The Sequel Trilogy's Missing Chapter Officially Fixes 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'

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Published Jul 14, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

Maggie Lovitt is the Deputy News Editor at Collider. In addition to reporting on the latest entertainment news, she is also an actor and member of the Screen Actors Guild based out of the Mid-Atlantic Region. Lovitt is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Critics Choice Association and National Press Club.

While she spends her time writing and editing articles about the entertainment industry, Maggie’s background is actually in history and anthropology. She loves it whenever she can bring those two facets of her life together, such as with reviews for series like We Were the Lucky Ones and The New Look, and engaging interviews with talent like Ben Mendelsohn, Liev Schreiber, or Jonas Nay.

Nearly eight years after Star Wars' Skywalker Saga came to an end with the divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the franchise's publishing initiative is reuniting fans with Rey and the Resistance by way of a brand-new novel from Madeleine Roux. Star Wars: Legacy (not to be confused with the two-decade-old Dark Horse Comics series of the same name) bridges the gap between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, providing long-overdue context for one of the sequel trilogy's most underdeveloped storylines.

Picking up in the aftermath of the Battle of Crait, the novel finds a battered Resistance struggling to regroup while Rey wrestles with the weight of becoming the galaxy's last Jedi. With Luke Skywalker gone and Leia’s own Jedi training incomplete, the pair set out on a journey to repair Rey's broken lightsaber after the ancient Jedi texts point them toward a long-forgotten temple on Tython. What begins as a search for answers soon becomes an exploration of legacy, mentorship, and the impossible task of carrying the Jedi Order into an uncertain future.

Collider Exclusive · Star Wars Quiz Which Force User
Are You? Light Side · Dark Side · Or Somewhere Between

The Force is not a binary. It is a spectrum — from the serene halls of the Jedi Temple to the shadowed corridors of Sith space. Ten questions will reveal where you truly fall. The Force has always known. Now you will too.

🔵Jedi Master

🟡Padawan

🔴Sith Lord

⚫Inquisitor

⚪Grey Jedi

IGNITE YOUR SABER →

What is the Force to you? Your relationship with the Force defines everything else.

AA living energy I must be worthy of — it is not mine to control. BSomething vast and mysterious I'm only beginning to understand. CNeither light nor dark — just a current I choose to ride. DPower. Pure and simple. The strong take it; the weak don't.

NEXT QUESTION →

When you feel strong emotions — anger, grief, love — what do you do? The Jedi suppress. The Sith feed. Others choose differently.

AAcknowledge them, then release them. Attachment leads to suffering. BFeel them fully, then decide what to do — they're not the enemy. CBury them. Emotion is a liability I can't afford to indulge. DUse them. Passion is the engine of the dark side for good reason.

NEXT QUESTION →

The Jedi Council gives you an order you disagree with. You: How you handle authority reveals your alignment.

AFollow it. The Council's wisdom surpasses my own perspective. BVoice my objection clearly, then defer to the decision. CComply outwardly while doing what I think is right. DIgnore it. The strong don't answer to committees.

NEXT QUESTION →

You are offered forbidden knowledge that could give you enormous power. The cost is crossing a moral line. You: The dark side's pull is never more than a choice away.

ARefuse without hesitation. There is no cost worth that price. BWeigh it carefully — sometimes darkness holds real answers. CFeel the pull but walk away — for now. DAccept it. Power justifies the method used to obtain it.

NEXT QUESTION →

Your approach to training and learning is: A student's habits become a master's character.

ADedicated but humble. There is always more to learn from my masters. BRigorous and patient. Mastery is earned through years of discipline. CEclectic — I draw from every tradition, not just one. DRelentless and brutal. Pain accelerates growth. Rest is weakness.

NEXT QUESTION →

In a duel, your lightsaber fighting style reflects: Combat is the purest expression of a Force user's philosophy.

ADefense and composure — I wait for my opponent to overcommit. BFast and instinctive — I trust the Force to guide my movements. CUnpredictable — I blend styles to keep enemies off-balance. DOverwhelming aggression — I end fights before they begin.

NEXT QUESTION →

A defeated enemy lies at your feet, powerless. You: Mercy — or its absence — is the truest test of alignment.

AStrike them down — compassion toward enemies is naïve and costly. BNeutralize them permanently. I can't afford loose ends. CSpare them if I can — but stay clear-eyed about the risks. DOffer them a chance to surrender. Every being deserves that.

NEXT QUESTION →

The Jedi Code forbids attachment. Your honest view on love and bonds: The source of the greatest falls in the galaxy.

AThe Code is right. Attachment clouds judgment and invites suffering. BLove is not a weakness — the Jedi Code got this one wrong. CI have no attachment — only loyalty to my master's mission. DI feel it deeply but struggle to reconcile it with my training.

NEXT QUESTION →

Why do you use the Force at all? What's the point? Purpose is the difference between a knight and a weapon.

