Star Wars Book to Put Depressing Twist on One of the Scariest Creatures

When fans first saw the wampa in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, audiences were terrified of the beast that attempted to kill Luke Skywalker on Hoth, only for the Jedi to make a quick escape. In the upcoming anthology book From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back, author Mark Oshiro promises that he will offer new insight into the previously one-dimensional beast that he claims will put an all-new perspective on the creature. While we’ll have to wait until November 10th to grab a copy of the book, SYFY WIRE offered an excerpt from the specific story, entitled “Hunger.”

Given how little screen time the monster is given in the film, Oshiro detailed the freedom he had to explore more about the character and the existing material that influenced key details about the beast.

“There’s material that does exist that addresses the presence of wampas in the caves below the Hoth rebel base,” Oshiro revealed to the outlet. “For example, there are some pretty cool deleted scenes that were meant to show us wampa attacks on the base while the Rebels were there. That was one of two things that inspired the story. That’s technically an established story and so, I wondered why the wampas would attack humans. I did a lot of research and there is a lot, which was super helpful in establishing them as a sort of apex predator on Hoth. All that went into how I approached the ‘mindset’ of a wampa. Star Wars means a lot to me, so I actually wanted to create something that felt very much like it belonged in the world.”

The new anthology book is comprised for 40 different stories focusing on 40 different supporting characters from The Empire Strikes Back, some of which are merely entertaining explorations of obscure characters while others offer key insight into the overall trajectory of the story. In addition to his own passion for the creatures, the author explained that another key component that drove his story was a reference Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill made about how out of character it was for the hero to attack the animal.

“That’s the idea I ran with. Let’s dig into the wampa’s hunger: how did it come about? So, I connected the two dots: why are the wampas attacking people on the base? Why was that one so hungry? The whole story came together pretty quickly,” Oshiro confessed. “The joy of the first From A Certain Point of View anthology was how incredible it was to have a scene given a new context with a different perspective. I wanted to show that the wampas’ desire for home, family, and sustenance — things humans can relate to — were accidentally threatened by this very moral act. We obviously want the Rebels to win, and they had a good reason to hide on Hoth. Yet sometimes, even with the purest intent, we hurt other people. In this case, the Rebels displaced a family and had no idea.”

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back hits shelves on November 10th.

Are you looking forward to the new book? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!