Kylo Ren's Dark Side Origins In 'Star Wars' Comics Won't Please All Fans, Writer Warns

Star Wars fans are a vocal bunch. So The Rise of Kylo Ren writer Charles Soule is forewarning fans that they may not all be pleased with how the Kylo Ren origins story goes down in his new comic book.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this December, Disney is releasing a new Marvel comic detailing Ben Solo's journey to the Dark Side in a four-part comic series written by Soule and drawn by Will Sliney. With the first issue set to hit shelves in December, Soule feels it's important to warn fans of the brooding villain that all may not go as they want or expect it to.

At the Publishing in Star Wars panel during Fan Expo Toronto, Soule spoke about his upcoming The Rise of Kylo Ren four-part comic series, which debuts its first issue on December 4. CBR says that Soule described the series as following the "tragic" story of Ben Solo, adding, "The potential of him from the day he was born, everyone around him saw or thought they saw what he could be. So he was put in all these different paths, and we've kind of seen how that's gone wrong in the films so far. This is a story about Ben Solo, understanding some of the choices he made."

Understanding a villain always comes with some drawbacks — how much should you sympathize and how much should you not? Soule will delve into that in his comic but, he warns, all of his choices may not be popular with Star Wars fans.

"Sometimes Star Wars stories are like telling a great story and having a great time playing in this sandbox. And other times, Star Wars jobs are like 'OK, we'll give you an incredibly key piece of the overall mythology that you have to nail.' You guys would not be very happy with me if I screw this up. And everyone here might not be very happy with the choices that I made."

It's understandable that Soule is practicing caution after the blowback over the pretty radical choices made in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. But Soule promises that any creative license he takes with the origins of Kylo Ren is firmly within the limits of the Star Wars Story Group, which okays any changes he makes within a story.

"Any significant change in Star Wars, that isn't just a little shade of a character that we know really well, it's vetted to make sure that it feels like Star Wars, that it fits within the Star Wars Universe, that it balances within the story universe, and that isn't in conflict with the Story Group. So you're in this weird game of chess with invisible chess players, you can't see the moves, and the only people who have a sense of the board are not really playing it with the story."

If anything, it seems like Soule may have been itching to take even more creative license with The Rise of Kylo Ren, but could have been kept in check by the Story Group. But while being beholden to a group keeping a tight leash on canon is difficult, being beholden to the fans is even harder. It's a tight rope to walk, and Soule seems to be aware of that as the release of his comic book series inches closer.

The Rise of Kylo Ren #1 goes on sale December 4, 2019.