The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: January 25, 2026
The frozen tauntaun can be found at the first marker
Hello there
Good afternoon and welcome back to this week’s edition of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. I know that last week I said the new one would be out on Friday. It is Sunday, a day that is obviously not Friday. Things happen, like spending the end of last week getting ready for a winter death storm. But hey, better Sunday than Tuesday I suppose. The goal is to get back schedule for Friday drops. So I guarantee1 that the next Death Star HR will be on the 30th. This week, the new Maul: Shadow Lord trailer is out. I pull some quotes from Kathleen Kennedy’s exit interview, and it’s the first 2026 entry of the Death Star Human Resources Bookclub.
As always, thanks for reading Death Star HR. If you’re reading this and you’re not a subscriber, I’d love it if you entered your email below and smashed that subscribe button. There’s also an official Death Star HR Instagram and an official Death Star HR YouTube page as well and I’d love it if you subscribed there as well.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
Bo-Katan and Buc-ees. I’m here for it.
For those of you who have never been to a Buc-ees, Emily Swallow’s description of a gas station meets amusement park is pretty spot on.
This Is Where The “Fun” Begins
Once again randomly thinking about Andor and the Ghorman Massacre.
No reason whatsoever. Just happened to pop into my mind again. Can’t think of any reason to compare the murder of innocent protestors on Ghorman by masked agents of the state to anything that’s happening in, I don’t know, a US state with a Hoth-like climate.
New Darth Maul Show Will Give Life Meaning Again
Disney knows how to create a buzz, I’ll give them that. On Wednesday the 21st, they released a teaser trailer, teasing us that the real trailer will be released on the 22nd. First up, the teaser.
OK, you have my attention. There’s no actual real footage but the black and red is striking, you have Maul’s laugh there. And then ending with this? I’m in.
I’m not saying I was waiting until midnight for the real trailer to drop. But maybe when I got up the following day, the first thing I did after checking to see if Dave Filoni had responded to my emails RE: Darth Jar Jar series, was check YouTube to see if the full trailer was up. And what a trailer it is.
OK, so what do we actually know about the show? From the Mothership itself:
Beginning with a two-episode premiere on Disney+ April 6, 2026, and two episodes each week leading to a finale on Star Wars Day, May the 4th, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord picks up after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for a pulpy adventure that finds Maul plotting to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. There, he crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who may just be the apprentice he is seeking to aid him in his relentless pursuit for revenge.
Setting the stage for the next chapter in Maul’s relentless pursuit of revenge and quest for power among the underworld crime syndicates, the series takes place in the gritty cityscape of Janix. “It’s one part Gotham, one part Metropolis and a hundred percent Star Wars with all these different levels and layers,” says Michnovetz. “It’s a city essentially built into a crater on this planet that is untouched by the Empire. It’s got a functioning democracy and law enforcement doing a good job of policing their own community. It’s a rich environment for crime and gangsters, but so far there’s been a very peaceful accord between all of them in the interest of business.”
Janix is a new planet created for the series, it obviously gives off Coruscant vibes there. We’ve got the local security forces dealing with a new problem and are probably in over their head. We see the early model of Stormtroopers there as well, maybe taking over the planet from the locals. We can add for sure one, maybe two more Jedi who survived Order 66. There’s two Inquisitors we’ve previously seen. Marrok, first seen in Ahsoka and the Eleventh Brother, previously seen in Tales of the Jedi and Tales of the Empire. It has all the marks of current Star Wars, familiar yet new.
Besides Maul himself, most of the internet chatter seems to be about Devon Izara, the young Twi'lek Padawan. People immediately clocked her as a young version of Darth Talon. As she is a character from the 2006 Legacy and 2010 Legacy - War comic series, I wasn’t really aware of her other than occasionally seeing some artwork of her on Star Wars Instagram accounts and stuff like that.
