With the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker last month, the Skywalker Saga is now over, and when the franchise picks back up on the big screen later this decade, we’ll be meeting a lot of new characters. However, the Star Wars franchise is a media empire, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to reunite with familiar faces elsewhere. In the case of Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron, you’ll soon be able to learn more about what his life was like before the events of The Force Awakens in a forthcoming book.
During Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Poe Dameron reunited with an old flame on the planet Kijimi: Keri Russell’s Zorii Bliss. Rey, Finn and everyone else in two subsequently learned that before joining The Resistance, Poe was a spice runner. Well, if you’re curious about that period of Poe’s life, be on the lookout for the young adult novel Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall, which will hit shelves on August 4.
Per the official synopsis, Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall is set a few years after Poe’s mother, a Rebellion pilot, has died, and he and his father are having trouble connecting. Unsure of what to do with his life, the teenaged Poe leaves home to “find adventure, and to figure out what kind of man he is meant to be.” Author Alex Segura also had the following to say to Polygon about what fans can expect from the book:
I think Free Fall will answer some of the biggest questions fans will have coming out of The Rise of Skywalker: what was Poe Dameron’s secret history as a spice runner, and what does it have to do with the mysterious, helmet-wearing Zorii Bliss? The book will spend a lot of time with Poe during his formative teen years, where we see him grow into the man we meet at the beginning of The Force Awakens.
Alex Segura added that in addition to answering questions from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall also serves as the Poe origin story “a lot of people have been clamoring for.” So if Poe is one of your favorite characters from the Sequel Trilogy, this book sounds like it’ll be worth checking out.
That said, this isn’t the first time that Poe Dameron’s past has been explored. From April 2016 to September 2018, Marvel published the Star Wars: Poe Dameron comic book series, which chronicled the missions Poe went on for The Resistance immediately before The Force Awakens, and followed along with him into the immediate aftermath of The Last Jedi.
Because we’re entering a new era of Star Wars movies, not to mention The Rise of Skywalker bringing an end to a nine-movie saga, at this point, it seems unlikely that Oscar Isaac will ever reprise Poe Dameron. Granted, maybe a decade or two down the road that could change, but for now, at least this book will shed more light on the character, and perhaps we could be treated to him going on some post-The Rise of Skywalker adventures in a different book in the coming years.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is still playing in theaters, and be sure to keep up with CinemaBlend for all the latest updates on what’s happening with the franchise on screen. As for movies not set in a galaxy far, far away, you can learn what’s hitting theaters later this year with our 2020 release schedule.
