'Rogue One' Sequel Novel 'Star Wars: Inferno Squad' Announced

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a big hit for Disney, and despite some of the actors having contracts for possible future film appearances, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy has been adamant that we won't get a sequel to this Star Wars standalone movie. Besides, the fates of many of the characters are pretty clearly spelled out in the film and, yes, Rogue One already has a sequel in the form of Star Wars: A New Hope.

But the Star Wars galaxy is a big open story, filled with chapters that Disney hopes to explore across various mediums. And today the company announced that a new book called Star Wars: Inferno Squad will take place immediately after the events of Rogue One. Hit the jump to learn more about Star Wars Inferno Squad.

Inferno Squad will be released in stores on July 25th, 2017 and follow the story of "an elite Imperial squad and their mission following the events of Rogue One." The official plot description below is all we know about the book at this point:

You don't steal plans to the Death Star without making the Empire angry. We'll learn how angry very soon. The Rebellion may have heroes like Jyn Erso and Luke Skywalker. But the Empire has Inferno Squad. After the humiliating theft of the Death Star plans and the resulting destruction of the battle station, the Empire is on the defensive. In response to this stunning defeat, the Imperial Navy has authorized the formation of an elite team of soldiers, known as Inferno Squad. Their mission: infiltrate and eliminate the remnants of Saw Gerrera's Partisans. Following the death of their leader, the Partisans have carried on his extremist legacy, determined to thwart the Empire — no matter what the cost. Now, Inferno Squad must prove their status as the best of the best and take down the Partisans from within. But as the danger intensifies and the threat of discovery grows, how far will Inferno Squad go to ensure the safety of the Empire?

The story is also obviously taking place near or during the events of A New Hope, as Rogue One ends just hours before the opening of that story. But I'm just not sure the connection to Star Wars lore will be that interesting with this book, as most of the characters we'd care about from Rogue One are gone by the start of this story. Do we really care about the remnants of Saw Gerrera's Partisans when Saw and his primary group were all killed when the Death Star fired on Jedha?

Star Wars: Inferno Squad is a new novel from Christie Golden, who has written more than 50 sci-fi, horror and fantasy novels exploring the worlds of Ravenloft, Starcraft, Star Trek, World of Warcraft and Star Wars. Golden penned Legends books Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen, Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi and the 2016 Clone Wars book Star Wars: Dark Disciple.