What Happens Next? Talking Star Wars: Aftermath with Chuck Wendig

At San Diego Comic-Con, there’s a buzz in the air, and that buzz is Star Wars. For the first time in a decade, there’s a new film coming out in the franchise. After 32 years, we’re finally finding out what happened to Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the rest of the Rebels following the death of Darth Vader and their triumphant victory over the evil Empire.
But we don’t have to wait until the film comes out in December for our first taste of the future fate of the galaxy far, far away: on September 4, LucasBooks is releasing Star Wars: Aftermath, written by sci-fi/fantasy author Chuck Wendig. We caught up with Wendig during Comic-Con to talk about what it was like to continue the story, and the surreal experience of fulfilling a childhood dream.
What was your reaction when you got the call and you found you were going to be writing the most high-profile Star Wars book since Timothy Zahn’s original trilogy?
Well, they didn’t actually tell me it was a high-profile book. I got that it was cool, because it was filling that same [storytelling void] as the Zahn books, but I didn’t know it was going to be a big book. They just said, pitch us this idea, and I said ok, here’s what I would do, and it happened. And suddenly I was reliving my childhood in a rather weird way.
What was your Star Wars fandom experience growing up?
My sister took me out to a drive-in to see The Empire Strikes Back when I was 4. She was on a date, and her date brought his little brother, and we stayed in the back and watched the movie while they did whatever they did in the front seat. So, we paid attention to the movie, and it kind of blew my little head. It kind of informed all my storytelling for that first 10 years of my life. Everything was Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars.
When you got this deal, was it after the retirement of the old Expanded Universe?
I knew it would be occupying space that had already been covered by those previous books. Episode VII was already announced, and at that point you had to know the universe was contracting.
Had you read the Zahn trilogy? Was it weird to be writing over something that for so many years was canon to fans?
It is. It’s interesting because in many ways, I’m writing a very different book. It’s not like I’m treading really similar ground that feels treacherous in that way. I kind of approach it like comic books approach things. Comic books allow you to have these divergent universes, and do different things with different characters.
Can you talk about how the deal came about?
This is a true story: I tweeted on September 4, 2014 that I wanted to write a Star Wars book. I made it an internet wish, and several other people conspired to make that happen—Jason Frye and Gary Whitta, they kind of moved it into the editorial space. I got contacted by [editor] Shelly Shapiro, and I met her at New York Comic-Con, and she had read some of my other young adult novels to see if it would be a good fit. And it was, and the next thing you know, by December I had a contract to write the book. The great thing is, I tweeted that on September 4, and that’s the same date that Aftermath drops, so it’s literally one year from tweet to publication.
I’m sure you had to sign a huge stack of legal documents swearing you to secrecy. Did you get any kind of direction as to what the movies are going to be and what you could and couldn’t do?
They gave me some parameters, but for the most part they were surprisingly open to be pitched a story. And because it’s set significantly closer to Return of the Jedi than The Force Awakens, I actually didn’t really need to know anything that happens in The Force Awakens, so it’s still a surprise for me.
So no one should bother kidnapping you and shaking you down for information? Have you had any experiences like that?
No one should kidnap me. I know nothing of value. I’m worthless. But I’ve had phone calls  where they’ll be like, “Just tell me what happens!” I had a publisher say, “Tell me what happens and we’ll offer you a million dollar book deal right now!”
When you were a kid, did you imagine what happened after the movies ended? Did any of those ideas survive into your novel?
Yeah, I think that’s the nature of stories. And I think some of those ideas do pop back in there. When you’re a kid, whenever you watch one of these genre-type movies or geek movies, you think, “Here’s what I would do!” But you just [talk about it] and it stays at the diner table. But now the things I imagined are becoming weirdly true. It’s a weird and fascinating responsibility.
Do you feel like you’re writing fanfiction?
I don’t. I was never a big fan-fiction writer, not that I have any issues with it in principle or in practice. But I treated this—not to say you wouldn’t treat fanfiction seriously—but I’m treating like I’m writing a Star Wars movie, transcribing it to paper and hoping it works.
Star Wars: Aftermath is available September 4. Keep watching the blog for more interviews and news from San Diego Comic-Con.