Poe Dameron fans are about to get a deeper look into the character’s back story with the upcoming novel, Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall. The character, played on-screen by Oscar Isaac, made its debut in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and returned for both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. And yet, we don’t know much about the charming pilot before we met him in the J.J. Abrams film that kick-started the latest Skywalker trilogy.
But author Alex Segura promises that “if you left the theater after seeing The Rise of Skywalker with questions about Zorii Bliss, the Spice Runners of Kijimi and many of the teases you saw on film, you can look forward to them being answered in the pages of the novel.”
Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall will focus on Poe’s formative teen years, on the man before The Force Awakens, “It’s really meant to tell that tale of where Poe started and what defined him, what led him to become the Poe we’re more familiar with,” Segura continued to tell The Hollywood Reporter.
But fans are wary of just how Dameron’s spice runner life will be portrayed, especially as it seems to retcon the bits of back story that have already been explored outside of the films.
“Poe’s parents were war veterans, he grew up with a force tree in his backyard, he served under the new republic navy before joining the resistance, took tons of resistance missions way before tfa or the comics and yet disney will release a book about him being a drug dealer,” tweeted Alex (@poesgucciscarf).
“So they are going to talk about the latino man they made into a drugdealer?” another fan tweeted.
Segura describes Dameron as “a hero, but he has a scoundrel side to him — a glint in his eye that tells you he’s not afraid to cut corners or bend the rules to get what he needs. But he also has a heart, and he’s loyal and driven,” and he reassures readers that he’s done his research and has much respect for the character and the franchise.
Let us hope that we don’t get the Latino drug dealer stereotype placed on Dameron.
Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall will be released on August 4.