There’s of course no proof that Devon will become Darth Talon, but there’s enough to get the fans chattering. Darth Talon is a Twi’lek. She has the red and black Darth Maul like look. The Force knows that Dave Filoni is an Expanded Universe guy and that Disney Star Wars, maybe especially the animation side of things, are pretty happy to mine the Expanded Universe like it’s Deep Substrate Foliated Kalkite to pick and choose the parts they want to bring back into canon.
And finally, we get a little insight from Darth Maul himself.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I think for a lot of younger Star Wars fans, Sam Witwer is their Darth Maul. If you were a little too young to see The Phantom Menace but were old enough to get into Star Wars when The Clone Wars rolled around, that’s how you think of as Darth Maul. When I went to Rebel Scum Con last year, he had the second longest autograph line behind Katee Sackhoff.
Did we NEED a Darth Maul animated series? No, but in a sense we really don’t need any of this. Star Wars isn’t anywhere to be seen on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs2. But the animation looks cool, the little bit of the story we know looks fun. There’s bound to be a lot of fun lightsaber duels. The first two episodes drop on April 6th, then it’s two episodes a week with the finale on May the 4th.
Kathleen Kennedy Speaks!
I mean, this is a little more predictable than the dead speaking. I wanted to get to this last week but just ran out of time. In conjunction with her announced retirement, former, or at least soon to be former Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy gave her exit interview with Deadline. I’m not sure I’d call it an especially in-depth interview, but it is interesting nonetheless as in we get some updates on projects where there’s been very little information lately. Some choice quotes.
On whether Starfighter will be turned into a larger project:
DEADLINE: You’ve just wrapped the sixth film in the Star Wars universe. Is Starfighter meant to be an ongoing theatrical series?
KENNEDY: It was envisioned as a single film. Shawn Levy just made the experience so pleasant for everybody, and we found this 14-year-old kid out of Ireland who had virtually no experience. That’s always risky, hanging a story so much on a child actor. You’re not exactly sure how comfortable they’re going to be. Flynn Gray turned out to be such a special kid.
I think this is the right idea and something I wouldn’t mind seeing more of, individual Star Wars films unconnected to the Skywalker Saga. Yes, The Mandalorian and Grogu is obviously not part of the Skywalkers, but it’s still part of the Filoniverse.
On potential big Hollywood names being involved in the Star Wars universe:
I’ve had early conversations with David Fincher. With Vince Gilligan for TV. I have sat down with Alex Garland, and others where the minute you say their name, you go, “Oh, that might be an interesting Star Wars.”
I’ve always been a fan of David Fincher, I’m here for that.
On the status of some of the previously announced projects:
DEADLINE: Let’s get to what the fans are eager to know. The progress on films and series by filmmakers who’ve committed to putting in that three to five years. Rian Johnson, James Mangold, Simon Kimberg, Taika Waititi. Where are all their projects at?
KENNEDY: I’ve got to tread a bit carefully here. Jim Mangold and Beau Willimon wrote an incredible script, but it is definitely breaking the mold and it’s on hold. Taika has turned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It’s not just my decision, especially when I’ve got a foot out the door. Donald Glover has turned in a script.
I haven’t done it in a while, so I think in the next week or two I’ll do a rundown of known Star Wars projects and what the status of them is. I like hearing that Taika’s script is done.
On just what’s up with The Hunt for Ben Solo:
And as you have read, Steve Soderbergh and Adam Driver turned in a script written by Scott Burns. It was just great. Anything’s a possibility if somebody’s willing to take a risk.
Come on, Disney. Take the risk! It’s worth remembering that Kennedy, along with Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck all loved the script and approved it, before the Disney C-Suite killed it.
And finally, how dealing with the haters:
DEADLINE: You’ve developed a thicker skin no doubt. You can’t have been used to all the criticism when you were producing all these movies with Frank Marshall for Steven Spielberg. What do you say to ease the apprehension of these newcomers to the Star Wars universe? Every time you release another movie or series, it’s like, fire in the hole!
