Earlier this month, Star Wars fans were cordially invited to the wedding of a certain beloved princess and scruffy-looking Nerfherder—otherwise known as Princess Leia and Han Solo. Set after the events of Return of the Jedi, as the galaxy is coming to terms with the defeat of the Empire and Leia is personally reconciling the reality that Darth Vader was her father and Luke Skywalker is her brother, Beth Revis' The Princess and the Scoundrel welcomes readers into Leia and Han's life as they get engaged, married, and are swept off into a world of danger and adventure on their honeymoon.

If you haven't gotten your hands on a copy of The Princess and the Scoundrel yet, you should absolutely make time this weekend to pick up a copy of this New York Times Bestseller and immerse yourself in this romantic adventure. And while you're at it, you should snag a copy of Revis' Star Wars: Rebel Rising, which is a Rogue One prequel story and a perfect novel to read in the lead-up to Andor.

During our interview with Beth Revis, the author spoke about her contributions to the expansive written world of Star Wars, the process of writing The Princess and the Scoundrel, what it was like to tell a story about Han and Leia, the Easter Eggs included in the novel, and telling a story set aboard the Halcyon, which is the in-world version of Walt Disney World's Galactic Starcruiser.

COLLIDER: Previously you wrote one of my favorite novels, Star Wars: Rebel Rising, and also penned two stories in the From a Certain Point of Views anthologies. What was the process like for landing The Princess and the Scoundrel?

BETH REVIS: When I wrote Jyn Erso’s story in Star Wars: Rebel Rising, I spent a lot of time looking at how the plot of Rogue One showed the character of Jyn, and diving deep into how Jyn as a character works. In a lot of ways, I did the same for the characters I wrote in the anthologies—we all know the plot of Star Wars, and I was merely peeling back the characters behind that plot.

For The Princess and the Scoundrel, I had to take the exact opposite approach—rather than use the plot to understand the characters, I already knew the characters. Han Solo and Leia Organa are arguably the most well-known characters in the entire galaxy--theirs and ours! My challenge for this story became one of analyzing the characters to come up with an entirely new plot. It created a shift in my writing style and a different approach to start from.

I know everyone has different methods when it comes to prepping for a book. I’m a Pinterest connoisseur and playlist maker. Did you have a go-to playlist for The Princess and the Scoundrel? Were there any songs that just screamed Han or Leia to you?

REVIS: Actually, I watched Star Wars Biomes and Star Wars Vehicle Flythroughs over and over again. They’re perfect for setting the mood in writing a Star Wars book! These very short films don’t have words—I can’t listen to music or watch something that has dialogue when I’m writing—but the moody music paired with the glimpses of different Star Wars settings was perfect. I watched these two short films on loop and kept them playing in the background while I worked on the book.

It’s wild to think that The Courtship of Princess Leia is nearly thirty years old. What was it like getting to reinvent that concept with something new, and fresh, and aimed toward a new generation of Star Wars fans?

REVIS: I grew up on Legends books, and I thanked some of my favorites in the acknowledgments of The Princess and the Scoundrel. Being able to add a new story into the galaxy? Mind-blowing. I don’t look at this book as a reinvention, but instead as a different reality—after all, Qui-Gon was right when he said, “Your focus determines your reality.” There are a lot of different stories in this galaxy, and there’s one reality of the many that exist that includes my story. I wanted to reach the people like I used to be, when I was swapping paperbacks on the school bus with my best friend. For me, the Young Jedi Knights served as an introduction into the wider world outside of the movies. I hope that The Princess and the Scoundrel can reach people who may not know the original trilogy as well or who don’t realize that there’s more to the stories beyond the films.

When you’re writing, do you have a fixed end point in sight from the very beginning? Or do you give the characters room to surprise you on the page?

REVIS: With a character like Han Solo, how can there possibly not be surprises while writing? I fully outlined the book before I wrote it, with every intention of following that outline, but I deviated several times, mostly for the sass of it all.

Was there anything that surprised you while writing Han or Leia? Did you come across little quirks or nuances as their voices developed that you hadn’t expected?

REVIS: Getting the voices just right was vital—bantering and bickering are love languages to these two, and if I went off-key with their voices, every reader would know. These are not my characters; Han and Leia belong to everyone who loves them, and I knew I could not get their voices wrong. I tested almost every single line of dialogue with my husband—I made him read Han’s lines out loud, and I read Leia’s, all in an effort to get the tone just right.

