If you love Star Wars lore, reference books, behind-the-scenes world-building, or collectible merch, you’ll want to mark your calendar. Pablo Hidalgo, one of the key architects behind modern Star Wars canon, is offering signed copies of his books as part of the upcoming Thank the Maker: The Force Awakens 10th-anniversary event. Hosted in Fordingbridge on December 7, 2025, this celebration honors a full decade since The Force Awakens relaunched the saga for a new generation. And now, fans have the chance to take home a signed piece of Star Wars history. What Is Thank the Maker: The Force Awakens? Thank the Maker is part fan event, part creator panel, and part deep dive into the making of Episode VII. It’s built around celebrating the film’s 10-year legacy — from the comeback of Han Solo and Chewbacca to the introduction of Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB-8. The event promises: For lore…
Pablo Hidalgo
George Lucas and the “Parallel Universe” of Star Wars Continuity
Star Wars creator George Lucas on set in 1999. Lucas famously regarded the licensed Star Wars novels, comics, and games as a separate “parallel universe” distinct from his film saga. Over the decades, as the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) grew into a vast collection of offshoot stories, Lucas consistently maintained that his movies (and later his own TV projects) were the only true canon of the Star Wars narrative. The books, comics, and games were enjoyable spin-offs – but in Lucas’s view, they did not represent “what is really going on” in his Star Wars world. Early Expansion: A Tale of Two Universes After Return of the Jedi in 1983, Star Wars continued in print with novels, comics, and games. By 1991, Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire and other works launched a new wave of storytelling beyond the films. From the start, Lucasfilm Licensing tried to keep these…