I write to ask Lucasfilm and Disney to restart the production of unabridged Star Wars Legends audiobooks. This petition is to show that there is not only a desire for unabridiged audiobooks, but also an active market ready to support new productions.

Our petition:

In April 2014, it was announced that all Star Wars Expanded Universe material up to that point would no longer be a part of the main Star Wars continuity. Everything, except for the Clone Wars TV Show and the original films were given the Legends moniker.

The Star Wars Legends Expanded Universe is as important to many Star Wars fans as the main movies. It represents nearly 40 years of storytelling, which saw the creation of fan-favorite characters including Revan, Mara Jade, Garm Bel-Blis, the Solo Children, and countless more, featured in classic video games, comics, and, as the focus of today's petition, books.

After their initial release, EU books were often converted into audiobook form. However, most of audiobooks do not meet modern standards - the primary issue is heavy abridgement which significantly detracts from the plot and storytelling experience(for those unaware, an abridged audiobook shortens the original story by removing or changing content. Books are condensed into 3 hours, typically, rather than the full 10 to 15+). In the 2000's, Lucasfilm began to create modernized, unabridged, audiobooks of select EU novels, first covering fan favorites like the Thrawn Trilogy/Duology, the Bane Trilogy, the Outbound Flight, Plagueis, and others. However, post-2014, new Legends audiobooks are no longer being released. Dozens, if not hundreds of books remain untouched, including the entirety of the New Jedi Order Arc, most books of the New Republic Era including the Jedi Academy Trilogy, Clone Wars and Old Republic books, and much more.

Audiobooks are a phenomenal way to experience a Star Wars story - they incorporate classic music and sound effects, are fully accessible to disabled fans, and are digestible to even the busy fan who can listen to Star Wars while driving or doing work. Most of the Star Wars EU is covered only by lesser quality abridged audiobooks - I, along with those signing the petition, ask Lucasfilm and Disney to restart the production of new Star Wars audiobooks.

We accept that, for now at least, Legends is not the main continuity or the focus for media production, but EU fans would love their favorite works to be in the best condition possible. The next few months are light on new canon novels, and there are countless narrators who would do a phenomenal job covering Legends material. This petition is to show that there is not only a desire for unabridiged audiobooks, but also an active market who will support any new productions.

Image above via StarWarsExplained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9QyKl6dgA4