KENNEDY: I’m honest, especially with the women that come into this space because they unfairly get targeted. I don’t try to sugarcoat it. And I emphasize that it’s a very small group of people, with loud megaphones. I truly do not believe that it’s the majority of the fans. And I think we’re also in this weird world of where bots can affect things. You have to develop a tough skin. That is exactly right. That’s what you have to do. You can’t make it go away.
All we can do is put our heads down and do the work and believe that we’re doing the best we can, telling the best story we can. And if somebody gets really nervous about it and doesn’t want to do it, I say, then don’t do it because I can’t tell you this won’t happen.
I really do not hang out in the spots where the more toxic elements of the Star Wars fanbase reside. They would of course tell you they’re the true fans that everything Kennedy has touched is WOKE and makes them mad because girls are gross. Of course, if you ask them if they like Andor, they’re likely to get pretty quiet. I’ll say it again, Tony Gilroy himself has said that Andor doesn’t get to be Andor without Kennedy.
Maybe You Shouldn’t Post
Another topic where I debated whether or not to post anything. Death Star HR isn’t TMZ. But given it’s proximate to Star Wars and an event I’m attending, it’s newsworthy. The Instagram page for Rebel Scum Con posted these, back to back.
The first one I thought was a nice thing to post. I thought the timing was a little strange since RSC isn’t until August, but a positive message. Then the second picture was annoucement was posted and I figured “oh, maybe he signed to a movie and the schedules don’t work” or something along those lines.
Turns out the latter lead to the former. Numerous people posted that they saw Ray Park post revenge porn of his wife on his Instagram feed. That’s a yikes, to put it mildly. I’ve seen at least two other cons cancel Park’s appearance. Not sure what Park’s deal is but good on Rebel Scum Con for saying this isn’t acceptable.
The Death Star Human Resources Department Book Club
It’s been a while since there’s been a Death Star HR book club entry. Last May I finally finished up the New Jedi Order books. After that I read a few Star Wars books here and there but didn’t commit to a series. During my winter sabbatical from Death Star HR I even read five, count ‘em five, books3 that didn’t involve space wizards with laser swords.
Mostly I had been deciding what I was going to read next, and there were basically three options. The first was to finally tackle The High Republic. I’ve been waiting for the series to wrap before diving in. Second option was not to do a series, but just pick standalone books. I just picked up a couple canon books I’ve been looking forward to, Master of Evil by Adam Christopher and The Living Force by John Jackson Miller. Or I can always just keep doing what I’ve been doing and reading Legends Expanded Universe books. I mean, I have what I’m pretty sure is nearly a complete collection of Expanded Universe paperbacks. Might as well read them.
The New Jedi Order books were towards the end of the Expanded Universe. There are about 25 more books before Disney takes over. There’s two big series, although not as big as New Jedi Order. The Legacy of the Jedi series with nine books and the Fate of the Jedi series with nine books as well. But before I get those books, I need to through The Dark Nest Trilogy first.
Title: The Joiner King
Series: The Dark Nest Trilogy.
Author: Troy Denning, who’s last Star Wars book was the top tier Star By Star from NJO.
Date published: July 26, 2005
Pages: 4434
Status: Legends
Summary in less than 20 words: Indiana Jones might have hated snakes but Han Solo really hates bugs.
It’s been six years since the Yuuzhan Vong war and the galaxy is at peace, or at last as much peace as we can ever have in the galaxy far far away. Everyone is trying to rebuild after a galaxy-spanning war. It’s going…well…about as things usually go in the Star Wars universe. Just when maybe things could get close to some normalcy, a bunch of Jedi decide to abscond out the Unknown Regions. And these aren’t just your generic Jedi. They’re some of the heroes of the New Jedi Order, Jania Solo, Lowbacca, Tesar Sebatyne, Tahiri Veila, Tekli, and wayward Jedi Jacen Solo. It turns out the Jedi are helping a previously unknown species of intelligent insects called the Killik along the Joiners, people who are influenced to join the Killik hive mind.
