Author Madeleine Roux takes Kristin Baver at StarWars.com inside her first Star Wars novel, a new chapter in the Skywalker saga exploring what it means to carry on the tradition of the Jedi Order, featuring Leia Organa and Rey Skywalker.
Speaking exclusively to StarWars.com on the news, the New York Times bestselling author says the book will explore the characters’ relationship in the months between the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In the aftermath of losing Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren’s refusal to return to the light, Rey and Ben Solo’s mother, Leia, join forces to repair the broken Skywalker lightsaber and the shattered legacy of the Jedi Order.
Fans and readers will recognize Roux’s name from the anthology collection From a Certain Point of View, where Roux penned an unseen moment on the surface of Alderaan for the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope. The short story, “Eclipse,” follows Breha Organa from the harrowing news that her daughter Leia’s ship, the Tantive IV, has been lost to the queen’s final moments with her husband, Bail Organa, as the Death Star casts a terrifying shadow over their world. “I really swung for it,” Roux says now of the pitch. “I was sure they were going to say no because it seemed like such a big swing. But I just thought, well, Breha Organa is technically in that movie if you squint. What would it be like to be on Alderaan as it’s imploding from the Death Star?”
Finding Leia’s Voice
Roux’s love for Leia Organa in particular goes back to some of her earliest childhood memories of watching the original Star Wars films. “I’m such a Princess Leia freak. She’s a very formative character and then Carrie Fisher became kind of a personal idol for my whole life,” Roux says. “I don’t have a lot of early childhood memories, but one of the ones I do have is being six or seven and standing in front of our television wearing out the VHS of The Empire Strikes Back. I was so obsessed with Leia and Han, I would just replay the moment when he gets frozen in carbonite and they confess their love to each other. My parents were like, ‘You can watch the rest of the movie, too.’”
For Star Wars: Legacy, Roux delves into the interior lives of General Leia, Rey, and even Kylo Ren, writing in the third person close perspective. Roux says it was easiest to find Leia’s voice since she spent time reading Carrie Fisher’s books among her research for the project. “They’re almost intertwined, so it’s a huge responsibility and I take it incredibly seriously,” Roux says. “I felt a deep, serious kinship with the character and with Carrie Fisher writing this.”
Similarly, Roux was immediately drawn to Rey when she first saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will mark its 10th anniversary this December. “I remember being in the theater and just crying a lot,” Roux says, so moved “to see a funny, capable, strong character and to see her ignite the lightsaber and fight Kylo Ren.”
“Get Along shirt”
For her new novel, Roux tackled a story that will help bring Rey and Leia closer together, a bond glimpsed onscreen in the final Skywalker saga film. It was an exciting period to explore, Roux says, on the heels of Rey and Kylo Ren’s complicated connection and Luke Skywalker’s demise.
“To pick-up with Rey at a moment of a lot of doubt and weakness and confusion was a lot of fun because you couldn’t ask for a messier setup,” Roux says. “You need to get these two people to like each other and be almost like mother daughter or mentor and apprentice. But this is the mother of the guy who she just had an incredibly messy situation with. It’s really fraught. It’s really confusing. And just the thought of being with that person’s mother is pretty intense. There is a lot of uncertainty.”
“They have to go on this journey together and really learn to lean on each other through it. It’s sort of like a Get Along shirt,” Roux says with a laugh, conjuring a mental image of Rey and Leia stuck together. “That’s the vibe of the book. They’re not actually at a good place with each other at first, and that was such a great opportunity to really have both of them grow. Even though Leia is so close to the end of her journey in a lot of ways, we can still have this great moment of character development for her.”
Read more at StarWars.com. Star Wars: Legacy will be published by Random House Worlds on July 28th, 2026.
The post Author Madeleine Roux on Star Wars: Legacy, Her First Star Wars Novel appeared first on Jedi News.
