Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Landry Q. Walker Talks ‘Aliens’

Star Wars: The Force Awakens not only gave us the terrific trio of Rey, Finn, and Poe, but introduced a slew of new characters all with a tale to tell of their own. Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume I: Aliens by Landry Q. Walker reveals just a few of those stories, starring the memorable characters that call Jakku and Maz Kanata’s castle home.

Walker was charged with writing their tales, but he didn’t have a lot of time to do it. “It was all a crazy quick process,” the author says. “I was first contacted in the beginning of July… All told, I was finished with all 6 stories a couple months before the film release.”

When Walker did see The Force Awakens for the first time, he felt the pressure of being a part of that universe. “All I’m really doing is watching like a hawk for anything involving anything I wrote to make sure I didn’t mess it up somehow,” he says. “When you work on a project like this, you have to work with limited information–it’s just the nature of the job. It’s exciting and gives lots of room for interpretation, but at the end of the day you just don’t want anyone reading the book and thinking, ‘Did this guy even SEE the movie?’

“I had to see the movie a fourth time before I could (mostly) relax and properly enjoy it.”

Walker may have kept out an eagle eye for the characters he penned in Aliens, but there was one notably missing character that he and fans didn’t see make it on screen: Constable Zuvio.

Zuvio had his own action figure before the movie release, along with the promotional photo above and a starring role in the opening story in Aliens—but blink and you miss him in the actual film. “If Constable Zuvio WANTED screen time, he would have it,” Walker declares. “But that level of spotlight does not serve his law-enforcing ways. So he hides, teasing us with only four frames of footage. And in the end we care more about Zuvio than we would have if he was jumping in front of Rey and mugging the camera every 10 seconds. That’s how Zuvio gets into your head, by making you think about Zuvio.”

As much as Walker obviously appreciates the Jakku lawman, Zuvio’s story wasn’t his favorite to tell. He also noted the Crimson Corsair and Quiggold were both remarkable characters to write, but Walker had the most enthusiasm about someone else in particular. “A certain Clone Wars era character that shows up was very exciting to write,” he says. “I was 6 when the original trilogy hit theaters, and prequel material should be a hard sell for me maybe? But the Clone Wars cartoon sold me.

“It might just stand as my favorite Star Wars to watch–and I do not say that lightly. So bring any element of that into the books, and getting to dip my toe in that world even a touch – it was amazingly fun.”

Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume I: Aliens is amazingly fun itself. All kidding aside, Constable Zuvio’s story is compelling and by itself makes the book worth picking up. And “All Creatures Great and Small” is a delightful re-telling of what really happened at the Battle of Yavin that will capture the imaginations of young readers. The collection of Star Wars tales is now available.

All images: Lucasfilm / Disney Press

A promotional copy was provided.