The floodgates are about to open when it comes to Star Wars video games. As the EA exclusivity deal for the license expires next year, studios from around the world can pitch their own game in the galaxy far, far Away. However, EA will get one last Star Wars epic out there before the tides change, in Respawn Entertainment's recently revealed Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Jedi: Survivor serves as a direct follow-up to 2019's Jedi: Fallen Order, taking place five years after the events of the first game. Protagonist Cal Kestis has quickly become a favorite amongst fans, with both Disney and actor Cameron Monaghan expressing "interest" in having the character make the jump into live-action.
But before that can happen, Jedi: Survivor has to come out, and gamers have just gotten their first taste of where the game's main character is at this point in the story.
Who is Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor?
In a new interview with StarWarsNewsNet.com, Cal Kestis actor Cameron Monaghan addressed where his character is and what he will have to go through in the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Monaghan said this version of Cal has had to "persist in the face of extraordinary odds" and Jedi: Survivor will see the character "challenged in ways that we haven’t seen" before:
“He is someone who lived through a genocide, a purging of people from his kind, and has been living in hiding for most of his life… To me, a survivor is someone who is able to persist in the face of extraordinary odds, and I think that that’s a lot of what our story is about. We see Cal challenged in ways that we haven’t seen him challenged before, and it brings him to moments that are more difficult than anything that his character has faced. Without giving anything away, I think that it leads to some very interesting questions for Cal, as well as just for this universe in general.”
The actor remarked that throughout the game, fans will "see Cal really change in a lot of very interesting ways:"
“Over the course of this story, we see Cal really change in a lot of very interesting ways. That was a joy to be able to explore with this character. He is a really unique person in this world, and I think that that is something that gets communicated in the story in a way that I think is going to be really interesting and morally complex as well.”
How Will Cal Kestis Change in Jedi: Survivor?
When fans left Cal in Jedi: Fallen Order, things were maybe starting to look up for the character. After years of latent trauma, Cal reclaimed his Jedi identity and learned to channel his powers yet again. But all that is no good in a galaxy where being a force-wielder is illegal.
Just when Cal gets his feet back under him, it seems Jedi: Survivor will pull the Jedi from his comfort zone. When gamers take control of the character next, a great deal will have transpired since his last adventure. In those five years, the Empire's grip on the galaxy will have grown tighter, and the chase to kill any remaining force-user will be even more brutal.
That is why it is interesting to hear that Cal will have to go through even more difficult scenarios than anything seen so far in his story. One has to remember that this is a character who watched his own Jedi master get gunned down by a group of Clone troopers he knew and loved.
Whatever Respawn Entertainment has planned for Cal in Jedi: Survivor, the Star Wars faithful can be sure it will be even more intense and complex than anything before it (especially if rumors are true and the Grand Inquisitor is involved).
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is rumored to release early next year.