ATo learn. I'm still figuring out what I'm capable of. BTo protect and serve. The Force is a responsibility, not a gift. CTo survive — and maybe carve out something worth having. DTo dominate. Strength demands to be expressed, not contained.

NEXT QUESTION →

At the final moment — light side or dark side pulling at you — what wins? In the end, every Force user faces this moment. What does yours look like?

AThe light. I choose peace, even when darkness would be easier. BNeither fully — I carve my own path through the middle. CWhoever I serve — my loyalty defines me more than my morality. DThe dark. Power is the only thing that's ever actually been real.

REVEAL MY ALIGNMENT →

Your Alignment Has Been Determined Your Place in the Force

The scores below reveal how the Force sees you. Your highest number is your true alignment. Read on to understand what that means — and what it will cost you.

🔵 Jedi Master

🟡 Padawan

🔴 Sith Lord

⚫ Inquisitor

⚪ Grey Jedi

Disciplined, compassionate, and deeply attuned to the living Force, you have walked the path long enough to understand its demands — and accept them. You lead not through authority alone, but through example. You have felt the pull of the dark side and chosen otherwise, every time. That is not certainty. That is courage.

You are earnest, powerful, and brimming with potential — and you know it, which is both your greatest asset and your most dangerous flaw. You act before you think, trust your gut over your training, and sometimes confuse impatience for bravery. The Masters see something in you, though. The question isn't whether you have what it takes — it's whether you'll be patient enough to find out.

You are not simply dangerous — you are certain, and that is worse. You have decided what the galaxy needs, and you have decided you are the one to deliver it. Your power is genuine and formidable, earned through sacrifice that would have broken lesser beings. But examine your victories carefully. Every Sith believed their cause was righteous. The dark side's cruelest trick is that it agrees with you.

You were forged in fire and reshaped by those who found you at your lowest. You serve, because service gave you structure when you had none. Your allegiance is not to an ideology — it is to survival and to the master who gave you purpose. But there is something buried beneath the conditioning. The Jedi you hunt? You recognize them. Because you remember what it felt like before the choice was taken from you.

You have looked at the Jedi Code and the Sith Code and found both of them incomplete. You walk the line not out of indecision but out of conviction — you genuinely believe both extremes miss something essential. The Jedi don't fully trust you. The Sith think you're wasting your potential. They're both partially right. But so are you.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Star Wars: Legacy' Succeeds Where the Sequel Trilogy Ran Out of Time

Tasking any author with filling in the gaps between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker is a thankless assignment, because it inevitably means trying to smooth over one of the most contentious transitions in modern blockbuster storytelling. Somehow, Roux pulls it off. Rather than attempting to rewrite or excuse what comes later, she focuses on strengthening the emotional foundations that were missing in the first place. This isn’t the first time an author has been given a Herculean task such as this. Previously, Adam Christopher’s Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith sought to better establish Luke and Lando Calrissian’s storylines in the Sequel Trilogy, and explain what happened to Rey’s parents, which was never fully explained on-screen. Together, Roux’s Legacy, Christopher’s Shadow of the Sith, and Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: Bloodline have created something of their own trilogy that vastly improves upon the ideas presented in the films. There is an element of call and response between Legacy and Shadow of the Sith, which interweaves the revelations in both novels. While Rey may be unaware of her heritage as a Palpatine, the knowledge is mirrored in Leia’s own examination of her sordid family history, pulling in some of the themes first explored by Gray’s novel.

Star Wars is far from the first time Roux has been tasked with tackling a major IP. In addition to her own fiction series, she has written for World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons, Critical Role, and Marvel. Roux's prose strikes a very careful balance between elegance and accessibility, favoring emotional clarity over more flowery embellishment. She has an intuitive grasp of the cinematic scale of a story like Legacy, while still keeping a very grounded, interior approach to Rey's headspace. Quiet moments flow naturally into character-driven dialogue and action, without hampering the momentum she finds. A story like this could easily feel like "filler," and yet even in its slowest moments, Roux finds ways to keep the reader engaged with every little detail on the page. Her prose consistently finds humanity in the smallest moments, lending the novel a warmth that makes its larger mythology feel all the more personal.

Roux’s greatest success with Legacy is the relationship between Rey and Leia, which finally feels like the mentorship the films only had time to gesture toward, due to the passing of Carrie Fisher. Leia isn't positioned as a replacement for Luke, nor should she be. Instead, Roux embraces the fact that both women are navigating unfamiliar territory together, creating a different type of teacher-student dynamic that is built as much on vulnerability as it is wisdom. Just as impressive is how confidently she captures Rey herself. The hopeful, impulsive, deeply empathetic young woman from The Last Jedi is fully intact here, still carrying the complicated emotions stirred by her connection with Kylo Ren. Rather than reducing those feelings to simple romance or resentment, Roux allows Rey to grapple with the confusion, disappointment, and lingering belief that Ben Solo might still be redeemed. In doing so, she quietly lays the emotional groundwork for where their relationship eventually lands in The Rise of Skywalker, making that evolution feel considerably more earned than the films ever managed on their own.

