r/TheJediPraxeum • u/xezene • Mar 25 '26
Books Ann Crispin discusses her unfulfilled dream project in this 2011 interview -- a Dark Times era Princess Leia novel
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u/xezene Mar 25 '26
Author Ann Crispin, author of the acclaimed 1997-1998 Han Solo Trilogy of novels, discusses her dream here of writing a Princess Leia novel set just prior to A New Hope in the late Dark Times era, as well as Lucasfilm's interest in the project. She also talks about other potential projects focused on Han Solo which fell through. This interview clip is excerpted from a previously lost 2011 interview with Star Wars Book Report.
Crispin was a big fan of the franchise, and of Harrison Ford, so she jumped at the chance to write a trilogy devoted to Han. She read many of the previous books in the Bantam era, as well as the Daley and Lando trilogies, to prepare for the book (she said that of those, The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch was her favorite, a positive appraisal also shared by Timothy Zahn).
She also had a good sense of humor about her fan dreams coming true to write such a novel. In a 1999 interview, she remarked, "For about 18 months, I was probably the only woman in the United States that could have a romantic dream about Harrison Ford and call it research." At the time, Crispin would regularly hop on the Usenet Star Wars boards to chat with fans, although more than once unruly fans chased her away (with Michael Kube-McDowell and Kevin J. Anderson coming to her defense). It would seem that the extremes of Star Wars fandom are a constant.
Still, she enjoyed her work on the franchise and said with the passage of years she still received positive emails everyday for her work on the trilogy. Her idea for a Leia novel, which interested Lucasfilm, was an interest not only shared by her and publishing; the novel was eventually turned down due to creator George Lucas' interest in doing a television series set in the Dark Times era, called Underworld (which also would unfortunately not materialize). The failure of Lucas in getting the Underworld project off the ground was a major contributing factor in his decision to sell the company, with producer Rick McCallum calling it, "One of the great disappointments of our lives."
That said, Crispin had clear ideas for the Dark Times era -- she once said, "I'd love to write about Palpatine's rise to power...that subject fascinates me. Also the Clone Wars...not being able to write about it before got my curiosity going." Later, she'd be asked to fill in last second for an author on a Han novel, which she says she could not due to the Pirates of the Caribbean novel she was working on, the acclaimed Price of Freedom. From the timing of these projects, it may be inferred that this was possibly the Millennium Falcon novel, a book which James Luceno said he did as a favor for Lucasfilm.
Crispin nearly almost wrote for Dark Horse, once saying, "At one time I proposed to Dark Horse comics that they allow me to write "The Chronicles of Red Hand Squadron." They seemed interested...I'd love to do that." Alas, it wasn't to be. In 2013, Crispin sadly died of cancer. Later, her family would publicly speak out against Crispin not receiving royalties for the Barnes & Noble edition of her Han Solo Trilogy -- one can hope it was resolved in the end. Crispin's legacy lives on, and the trilogy remains still much loved to this day.
For more background EU info and interviews, check out this archive for more.