The Killik and the Chiss are beefing so naturally, all important Star Wars characters have to go. Han, Leia, Luke, Mara. I guess only Lando and Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost get left out. It doesn’t seem like good governance to let some of the most important people end up all out in the Unknown Regions with a somewhat hostile quasi-enemy in the Chiss and a wild card in the Killik. Intrigue and machinations happen. Turns out the head of the Killik is Raynar Thul, former Jedi presumed to be dead after the events of New Jedi Order. Not to mention there’s the Dark Nest, lead by two former Dark Jedi also presumed dead. Eventually the good guys solve the Killik-Chiss conflict. But since this is a trilogy, a larger threat looms in the next book.
Is that the best review I’ve ever done? No, not even close. But it’s also not the best book I’ve ever read. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get into this one. A couple times I thought about not even finishing, but I never quit a book once I start it. I know it’s OK to but I just can’t. This was a disappointment since I really liked Star By Star. The plot felt overly convoluted, it was tough to keep track of the various insects and different factions competing with each other. And overall it just felt bogged down. I’m going to finish the other two books since I want to know what happens next. But I’m not sure I’m going to like it.
The Good:
I liked the idea of the Killik. I’m sure after the NJO books, Star Wars decided we can’t just go right back to Jedi vs Sith or the New New Republic aka the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances vs a bunch of leftover Imperials. The bugs and the hivemind was a cool idea, especially with former Jedi and Dark Jedi in the mix.
The Bad:
Like I said, this book just didn’t click and it felt too convoluted. And that’s fine. Not all the Expanded Universe books can be winners. I have a feeling that when I’m done with all three books, my comment is going to be that it could have been either one long book or two books.
Wild Card:
One character that needs a shoutout. Tarfang. I think Tarfang is going to be my Glup Shitto5. An Ewok smuggler who “was considered particularly vicious for an Ewok; he exhibited a short, volatile temper, and flailed his arms about in an exaggerated fashion when angry.” I love the idea of an Ewok escaping the forest moon of Endor, becoming a smuggler, and instead of being a cute lil’ guy, he’s a real asshole.
Things My Wife Has Said About Star Wars Meets Great Moments in Star Wars Merchandising
I don’t actually own a ton of Star Wars merch. I mean, I probably have more than a normal, mostly-functioning adult should have, but for a guy who writes a weekly Star Wars newsletter there’s no as much as you would think. Every algorithm from every platform I might engage with though thinks I need every piece of Star Wars merch ever created. So the other day, the Instagram algo served up a shirt that I really think I need.
Me: Found a new shirt I’m going to get.
Her: Hmmm.
Me: Want to see it?
Her: Nope
Me: Here, check it out.
Her: …
Me: Come on, this is great. Do you get it?
Her: [sigh] It’s Queen Amidala.
Me: Yes but… [gearing up for an explanation about the Sex Pistols and how the band was a big influence on teenage me]
Her: Nope! Not listening, I didn’t ask. I have exactly zero questions about that shirt.
In case anyone is wondering, her lack of interest has not stopped me from placing an order. One of these days I want to do a deep dive on, let’s call it “unauthorized” Star Wars merch. And if you don’t get the reference on the shirt:
This Day in Star Wars History
Note - this edition of Death Star HR was supposed to come out on January 23rd. Today is obviously not January 23rd. But I’m leaving it in.
Twins are important in the Star Wars galaxy, just ask the Yuuzhan Vong. I think January 23rd is the first time we’ve featured twins in This Day in Star Wars History.
Twin brothers Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, known in the biz as Brothers Hildebrandt, were born in 1939 in the Paris of the Midwest: Detroit, Michigan. The brothers studied at the Meinzinger Art School, in the Cass Corrider section of Detroit. The Hil-Bros are best known in the Star Wars galaxy for their poster for A New Hope. Known as the Style B poster, it was displayed at movie theaters in the UK for a couple months. Interestingly, the Hil-Bros didn’t have any reference photos for the cast, so I assume they were just working off character descriptions provided by Lucasfilm.
