Midnight Horizon: Interview with Daniel José Older

The last wave of The High Republic Phase I has been an incredible rollercoaster of emotions as our beloved characters’ journeys came to an end, and new ones began. The latest YA novel, Midnight Horizon by The High Republic story architect Daniel José Older is the pinnacle of a saga that began with The High Republic Adventures comic series—elevating the storytelling on every level while providing satisfying characterization for fan favorites Reath Silas, Ram Jomaram, Kantam Sy, and Alys “Crash” Ongwa on her debut as a fully featured character. The author sat down with Tatooine Times to discuss his character and story development, starting with the novel’s catchy title: “It’s a very poetic title, and it’s really open to interpretation, but it certainly has to do with this sort of impending sense of night coming, you know, midnight being the darkest time of night, the pinnacle of it. I think that’s what all of these characters are racing towards as the tide of history moves towards them.”

The theme of love and friendship has been at the heart of Older’s The High Republic storytelling, especially for the Jedi, which has been a refreshing take on their philosophy compared to what we have experienced in the Prequels. “I think one of the things that’s been really fun as a writer on [The High Republic] is that there has been a lot more freedom to explore the complications of what it means to be a Jedi and to have relationships. The very nature of the Jedi Order begs the question, ‘How do you love and let go?’ that I think all of us have to deal with in a certain way. I think the problem for the prequel era Jedi is that they were in a much more entrenched time in the Order, and there wasn’t a lot of room for interpretation … It was very orthodox. We’re in a new era, so we get to play with it in a very different way,” Older explained.

If love was a strong, constant theme in The High Republic Adventures, with Lula Talisola and Zeen Mrala at the center of it, then friendship was the predominant one in Midnight Horizon—Older pairing up Ram Jomaram and (Claudia Gray‘s character) Reath Silas to eventually form a beautiful, brotherly bond between the two: “It was such a natural thing to think about them as friends. As soon as I read Reath, I knew immediately he should be in conversation with Ram because they’re so much alike, and so then it was just a question of getting them in the same room and seeing what would happen.” Older continued, “What really came out of it is that Ram’s natural playfulness is what Reath needs. Ram brings that goofy boy out of Reath, and then Reath in turn uplifts Ram by guiding him through some of those really complex waters of being a Jedi, not so much in terms of relationships, but in terms of just dealing with emotions and how to find balance.”

Midnight Horizon included a few special flashbacks for Kantam Sy and their to-be-Padawan Lula Talisola: “That was really interesting because I actually had no idea where I was going to go when I started writing it. Each time a Kantam chapter would come, I would just sit down and figure out what it was going to be. I thought for instance that the romantic aspect of it would last for much longer, and it turned out that halfway into the story that romance just didn’t matter anymore … it was more about their journey and their time apart [from the Jedi Order],” Daniel José Older said. “I wanted Kantam’s story to give readers a chance to take a breath, and as a writer, I allowed myself the grace to find it as I went, allowing the path to go where it needed to while making that road by walking it, so to speak. ‘Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar,’ right? I didn’t know what would turn Kantam around to come back to the Order until I got there.”

As mentioned before, Midnight Horizon (re)introduced The High Republic fans to Corellian bodyguard leader Alys “Crash” Ongwa, a tribute to Doctor Aphra comic book writer Alyssa Wong—soon becoming a fan favorite character for her chaotic nature, which added a little spiciness to the Jedi and non-Jedi character dynamics. “I knew I wanted a non-Jedi character to play a major role and knew Corellia inside and out, in part because we’re going to a planet where we haven’t been at all in The High Republic yet. At one point I asked Alyssa if they were in Star Wars, what would they be? And they were like, ‘Oh, you know, I would be the stressed out manager of an assassin’s guild’. I thought that was perfect, then I went ahead and turned it into a bodyguard situation because of just what the story required.” Older continued, “I wanted the character to be messy but really good at what she does at the same time. Her personal life is in shambles, but she also really loves her family and her team, and she is a really good friend even if she is difficult sometimes … that to me just immediately felt like an interesting character.”

The author’s research on diplomatic protection work for Crash and her team (heavily influenced by writer Shawn Taylor) really paid off, creating tangible story beats that allow the readers to really connect with the novel and its characters. “I didn’t know that much about bodyguarding going into it, so I was reading different books and manuals on how to do the job by people who do it. My buddy Shawn used to be a bodyguard for diplomatic protection, so he really gave me a chance to ask all the questions and get into the nitty-gritty. And like I mentioned in the acknowledgements, it does feel like a symphony … that’s really where a lot of Crash’s philosophy comes from.”

The level of representation in The High Republic as a whole has been refreshing and truly emotional. Daniel José Older explained the importance of having the opportunity to bring Kantam, Lula, Zeen, Crash, and other LGBTQ+ characters into the Star Wars universe: “It’s our job as writers to tell the truth about the world, especially in the world the way that I know it to be. Obviously it’s a galaxy far, far away, but there are always elements that are true. There are straight characters, so why wouldn’t there be gay characters? It’s sort of absurd when you think about it, and there’s no good reason besides homophobia for there not to be queer characters.” Older continued, “The truth is we could write all of our characters 100% gay, and we would still never come close to having any kind of balance compared to how many straight characters there are … that’s just the reality of the numbers. As a Latino, I know how much it matters to see yourself in literature, and I know how much it matters to not see yourself in literature—something that I don’t want anyone to ever have to go through. As a writer and a person who has some say in that, you’re damn right I’m gonna fill my stories with people that don’t get represented enough because that’s honesty.”

Daniel José Older reflected on his overall experience of being part of the all-new era of Star Wars storytelling and bringing a level of interconnectedness across multiple mediums: “It immediately presented itself as an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. It’s such a creative dream to be able to bring characters back and forth across mediums and watch them grow and change, which is really the essence of the story but don’t get to do very often. Especially when you’re writing in other people’s worlds, things can get very static because the bigger beats are reserved for other moments. The interconnectivity is such a key piece of the heart of what The High Republic is all about. I really set out to have a saga around these characters and that’s what I ended up being able to do. It was just incredibly fulfilling on every level.”

If you want to stay up to date on Daniel José Older’s work in The High Republic, Star Wars, or even beyond our beloved galaxy far, far away then make sure to follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Have you picked up Midnight Horizon? If so, share your favorite moments on our social media platforms.