Last summer, Lucasfilm Publishing and Random House Audio gave us Star Wars: Doctor Aphra – An Audiobook Original, which adapted the first handful of arcs of the titular Chelli Lona Aphra’s appearances in Marvel’s Star Wars: Darth Vader comic books in addition to adding some new material like flashbacks to her time at university studying to become the Star Wars galaxy’s preeminent rogue archaeologist.
Now, more than eight months later, author Sarah Kuhn’s (Heroine Complex) script for Star Wars: Doctor Aphra – An Audiobook Original has been printed in a hardcover book titled, appropriately enough, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra from Del Rey.
Other than some minor fresh content like a clever Aphra-style list of “Dramatis Personae” and the usual handy Star Wars novels timeline, the script as presented here represents the excellent audio drama pretty much word-for-word. You don’t get to hear it read by the full cast of talented actors, but I did find this new publication useful in reading along with that existing audiobook. Plus, the existence of Star Wars: Doctor Aphra in printed form means Sarah Kuhn’s interpretation of the story is now accessible to those who might be hearing impaired or otherwise unable to enjoy the audio-only edition.
I also found myself fairly consistently amused by Kuhn’s energetic stage direction, which was not read aloud in the audio drama but is presented here in its entirety. And for someone like me who is always trying to remember how Star Wars characters’ names are spelled, it always helps reinforce that particular orthography if I’m reading said names on a repetitive basis. These are all minor but good reasons to pick up Star Wars: Doctor Aphra in its latest form– a story that went from comic books to audiobook to prose book over the course of half a decade. Will Aphra ever make the transition from the Star Wars publishing world to perhaps an animated series or even a live-action Disney+ show or theatrical movie? There have been plenty of rumors about that eventually happening, but as of yet we don’t have any official word from Lucasfilm. As an outspoken proponent of the character and her misadventures, I’d absolutely love to see such a thing, but as always, only time will tell.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra will become available Tuesday, April 6 from Del Rey and is available for pre-order right now.