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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offers a big glimpse into Disney’s High Republic era

After Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, it will be impossible for Star Wars fans to ignore The High Republic era. Once limited to books, Disney is starting to make the fictional time period matter a lot more to the overarching narrative of Star Wars. If upcoming shows like The Acolyte weren’t already an indication of that to you, then The High Republic’s presence and relevance in Survivor will be. Although the game isn’t set during The High Republic — it takes place in the Reign of the Empire time period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope — characters and locations heavily tied to that era play a major role in the game’s narrative. 

Image used with permission by copyright holder

For a significant chunk of Cal Kestis’ latest adventure, he’s going toe-to-toe with Dagan Gera, a Jedi from The High Republic era that was sustained in a Bacta Tank for hundreds of years after betraying the Jedi Order. Especially on Koboh and the Shattered Moon, players will explore a lot of High Republic facilities and learn more about how the Jedi Order functioned and trained new Jedi at its height, and be able to contrast that with Cal’s current situation. 

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So, what exactly is The High Repbulic, and why does it matter? This is what you need to know as the franchise looks to a new era.

What is The High Republic?

The High Republic is the third of nine Star Wars eras designated by Disney. It’s snuggled between The Old Republic, which we see in the aptly named Knights of the Old Republic, and the Fall of the Jedi era seen throughout the Star Wars prequel film saga. Disney first unveiled it in 2020, and Lucasfilm described it as “an era when the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order are at their zenith, about 200 years before Star Wars: The Phantom Menacein a blog post.

Star Wars: The High Republic poster
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For several years, Disney-canon Star Wars only ever focused on Jedi at their weakest. This era, while not devoid of conflicts and problems, is supposed to serve as a Renaissance of sorts for the Jedi Order, where ornate dresses and structures reflect the Jedi’s feeling of relative optimism and safety. Referencing it in something like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor chillingly contrasts with the oppressive nature of the Empire while still showing that Jedi from that era like Dagan still suffered with similar internal strife to Order 66 survivors like Cal.

The High Republic is a unique era that stands out from anything we have received from Star Wars before. For the past couple of years, though, it hasn’t been that relevant to fans who engage with the more notable movie, TV show, and video game releases. Instead, it has been the focus of several novels and comic books that tend to appeal to the most hardcore devotees.

When Lucasfilm unveiled The High Republic in 2020, it said: “This period on the Star Wars timeline will not overlap any of the filmed features or series currently planned for production, giving creators and partners a vast amount of room to tell Star Wars stories with new adventures and original characters.” That is starting to change.

Remember The High Republic

The High Republic will take center stage in several more mainstream Star Wars projects over the next year. First, there’s the significant role that this period plays in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Even though it’s not set during this time period, Respawn Entertainment’s game will likely be the first time a lot of people are introduced to the era and learn more about it from the game’s characters as well as all the lore scattered throughout the game. Certain teases from the Ahsoka trailer also indicate that characters from The High Republic will pop up in that The New Republic-era show.

More importantly, we are getting two TV shows set during The High Republic. First is Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, which is a children-focused animated series for Disney+ and Disney Junior about Yoda mentoring a group of younglings that begins on May 4. This, like Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the 2000s, should introduce a less explored era of Star Wars to a whole new generation of Star Wars fans, and it will do so during The High Republic period. Because it’s meant to appeal to children, this show will likely provide the most positive glimpse at that time. 

Cal confronts Dagan Gera in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Older fans, meanwhile, will get a hefty dose of The High Republic when The Acolyte drops on Disney+. The Acolyte, a TV series by one of Russian Doll’s co-creators that stars Amandla Stenberg, is described by Lucasfilm as “a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.” The show will be the biggest stage The High Republic will get, but it also seems like it challenges the status quo of that era.

If you don’t want to be a bit confused about what kind of Star Wars time period is being disrupted, you’ll definitely want to learn more about it through not only its books but other media like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor beforehand. If how relevant The High Republic will be in Star Wars universe over the next year is any indication, EA and Respawn Entertainment’s latest may be the start of a High Republic renaissance for Disney and Lucasfilm.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Tomas Franzese
As a Gaming Staff Writer on Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor brings balance back to an unstable universe
Jedi Cal Kestis.

It’s funny to think about how much has changed about Star Wars since EA released Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in 2019. The action-adventure game would launch just weeks before The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a polarizing conclusion to its sequel trilogy that would create a disturbance in the force. In the years since, Disney has entirely changed its approach to the series by expanding the cinematic universe with a mixed bag of content, from the critically acclaimed Andor to more middling projects like The Book of Boba Fett. More than ever, the series is in desperate need of stability. It’s somewhat fitting, then, that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor could be the project that gets Star Wars back on track.