What actually ended up surprising me the most while writing, though, was the callbacks to Empire Strikes Back. The book picks up on the same night that Return of the Jedi ends, the smoke from the fires still lingering in the forest. I expected to draw a lot from Return of the Jedi, but many of the emotions pulled from Empire—Han being frozen in carbonite and losing a year that Leia lived became a crucial emotional touch point for them both. I had to carry this dual timeline in my head, that Leia had a whole year alone with the knowledge of her love, that Han is still pretty freshly woken up from his time frozen by the time of the Battle of Endor.

Are there any “Easter Eggs” that you’re excited about readers discovering as they dive into the book?

REVIS: Of course, I made sure to sprinkle in fun Easter Eggs throughout the books! Some are Star Wars specific, and fans will notice little details that may be overlooked by others. I had to throw in a call-back to my first Star Wars novel, including a planet that I got to make up for Rebel Rising in The Princess and the Scoundrel. If you’re a fan of the comics and other books in the fandom, you’ll recognize characters and events—off the top of my head, you may notice a certain Jelucan rebel from Lost Stars, an important panel from the War of the Bounty Hunters comics, and even something from the juvenile novel Smuggler’s Run.

Beyond the Star Wars references, I included an important nod to two of my favorite science fiction authors—Madeleine L’Engle and Ursula K. Le Guin—that I think readers will spot easily. And I hid some friends and family members' names in some of the background characters.

Were there any specific Han and Leia moments you found yourself revisiting either in the films or in the previous novels?

REVIS: It surprised me a lot, but I kept coming back to Bespin. I watched the original trilogy dozens of times to prepare for the book, but the one scene that really stood out to me was Han and Leia on Bespin, before they realize they’ve been lured into a trap, when Leia’s worried and Han kisses her forehead. To me, that’s the shifting point—that’s where love grew, even before either of them was able to say the word. That’s where flirting gave way to serious thought, where confidence in each other became stronger than any self-doubts.

Is it difficult to write Han and Leia in the glow of new love knowing that their marriage, future, and son all end in tragedy?

REVIS: While we may know what happens over the course of these characters’ lives, it’s important to remember that Han and Leia don’t know their own future. Just as it’s important to remember that there is value in love when it exists in the moment. I actually think it’s beautiful to celebrate Han and Leia’s love, even with knowing what will happen in their future—do we deny joy just because we know it will one day end? Of course not. We seize the moments we can; we relish them, in part because we know they cannot last.

What do you hope readers take away from the novel?

REVIS: I truly hope that readers lose themselves in the moment, just like Han and Leia do, and I hope readers take away from this story the same thing Han and Leia get out of it: the knowledge that we must always celebrate love and joy. There’s an ongoing theme of Star Wars that we should never lose hope, no matter how bad things get, and that’s true—but we also need to remember the things that we hope for, and value them whenever we get them, for as long as we can. Star Wars is about hope, yes, but this book takes us past that, to where the hopes are met, where we get to live in the love and joy that is a reward of holding such steadfast hope.

The backdrop of Han and Leia’s honeymoon is the Halcyon. Have you been aboard the Galactic Starcruiser? I recently spoke with the team behind LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation, and they spoke about having access to concept art and details about the ship. Was that something you also got to utilize?

REVIS: While I haven’t been aboard the Halcyon, I feel like I have after studying all the maps and concept art! The really cool thing I was able to do was distance myself from the idea of it as a hotel and think of it in terms of a ship, going beyond the “open” spaces into the forbidden areas of the Halcyon, into the areas where it’s real.

Beyond getting to write, arguably, one of the best Star Wars romances to date, what was your favorite part of getting to bring to life The Princess and the Scoundrel?

REVIS: There was a moment early this year where the book was done, but no one had read it but me. And in that moment, it was like I had my own personal place in a galaxy far, far away. I wasn’t a fiction author; I was a biographer, a silent witness to the greatest love story of all time. And that? That was magical. The only thing better than living in that galaxy with my favorite characters is getting the chance to share it with people who love them as much as I do.

The Princess and the Scoundrel is on sale now. Check out the promo video for the novel below: