I also wanted to do a quick Waiting on Wednesday article on the upcoming Star Wars audio drama, Star Wars: The High Republic: Tempest Runner. Tempest Runner, which will be written by the amazing Cavan Scott, will be the latest entry in the intriguing High Republic range of Star Wars fiction and will be released later this month. I briefly mentioned this upcoming audio drama in another Waiting on Wednesday article, however, I was waiting to get some more details, such as the cool cover art above, before I discussed it.
For those unfamiliar with it, The High Republic is one of the most interesting and compelling current focuses of Star Wars fiction now. Set around 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, High Republic media focus on a golden age of the Republic which is facing some major troubles, mainly in the form of the pirate group known as the Nihil. Starting early this year with Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, this era of Star Wars lore is proving to be a lot of fun, and there have been some great entries in the series, including Into the Dark by Claudia Gray and The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott, the later of which was particularly good.
Scott looks set to continue his awesome run of High Republic fiction with Tempest Runner, which appears to be a character specific sequel to The Rising Storm. Tempest Runner will focus on one of the major High Republic antagonists, Lourna Dee, Tempest Runner of the Nihil, and has a very interesting story set around her.
Synopsis:
In this Star Wars audio original, delve into the cutthroat world of one of the High Republic’s greatest foes, the merciless Lourna Dee.
The Nihil storm has raged through the galaxy, leaving chaos and grief in its wake. Few of its raiders are as vicious as the Tempest Runner Lourna Dee. She stays one step ahead of the Jedi Order at the helm of a vessel named after one of the deadliest monsters in the galaxy: the Lourna Dee. But no one can outrun the defenders of the High Republic forever.
After the defeat of her crew, Lourna falls into the hands of the Jedi – but not before she hides her identity, becoming just another Nihil convict. Her captors fail to understand the beast they have cornered. Just like every fool she’s ever buried, their first mistake was keeping her alive.
Lourna is determined to make underestimating her their last.
Locked onto a Republic correctional ship, she’s dragged across the galaxy to repair the very damage she and her fellow Tempest Runners inflicted on it. But as Lourna plans her glorious escape, she makes alliances that grow dangerously close to friendships. Outside the Nihil – separated from her infamous ship, her terrifying arsenal, and her feared name – Lourna must carve her own path. But will it lead to redemption? Or will she emerge as a deadlier threat than ever before?
I really love the cool synopsis above. It looks like Scott has a pretty fantastic story in place for this audio drama and I am pretty keen to see a villain-centric story, especially one that focuses on Lourna Dee, who has been particularly fun in some of the High Republic novels. A prison drama in space has a lot of potential, especially in the Star Wars universe (Death Troopers and Maul: Lockdown are great examples of this), and I am very keen to see what compelling narrative Scott has planned.
I am also really keen to check out another full-cast Star Wars audio drama. There have been two previous audio dramas in this current canon, Dooku: Jedi Lost, which was also written by Scott, and Doctor Aphra. Both audio dramas have been particularly fun, and I have deeply enjoyed hearing the outstanding array of narrators and voice actors featured in them. This latest audio drama has another particularly good cast, which includes some of my favourite Star Wars audiobook narrators.
Narrated by a Full Cast:
Jessica Almasy as Lourna Dee
Dan Bittner as Councilor Wittick
Orlagh Cassidy as Ola Hest
Sullivan Jones as Bala
January LaVoy as Tasia
Kathleen McInerney as Councilor Fry
Tara Sands as Sestin
Vikas Adam as H7-09 and Raleigh
Jonathan Davis as Andrik Keller and Asgar Ro
Neil Hellegers as Kassav, Yudiah Dee, and Jano
Saskia Maarleveld as Parr and Avar Kriss
Soneela Nankani as Muglan and Keeve Trennis
Marc Thompson as Pan Eyta, Sskeer, and Marchion Ro
Shannon Tyo as Quin and Nib Assek
The above cast sounds pretty impressive and I am very keen to see how they perform together. It looks like Jessica Almasy is going to be the feature performer of this audio drama, and it will be great to see her take on Lourna Dee. I am also very excited to hear more of January LaVoy (who did an amazing job narrating Star Wars: Victory’s Price earlier this year), Jonathan Davis (Master and Apprentice, Lords of the Sith) and Marc Thompson (Thrawn, Chaos Rising, Greater Good, Dark Disciple, Scoundrels), all of whom have done some great work recently. There is also a very fun combination of characters there, and it will be interesting to see how they are worked into the plot.
Overall, Tempest Runner looks set to be a very exciting and compelling new addition to the Star Wars canon. I am extremely keen to listen to this upcoming audio drama, especially as it features an exceptional cast, and it will probably be one of the standout pieces of Star Wars fiction in 2021. I look forward to hearing this cool story unfold later this month, and I think this audio drama has an immense amount of potential.
The Unseen Library 