Hello fellow Wookieepedians! Recently, we had the opportunity to chat with Adam Lance Garcia, the author of the short story "The Veteran" in From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi.

Q1: How did you first get into Star Wars as a fan, and what are some of your favorite pieces of media from the franchise?

A1: I honestly don’t remember when I first became a Star Wars fan. It was just always an ever-present, simple fact of life. I believe my first film was (appropriately) Return of the Jedi (hot-copied by my dad off HBO onto VHS). I eventually got the first original trilogy box set (I still own it) and vividly remember watching A New Hope at my best friend’s birthday sleepover.

What I do know for certain is my first Star Wars book was The Glove of Darth Vader. I was of that very specific age group that was too young for Heir to Empire and Dark Empire but was perfect for the (in retrospect) very strange and weirdly precinct Jedi Prince series, and I was enthralled. This was in the wilderness period, after Return of the Jedi, and when the Prequels (let alone the Sequels) were little more than a dream. So that there were more stories with Luke, Han, and Leia was just exhilarating. There was the Lost City of the Jedi! There was Ken, the grandchild of Emperor Palpatine! And while the Jedi Prince series may not have the… greatest legacy, it was the book series that made me realize two things:

1. I love exploring the Star Wars galaxy. It wasn’t just about having more adventures with Luke; I was enraptured by the galaxy. I wanted to learn more about the Jedi, I wanted to know everything about the New Republic, and I wanted to watch Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo grow up.

2. I wanted to become a writer so I could add to the galaxy. (My first Star Wars novel, The Dark Crystal, remains unlicensed and unfinished).

Q2: Dexter Jettster is a fan-favorite character first introduced to us in Attack of the Clones. What was your favorite part about writing him?

A2: I loved his cynicism and how that was slowly burned away by a spark of hope. However, his initial meeting with Obi-Wan and his incredibly long life helped key me into his arc, both of which I owe significant gratitude to Kiersten White and Daniel José Older, respectively.

Knowing that Dex had met Obi-Wan when the Jedi was still very young gave new context to where Dex would be in the aftermath of the Clone Wars—and the blame he would place upon himself—while his own incredibly long life would add another tinge of tragedy to his story. While Dex’s stories in Phase II of the High Republic hadn’t yet been published while I was writing his episode, the fact that he’s seen so much, the best and worst of the galaxy, added this incredible, heartbreaking aspect to his story. He knew how good things were and how bad they could become.

Q3: I loved the small details in the work, especially Dex’s reflections on his connections with Obi-Wan Kenobi. What inspired you while fleshing out that aspect of his backstory?

A3: Initially, it came from understanding what Dex did and didn’t know about the galaxy at this point in the canon. While we, as fans, know what happened to Obi-Wan and the galaxy writ large, all Dex would know is that he told Obi-Wan about Kamino, then shortly after the Clone Wars began, and then three years later, all the Jedi were dead. From Dex’s point of view, he caused the war, which (he assumes) directly led to Obi-Wan’s death.

So, short of Obi-Wan showing up at his diner to explain everything, there was no way he could know what happened, and that not knowing—and not being able to celebrate this victory with someone he cared about—informed so much of how Dex would view the fall of the Empire.

And once I latched onto that idea I drew upon my own experiences of loss. My father passed a couple of years before I wrote this story, and there were so many victories that had occurred, both personally and globally, since his loss that I wished I could have shared with him. That constant, unfulfilled desire to share joy with someone I loved is something Dex would have felt, with the added weight of billions and billions of lives lost.

Q4: The Star Wars saga has grown a lot since its inception, with many works forming a rich tapestry of lore. In particular, the time around the Empire’s fall is also pretty busy events-wise. How’d you go about working your story into that gap of the timeline?

The best part of writing in this sandbox is picking up what others put down. I’ve already mentioned how Padawan and the High Republic helped me craft my story, but I cannot emphasize enough how crucial Chuck Wendig’s excellent Aftermath trilogy.

When I first pitched what would become “The Veteran,” I thought there wasn’t much about Dex’s life at this time and that I had effectively free-reign in defining it, but then I started taking the canon Chuck established into account—the diner had closed down, the secret passageway beneath that was key in stopping Mas Amedda, the riot at Monument Plaza—and every time I was forced to ask, “How would Dex react to this?” the story became better.

Q5: That mention of the Nazzar species… was that a fun pull from the Legends continuity?

A5: That was so much fun. Legends was my Star Wars for decades, and I wanted to make sure I honored them in small ways with The Veteran. There are a few others scattered throughout the story. I referenced the West End Games sourcebooks, the Essential Guides, and other Legends texts from my collection to see what I could bring in, but the hardest part was making sure those inclusions felt true to Dex’s story and weren’t just there for me. There was, for about an hour, a reference to whaladons in my initial draft, my small way of honoring The Glove of Darth Vader, but I ultimately decided to cut it because their inclusion meant something to me but nothing to Dex and his arc.

(Shout out to Zoraida Córdova, who made whaladons canon in Beware the Nameless).

Also, I cannot tell how much fun writing “transparisteel” in a story is.

Q6: Are you interested in writing more Star Wars, and what characters or time period would you like to delve into if so?

It is no secret that I would love to write more Star Wars. Heck, Star Wars is why I started writing in the first place!

I would like to explore the High Republic era. The whole Project Luminous initiative is easily one of my favorite things to come out of the new canon so far. Everything new we learned about that 400-year period just added so much nuance and diversity to the galaxy while opening countless narrative doors. Every story I read leaves me wanting to learn more.

I absolutely loved Rey’s journey in the Sequel Trilogy. I would love to help explore her (and really all the Sequels’ characters) adventures post-Rise of Skywalker, partially because they’re stories I want to read and because I want to give new fans what I got as a kid: more adventures with their favorite heroes.

But more than anything, I want to make sure I write Star Wars stories that stay true to Lucas’ original conceit: Telling fun, exciting stories with magical space wizards that speak to every aspect of the human experience.

7. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, lovely to hear your thoughts! Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers?

I’m currently working on an original science fiction mystery novel and my third Green Lama novel, plus a couple of very, very exciting things I can’t talk about just yet.

If anyone is looking to read more of my work, first, thank you! Second, I would suggest checking out the Green Lama series I’ve been writing for Moonstone Books (link) and my spin-off audio drama continuation (link). Those stories are where I cut my teeth as a young writer and helped me climb the ladder into this amazing galaxy.