In a Future, Far, Far Away...

"In a Future, Far, Far Away…" was a planned comic story to be written and illustrated by concept artist Iain McCaig for publication in the 2005 anthology Star Wars: Visionaries. It would have been set thousands of years after the Battle of Yavin and followed the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO searching for meaning and purpose. The story was never completed due to McCaig's preoccupation with work on the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Plot summary

Set thousands of years after the Battle of Yavin and the passing of both the Jedi and the Sith, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO have undergone changes and evolved beyond their own technology. The story would have followed their search for meaning and purpose to their continued existence.^[1]

Development

"In a Future, Far, Far Away…" was a proposed comic story to be written and illustrated^[2] by concept artist^[3] Iain McCaig for publication in the graphic novel anthology Star Wars: Visionaries.^[1] Visionaries was initiated following a pitch by author J.W. Rinzler of a way for the concept artists who worked on the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith to share their works publicly.^[4] Each artist had free reign to choose whichever aspect of the Star Wars universe they wished to explore.^[1] McCaig's involvement in the anthology was mentioned in the announcement of Visionaries on StarWars.com published on August 3, 2004.^[3]

According to Dark Horse Comics editor Randy Stradley, work on "In a Future, Far, Far Away…" was never completed because McCaig was preoccupied with work on Revenge of the Sith.^[2] When a further preview of Visionaries was posted to StarWars.com on February 14, 2005, McCaig's name was not included in the list of artists involved.^[5] Visionaries was published on April 2, 2005,^[6] preceeding the premiere of Revenge of the Sith on May 19 of that year.^[7] Despite "In a Future, Far, Far Away…" going unpublished, a description of the story was included in the reference book Star Wars: The Comics Companion by Ryder Windham and Daniel Wallace,^[1] which was initially scheduled for release in April 2005,^[8] but not published until February 15, 2006.^[9]

Continuity

The ambiguously canon comic story "Storyteller," written by Jason Hall, illustrated by Paul Lee, and published in the nineteenth issue of the comic series Star Wars Tales^[10] on May 14, 2004,^[11] featured a similar concept to "In a Future, Far, Far Away…." Set "a long time from now," the story portrays a heavily damaged C-3PO surviving far beyond the events of the Star Wars films and narrating the story of the boy Luke Skywalker to two members of the Squidge species, Otalp and Remoh.^[10] Star Wars: The Comics Companion stated that "In a Future, Far, Far Away…" would have taken place thousands of years after the Battle of Yavin,^[1] which was the climax of the 1977 original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,^[12] and served as year zero of the in-universe Galactic Standard Calendar.^[13] The title of the comic story refers to part of the phrase "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…" which appears at the beginning of the live-action Star Wars films.^[12]

Appearances

Sources

• Star Wars: The Comics Companion

Notes and references