds itself focused on the future of the Republic, secluded on Coruscant, where the twelve members of the Jedi Council weigh crises on a galactic scale.
As yet another Jedi Outpost leftover from the Republic’s golden age is set to be decommissioned on the planet Kwenn, Qui-Gon Jinn challenges the Council about the increasing isolation of the Order. Mace Windu suggests a bold response: all twelve Jedi Masters will embark on a goodwill mission to help the planet, and remind the people of the galaxy that the Jedi remain as stalwart and present as they have been across the ages.
But the arrival of the Jedi leadership is not seen by all as a cause for celebration. Warring pirate factions have infested the sector in the increasing absence of the Jedi. To maintain their dominance, the pirates unite, intent on assassinating the Council. And they are willing to destroy countless innocent lives to secure their power.
Cut off from Coruscant, the Jedi Masters must reckon with an unwelcome truth: that while no one thinks more about the future than the Jedi Council, nobody needs their help more than those living in the present.
Star Wars: The Living Force is set to be released in bookstores on April 9, 2024.