On March 17, 2023, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will be arriving on different video game consoles and fans will get to experience the next chapter of Cal Kestis’ story. When they do this, they will get to see what happens to Kestis approximately five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The game will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC and a new trailer was released yesterday.
At the end of the trail, Cal Kestis can be heard saying, “As long as we fight, hope survives.” Cameron Monaghan, who voices Cal Kestis, shared some thoughts on this trailer and what it means.
“I think it’s a great introduction into the scope and the size of this new game. This game is really ambitious in how much it is furthering and progressing not only the gameplay elements from Jedi: Fallen Order, but also furthering the story and the characters as well,” Monaghan says. “We’re starting to see hints as to where that’s going to branch off and what options you’re going to be given as a player.”
The trailer is just the start, however. There will be much more when players experience the game next spring. “As much as the trailer does reveal some really cool and exciting things, it doesn’t give away the whole gist of what we’re going for with this one,” Monaghan says. “I think people are going to be really pleasantly surprised by just how this game progresses and where it goes as you get deeper into it.”
Five years have passed in the storyline since Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the Empire is squeezing its grip and making things harder for everyone. “We have a really dire situation that we find Cal in at the beginning of the game, where he is searching for ways to rebel that are becoming increasingly difficult and perhaps even hopeless. But we have a character that was given meaning and a goal by this resistance, and he was given this hope, and that hope is very hard to extinguish,” Monaghan says. “But what happens when you have hope in a situation that becomes increasingly hopeless? Different people have different ideas about what is the best way to resist.”
This could be perhaps a nod to one of the conflicts that is glimpsed in the trailer. Cere Junta (played by Debra Wilson), a former Jedi who also trained Cal in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, apparently takes issues with Cal’s ways of doing things. “Cere and Cal have this interesting dynamic, where she’s not his formal master, but she is his mentor,” he says. “And, frankly, they have different ideas of how to deal with imperialism and the Empire. In the first game, it was about finding family and what it means to create a family. With this story, a lot of it is to do with ‘What happens when there’s stress on a family?’” The potential for an interesting story is great with these dynamics.
“What we end up finding in the story is a really complicated and exciting development to how we want to approach the character, and I think it is not only exciting, but it’s also emotional and beautiful and treats its audience with a level of respect that I think a lot of people are going to really appreciate.”
Monaghan is a gamer himself who has experience going back to the 80s with Star Wars games. He thinks this new game could have a positive influence on the current generation of gaming consoles. “It’s an honor to be a part of a title releasing now in this generation of consoles with the Jedi series. I think that people have been looking for the titles that really excite them to make the leap on to the next generation,” he says. “Speaking personally, having seen how this game looks and how it runs on the next generation [of consoles], I think it’s going to have people very excited.”
While he wouldn’t go into specifics, Monaghan is very excited about this story. “This is going to be an emotional rollercoaster for people,” he says. “I think that you’d have to be made of stone for it to not hit you in the heart.”
Along with his comments, screenshots were released from the game as well.
What do you think of what you are seeing of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor? Are you excited to play it next spring? What do you think of this interview and the screenshots of the game? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
