Star Wars Outlaws introduces a brand new smuggler character named Kay Vess, but also features a roster of returning faces from the Star Wars movies. Lando Calrissian and a carbonite-frozen Han Solo have both appeared in the game’s trailers, while characters like Jabba the Hutt and Qi’ra return as leaders of some of the criminal underworld Syndicates that players must work with. Lead writer Nikki Foy highlighted the importance of bringing these beloved characters back, emphasizing the team’s responsibility to their fans. “It’s a huge responsibility. I think these are characters that belong to so many people. They’re beloved by them as they’ve grown up with them. Our whole team takes it very seriously when writing for these characters,” Foy told Digital Trends.
Foy specifically addressed the return of Qi’ra, a character most fans will recognize from her appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story, portrayed by Emila Clarke. The film left her character on a bit of a cliffhanger, working for Darth Maul and assuming leadership of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. Star Wars comics have since filled in the gaps of Qi’ra’s activities during the original trilogy, but there was still a lot of potential with the character left untapped. Star Wars Outlaws will be the first time many people will see the character since 2018.
Foy praised the amount of material Lucasfilm provided for Crimson Dawn, which allowed them to create a well-developed character in Qi’ra, who exists alongside Kay Vess. “We’re all nerds and fans of the comics, and we really loved what they were doing with Crimson Dawn, so bringing Qi’ra back was a really fun challenge,” Foy says. “We have all this great material to work with. We know exactly when Star Wars Outlaws is happening; we know the past and what’s going to happen in the future. It sets us up to really make Q’ira and Crimson Dawn exist parallel to Kay and explore how Kay can help them or exploit them, which is fun. It was nice to have a Syndicate that was that fleshed out already.”
Star Wars Outlaws launches for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on July 30.