While it may be a minor aspect of the novel, Legacy does expand upon one of the most fascinating (and, quite frankly, under-explored) threads left dangling after The Last Jedi. Rey’s connection to Kylo Ren. Rather than treating it as a convenient Force gimmick, Legacy touches upon the emotional consequences of forging such an intimate bond with the man responsible for so much suffering. Rey is forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that what she sees in Ben Solo is not simply an enemy, but a darker reflection of the person she herself could become if she took up his offer and surrendered to anger, fear, and isolation. The novel wisely gives her space to discuss this with Leia, who introspectively offers the reader a perspective that only someone who has loved Ben his entire life can provide. In doing so, Roux enriches both women's understanding of Ben Solo and Kylo Ren while making Leia’s unwavering hope that he may still return to the light feel less like blind optimism and more a promise of what’s to come in The Rise of Skywalker.

Rey's Lost Jedi Training Finally Gets the Spotlight in 'Legacy'

Equally rewarding is the novel's exploration of Rey's Jedi training during the year between The Last Jedi and the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. Rather than treating that period as little more than a montage, Roux transforms it into an important stage in Rey's growth, showing her learning to reach beyond the limitations of her own experience and connect with the generations of Jedi who came before her. Those moments quietly lay the groundwork for one of The Rise of Skywalker's most talked about scenes, where Rey calls upon the voices of the Jedi in her final confrontation with Palpatine. By giving that evolution room to breathe, Legacy strengthens a pivotal moment that felt somewhat abrupt and unearned in the film, creating a much more satisfying bridge between the fragmented story beats of the Sequel Trilogy.

Beyond enriching its established heroes and improving storylines, Star Wars: Legacy also introduces a compelling slate of new characters while fleshing out some of the franchise's most overlooked faces. Eagle-eyed readers who picked up Marvel's Age of Resistance – Rose Tico will recognize First Order Captain Brilla Wolstenholme (here, Major Wolstenholme), but Roux transforms what was once a blink-and-you'll-miss-her character into one with a fully realized backstory, clear motivations, and a sharply defined voice. Roux also brings that same level of care to the Church of the Force. While the religious institution itself has long existed on the fringes of Star Wars lore, particularly throughout The High Republic publishing initiative, Legacy explores what it looks like in an era when the Jedi have effectively vanished and the galaxy has splintered under the First Order's rule.

Within the Church of the Force is where most of Legacy’s new characters are introduced, including Pastor Lijar Hyllus, Gavrin Hyllus, Meepka, Iadri, and Ziff Laresta. Each serves a distinct purpose within Rey's journey. Rather than existing as exposition machines or disposable side characters, they reinforce one of the novel's central ideas: that the legacy of the Jedi belongs not only to those who wield the Force, but also to those who continue to believe in what the Jedi represented. It's a thoughtful expansion of the sequel-era galaxy that makes the world feel larger, richer, and far more lived-in than the films ever had time to explore. It's one of the novel's most fascinating elements, and a thread that feels ready to be pulled backwards in time to live-action stories like Ahsoka or The Mandalorian as the franchise continues expanding on the years leading into the sequel trilogy and the rise of the First Order.

At its best, Star Wars: Legacy accomplishes something few tie-in novels ever manage to do. It doesn't simply try to fill in the spaces between the two films, it ameliorates them. By deepening Rey's emotional journey, strengthening her relationship with Leia, expanding upon her bond with Ben Solo and her darker impulses, and giving greater weight to the mythology of the final days of the Jedi, Madeleine Roux transforms one of the sequel trilogy's most underdeveloped chapters into one of its strongest. Whether you're already a champion of the sequel era or one of the many fans who felt The Rise of Skywalker left too much unsaid, Legacy is an essential piece of Star Wars storytelling that proves there is still tremendous value in revisiting this corner of the galaxy.

Star Wars: Legacy arrives on bookshelves on July 28, 2026.

Star Wars Legacy Madeleine Roux Book Cover

Author Madeleine Roux

Genre Sci-Fi, Adventure, Fantasy

Pages 416

Publication Date July 28, 2026

Pros & Cons

Beautifully develops Leia's mentorship, cleverly explores Rey's Jedi training, and showcases emotional growth that the final film couldn't fully explore.
Expands the sequel-era galaxy with compelling new characters and thoughtful additions to Star Wars lore
Star Wars: Legacy carefully acknowledges the connection between Rey and Ben, and explores themes that makes The Rise of Skywalker's choices more compelling.
Wolstenholme makes for an excellent dual lead to Star Wars: Legacy and an interesting foil to Rey's storyline throughout the novel.

While Star Wars: Legacy does touch upon Rey and Ben's connection, it could have benefited some from slipping into Kylo Ren's headspace in the lead-up to The Rise of Skywalker, just to better establish the dyad connection.

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