Star Wars: Crimson Reign Series Announced

Star Wars today announced a new series starring Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra. Star Wars: Crimson Reign is a sequel to War of the Bounty Hunters and the second part of writer Charles Soule's planned trilogy of Star Wars events. Soule teams with artist Steve Cummings on the five-part series, which sees Qi'ra come to power as leader of the Crimson Dawn criminal faction during the era between The Empire Strikes Back and Return fo the Jedi. Speaking to IGN, Soule hints that Crimson Reign will reveal more information about why Qi'ra went after Han Solo's carbonite-frozen body, thus setting the events of War of the Bounty Hunters in motion.

"I planned to tell the story we're seeing in War of the Bounty Hunters from the very first pitches I wrote when I knew I'd be taking over the Star Wars title for Marvel," Soule said. "But it was really when I knew I had a secret weapon to deploy storywise that the seeds of Crimson Reign began to take root in my mind: Qi'ra, former paramour of Han Solo and current leader of the infamous Crimson Dawn crime syndicate, as portrayed by Emilia Clarke in Solo: A Star Wars Story film.

"While Qi'ra plays a huge part in War of the Bounty Hunters, that event is really a Boba Fett story. I have a bigger story I'm going to tell with Qi'ra and Crimson Dawn, and it's all connected to the reasons she kicked things off in War of the Bounty Hunters in the first place. You'll learn more about that in the closing pages of War of the Bounty Hunters #5, out in October, and I think fans have no idea how exciting and new this story will feel."

And as exciting as Crimson Reign may be, it's only the middle chapter of Soule's bigger Star Wars story. "From the moment I took the gig writing Star Wars, I wanted to do new things in the Star Wars timeline between Episodes V and VI, using new characters from all eras of the galaxy far, far away," Soule said. "Crimson Reign, which continues what I plan as a trilogy that began with War of the Bounty Hunters, is a great example of how I like to write Star Wars stories. Everything and everyone is fair game, and I think people are really going to enjoy it. Await the Reign."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Star Wars: Crimson Reign #1 goes on sale in November.