Next year will mark no less than 50 years since the release of Star Wars, arguably the most inspiring and defining film in popular culture, both in its own right and for the changes it brought about in the film industry at the time, changes that remain relevant to this day. 2027 will therefore be a very special year for fans of George Lucas's saga - now owned by Disney - and plenty of surprises are expected across almost every area where the franchise has a presence, from comics, books, and TV series to perhaps even a film... and video games. After all, it's been far too long since the team at Respawn has said anything about the third (and final) instalment of Cal Kestis' adventures in the Star Wars Jedi series.
But if there's one person who not only knows Star Wars inside out, but has also played an active part in shaping its universe as we know it today, it's Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and also author of the novels set during the Sith Wars: The Old Republic: Revan and the Darth Bane trilogy. The writer attended this year's 15th edition of the Celsius 232 Festival and took part in a panel to discuss his work and career, and we also had the pleasure of chatting with him at length in an interview, which you can watch with subtitles below.
Although the main focus of the conversation centred on his upcoming game, Exodus, due for release in early 2027 and which embodies both the spirit and features many veterans who worked on Mass Effect at BioWare, Karpyshyn also spoke to us about his time working on KOTOR, and how "that twist" was also a major inspiration for the big plot reveal years later in Mass Effect 2.
"There was a little bit of concern at the start, again, because the scripts, everyone saw it coming. But then we realized the script is only a few pages. It was a very big summary. It's a lot easier. And in practice, it worked very well. Again, some people obviously always see every twist coming. Some people are just like that.
"But for the most people, we think it was a very pleasant surprise and like you said, really knocked people's socks off."
Although Drew isn't involved in any way with the current Star Wars titles in development, he's following one particular project very closely: Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic:
"Even though I'm not involved, I know a lot of the people who are. And Casey Hudson, worked with him a long time at BioWare. Very, very talented, creative. Casey's amazing. So I'm very excited about seeing something that comes sort of in the same spirit that I wasn't involved in. So I will be a fan as well. I won't be spoiled by any of the surprises."
Don't miss the full interview with Drew Karpyshyn above, where we talk about his career, his work on Baldur's Gate II: The Throne of Bhaal, Mass Effect, and much more.