Via Starwars.com:

STARWARS.COM SPEAKS WITH THE ACCLAIMED AUTHOR ABOUT GALEN ERSO, ORSON KRENNIC, AND MUCH MORE.

What is it called when some person or happening precipitates a larger event? Why, that’s a catalyst, and the new Star Wars novel, Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel is exactly that in relation to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. On sale today, Catalyst is written by James Luceno, New York Times bestselling author of Tarkin and Darth Plagueis. This novel from Del Rey helps set the stage for Rogue One, introducing some of the film’s characters at a key period of time earlier in their lives — during the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire. StarWars.com called Luceno to learn more about what Catalyst is all about and how it connects to Rogue One.

StarWars.com: Since Catalyst is the lead-in to Rogue One, how much of the Rogue One story were you given to use as the basis for the novel?

James Luceno: The book and the film were coming together in parallel because the book is very character-driven and so are great parts of the film. I was brought in fairly early, going back to 2015. I read the treatment, and then read the shooting script and had a couple of meetings with the Story Group to discuss various ways to go about writing this prequel. I was shown art and then got to see some early footage that informed some of the book. The book is set much earlier than the film, so for me, it was just getting a handle on the characters rather than the plot of the film.

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