JAMES SWALLOW

The Official Site of Bestselling Author James Swallow - COMING SOON!

Star Wars

…A Great Adventure Begins…

by

Last month I announced with a (20th Century Fox) fanfare that I’ve been working with games studio Ninja Theory on the latest iteration of the Disney Infinity toys-to-life videogame – specifically the Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars playset Twilight of the Republic; you can see more about that by clicking Here.

But as well as writing the story and scripts for the TotR playset and Clone Wars era-characters (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda and Darth Maul), I also worked on something else that we’ve been keeping under wraps until today…


 I got to write for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren and Zeb Orrelios, four of the main cast from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon series, helping to bring them into the world of Disney Infinity! They’ll join the Clone Wars characters in Twilight of the Republic and the characters from the original Star Wars trilogy in the Rise of the Empire playset.

For more pictures and information, check out the Infinity Inquirer site fansite.

…In A Galaxy Far, Far Away..

by

*Cue the 20th Century Fox fanfare*

So, for those of you who couldn’t read the Aurabesh in the last blog post, here’s the thing: I am writing Star Wars.

Some specifics – no, I haven’t been tapped to pen a script for one of the spin-off Anthology movies as some folks suggested (but hey, Lucasfilm? *makes “call-me” gesture*); no, I’m not writing a Star Wars novel (yet), although that remains firmly at the top of my nerd bucket list, ten years on and still hoping; and no, technically this isn’t my first work in the GFFA, because back in the day I wrote dozens of articles for Star Wars Magazine, Star Wars Insider, Star Wars Gamer and The Star Wars Fact Files… But it is my first time writing an original narrative for characters from that mythos.



And the first you will see of that work is Twilight of the Republic, the launch playset that will be released with Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars – the newest iteration of the blockbuster ‘toys-to-life’ videogame series. Featuring the heroes, villains and locations of the saga, gamers will be able to cross the stars on a high-stakes mission to expose a deadly threat to the Galactic Republic…

Set at the height of the Clone Wars, between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the plotline of Twilight of the Republic follows the Jedi as they fight to discover who is behind the rise of a new army of Battle Droids that threatens the stability of the galaxy; the characters of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano are packed with the playset, and players can also pick up Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Darth Maul as seperate figures..

 
 
Disney Infinity 3.0 is also going to feature Rise of the Empire, a ‘classic trilogy’ Star Wars playset (featuring Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Darth Vader as playable characters). There will also be a Force Awakens playset, as well as new Marvel Universe and Disney Originals content for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and more.

To say that I’m enthused about being part of this is a bit of an understatement – in a “that’s no moon” kind of way.

Here I am, a 40-something geek born and bred in the Star Wars generation, who still remembers that moment of awe at the Dominion Theatre in 1978, as the Star Destroyer thundered over my young head. That nearly four decades later, I am once again metaphorically caught in the wake of that engine roar, is just too damn cool.

I have had an absolute blast working with the talented crews at Ninja Theory and Disney Interactive on Twilight of the Republic, and together we’ve built something that is not just neat figures and virtual toyboxes  – it’s a true Star Wars story that I hope will play out like a lost episode of The Clone Wars series, with all the action and thrills, fun and high adventure of the best of the saga. Young and old alike, I hope you’ll come and play.

 

A Long Time Ago…

by

If you’re keeping an eye on the internet today, you may have seen this reveal of a cool new thing…

I am pleased to say one of the people who made that cool thing happen is me! Together with a team of very talented folks, I’ve been working on it for over a year, and rest assured I’ll be talking about it in a lot more detail in the days ahead.

But for now, finally, officially, I get to say:

 



 

You Are Hearing Me Talk… About STAR WARS on BBC Radio 5 Live

by

My buddy Adam Rosser presents a show about videogames and other cool stuff as part of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Joy Of Tech, and with all the news about the Star Wars saga breaking big it would have been remiss of him not to cover the Galaxy Far Far Away…
 


And so, Adam recruited Gav Murphy – games journalist and co-host of IGN’s Star Wars webshow Rebel Base – and myself – a writer of stuff, some of which has been about the GFFA – to spend some 20 minutes picking over the trailers for The Force Awakens, season two of the Rebels animated series, Rogue One, the new Battlefront game and talking about the future of the saga. 

 
Despite being on cold meds, I nevertheless joined Gav and Adam to enthuse greatly about Star Wars, and you can hear us Here.