During a demo event ahead of the sequel’s April 28 release, I got to play a sizable chunk of the game – spanning over three hours of playtime. What stood out most during that session wasn’t its visual glow-up or fleshed-out combat. Rather, it was how tightly packaged it all is, both as a AAA video game and as a piece of Star Wars media. It’s an almost classic Jedi adventure, filled with dramatic lightsaber battles and some lighthearted comedy in-between the galactic melodrama. It’s hard to imagine anyone being upset over it (though the fan base always finds a way, doesn’t it?).

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will now release in April following delay
Cal Kestis.

EA and Respawn Entertainment need a bit more time to create Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, so the game has been delayed until April 28. 
Originally set to release on March 17 at The Game Awards 2022, this delay pushes the highly anticipated Star Wars game back by more than a month. In a tweet explaining the delay, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor director Stig Asmussen explains that the game is "content complete," but needs more time to "enhance performance, stability, polish, and most importantly, the player experience." Ultimately, he believes this six-week delay will allow the development team "to hit the Respawn quality bar, provide the team the time they need, and achieve the level of polish our fans deserve." You can read the full message in the tweet below:
https://twitter.com/eastarwars/status/1620527593580806145
Thankfully, a six-week delay isn't that lengthy in the video game industry, so Star Wars fans will only have to wait a little while longer to experience Cal Kestis' next adventure. Today hasn't been the best for Respawn Entertainment fans, though, as the developer also announced it would shut down the mobile version of Apex Legends.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the sequel to 2019's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a single-player action-adventure game that followed the journey of former Padawan Cal Kestis between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. This sequel takes place five years after that game, with Cal Kestis actor Cameron Monaghan telling Digital Trends that the narrative has an "emotionally complicated center where we’re exploring some challenging questions." Hopefully, that all makes this game worth the wait. 
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor now releases for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 28. 

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Why Cameron Monaghan wanted a ‘darker’ Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Cal stands beneath the clouds in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor key art.

When we first met Cal Kestis in 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, he was just a young Padawan. A redheaded kid draped in an unflattering poncho, Cal would grow into a full-blown Jedi by the end of the game. It was a classic Star Wars arc in video game form, but one that left players wanting more. It’s great that we got to see that growth, but who could resist the idea of a sequel where his newly awakened powers would be fully unleashed?
Cameron Monaghan, who reprises his role as Cal in next year’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, had that same itch. The Gotham and Shameless star was already thinking about where Cal could go next before Fallen Order was even out. Monaghan’s ambitions weren’t focused so much on what kinds of cool lightsaber tricks Cal could pick up between games, but rather how to bring more complexity to one of Star Wars’ newest Jedis.

“In the first game, he had a naivete and a wide-eyed nature that I love about Cal,” Monaghan tells Digital Trends. “But I think tha,t situationally, if you’re in such a desperate place for so many years and fighting and being a soldier and a tool for resistance, at some point, it’s going to start to change the way you see the world around you.”
I sat down with Cameron Monaghan ahead of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s grand reveal at this year’s Game Awards. The actor explained how Cal has changed in the five-year time skip between games and shared fresh details on the sequel’s new companion character, Bode Akuna. Monaghan explained the balancing act that comes with trying to stay focused on a character’s personal journey when working within a much larger, expanded universe -- and he offered some praise for Andor too.
Back before a sequel was greenlit, when you were waiting to see if Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order would get one, what did you want to do with Cal Kestis if you got a second run with him?
When we were making the first game, we had inklings that we would maybe want to do more with it if it was successful. I’ll never forget when we had the wrap party for the first game and Stig Asmussen, the head of Respawn, was like, “What do you want to do?” I had this crazy moment where I was like, “Wow, I really wish I was more prepared for this!’”
But I was able to give a broad strokes answer: I wanted to see Cal a number of years on from the first game and see him mature and have a different outlook. A more complex, darker, more challenged character. In the first game, he had a naivete and a wide-eyed nature that I love about Cal. But I think that, situationally, if you’re in such a desperate place for so many years and fighting and being a soldier and a tool for resistance, at some point, it’s going to start to change the way you see the world around you. I wanted to explore what that looked like for Cal.
He’s been through some stuff, and I think over the last two years, we’ve all been through some stuff, man!

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