Star Wars: Dark Droids Writer Teases Alien and Evil Dead as Inspiration for Series

Throughout its history, the Star Wars saga has delivered audiences plenty of adventure, fantasy, and sci-fi themes, with one genre it typically overlooks being horror. Even though Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine are monstrous villains, they are balanced out by heroic figures, but with the all-new comic miniseries Star Wars: Dark Droids, writer Charles Soule detailed that the book will explore the darker corners of the galaxy far, far away for a more unsettling experience. While speaking with StarWars.com, Soule revealed the inspirations he had for his work, which include films like Evil Dead, The Thing, and Alien. Star Wars: Dark Droids #1 is on sale now.

“Dark Droids draws inspiration from horror masterpieces like Frankenstein, The Thing, and the Evil Dead series, among many more,” Soule detailed to the outlet. “I often put reference images into my scripts. Usually, they’re things like, ‘Here’s the specific model of stormtrooper I’d like to use’ or ‘This is what Burryaga’s lightsaber hilt looks like.’ For Dark Droids, though, the reference images were key shots from horror films designed to evoke mood or moments — something from Alien, and even things like the music video for Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit.’”

He added, “I am a big fan of horror across all mediums, and getting a chance to import that into Star Wars has been a fantastic opportunity. Series artist Luke Ross has been doing a spectacular job of bringing the scares to the book — Dark Droids doesn’t look like anything else out there, within Star Wars or without.”

The new series is described, “In Dark Droids, a mysterious new threat called the Scourge corrupts droids, cyborgs, and everything in-between, spreading chaos throughout the galaxy. Ajax Sigma, who first appeared in last year’s Star Wars: Revelations #1, will play a role in the saga — though his true intentions remain unknown.”

Even though horror might not be the first genre audiences think of in connection to Star Wars, this isn’t the galaxy far, far away’s first foray into the realm. In recent years, various incarnations of Vader’s Castle stories from IDW Comics have told anthological tales of terror that allow for more overtly unsettling subject matter to be delivered, which even led to the development of the LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales, a Disney+ special that similarly used Vader’s Castle as a jumping-off point.

Rather than just straightforward horror, Soule teased other sci-fi elements he aimed to explore with the new series.

“Dark Droids doesn’t shy away from examining the way droids exist in Star Wars, which for me, as a writer of science fiction, is really exciting,” the writer explained. “We’re reckoning with a moment in the real world where ‘droid intelligence,’ a.k.a. AI, is something we’re being forced to stare at with open eyes. If created sentience can exist, what will we think about it once it arrives? More importantly — and this is the central question of the series — what will it think of us?”

He continued, “By the end, the story touches many parts of the Star Wars universe and draws in all your favorite characters from the era. I’m really glad I got to write something like this as part of my work in the galaxy and can’t wait for the reader to see what I, Luke Ross, and the rest of the team have built.”

Star Wars: Dark Droids #1 is on sale now.

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