Mark and Carrie must have wondered if they had secretly been replaced. Actress Ann Sachs was born in 1948. Sachs is listed as “an actress, writer, business owner, and theatre specialist.” For our purposes, she voiced Princess Leia in all three NPR radio adaptions of the Original Trilogy.
Julia Jones was born in 1981. The actress is best known for playing Leah Clearwater in the Twilight movies and appeared in one episode of The Mandalorian. The one where Mando and Cara Dune are protecting a bunch of farmers from raiders. Jones plays Omera, the widow who was suspiciously proficient with a blaster rifle and kinda thirsty for Din Djarin. She must have known it was Pedro Pascal under the helmet, so can you really blame her?
For fans of the written word, the novelizations of the Original Trilogy were republished on this day in 1993. I’ve mentioned this in the past, but I still find it fascinating that the novelization for A New Hope was released roughly seven months before the movie was. That would never happen today.
The five finalists of the “Darth Who Contest” were revealed in 2007. A contest was held to name a new Sith character for the fifth book in the Expanded Universe Legacy of the Force series. Roughly 8,500 entries were received. The five finalists were: Darth Acheron, Darth Caedus, Darth Judicar, Darth Paxis, and Darth Taral. Rumor has it the names Darth Icky and Darth Insanius were submitted by someone named “Luke Georgeus.”
Australian actress and singer Trisha Noble passed away in 2021. She played Jobal Naberrie, mother of Padme Amidala, in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Her scenes in Attack of the Clones didn’t make it in the final cut but she is in the funeral scene at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
Given that we’re in for a winter death storm here in Dallas and across most of Texas and the rest of the country, this one seems appropriate. That’s right, I’m talking about the Destruction of Khepi.
The destruction of the Wild Space planet Khepi occurred during the High Republic Era when an asteroid impacted the planet causing it to break apart. The Khepi people successfully calculated the destruction ten years prior to the event, however instead of evacuating their society to a different planet they accepted their fate and constructed a Great Tomb on a separate asteroid hidden in the nearby Sayma Nebula where their people were laid to rest for their Final Ritual.
I kinda get it. Right now it’s like Hoth out in my backyard. Who knows if we’re going to make it6. But I’ve accepted my fate and am riding out the bad weather with plenty of blankets and a some books.
News From the HoloNet
BSO celebrates John Williams’ film scores and concert music at Symphony Hall
Wonder if Miggs Mayfield, aka Bill Burr was in attendance.
Star Wars Actor’s Career Was Destroyed By A Bizarre Lie
David Prowse and Uncle George didn’t have a great relationship.
Case Study: Does Watching ‘Star Wars’ in Chronological Order Diminish the Original Trilogy?
At this point, there’s so much Star Wars to watch I think my only advice would be don’t start with the Sequel Trilogy.
The Clock Starts for Star Wars: Episode X
It does seem pretty like we get episode X eventually.
Krewe of Chewbacchus parade is on: ‘Rain won’t stop our rebellion’
If I lived anywhere near New Orleans, I’d join the Krewe of Chewbacchus. Rebellions are built on hope, and beignets.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
Not an actual guarantee.
A Maslow's hierarchy of needs but for the Star Wars universe might be a good bit. I’m saving it for later. Nobody steal it!
The Enchanters - James Ellroy, The Shards - Bret Easton Ellis, A Delicate Truth - John le Carre, Juggalo - Steven Miller, Mud Ride - Steve Turner.
We’ll probably make it. But all Texans have collective PTSD after the 2021 freeze. Well, all Texans except for Cancun Cruz.
Re: Death Star HR Book Club--I recently read THE LIVING FORCE and if you need some levity in your lineup, that's a great pick. It's pure Prequel & Jedi Council shenanigans, plus an interesting villain!
Ahem. https://texastriffidranch.com/2019/04/12/enclosures-mashup-2019/ You can't see it from here, but the side panel has graffiti reading "We mean it, maaaaan!"