Latest / This Dad Reads / A Conversation with Cavan Scott

Transcript

A Conversation with Cavan Scott · This Dad Reads

• Jason Munoz: Welcome to this Dad Beats a Podcast. I'm your host Jason. Today I am joined by a longtime friend of the podcast. He is one of the originators of the High Republic Publishing Initiative and a fan favorite Star Wars author. It is Kevin Scott. Welcome back to the show, Kevin. Cavan Scott: Thanks for having me again. It's great to be back. Jason Munoz: ⁓ yes, of course. So we have a lot to catch up on. haven't seen you since I think San Diego Comic Con, at least in person, 2025. ⁓ A lot has happened since then for the world, for everyone. So I just want to catch up. Like, what's what's new with you? What's what's new with Kevin Scott? Cavan Scott: Yeah, yeah that's right. Well, you're right the world seems to have changed a lot in the last year, but yeah You know, I'm still writing I'm still working on various different things. I've got a couple of Star Wars projects ⁓ Well, once just come out got another one on the horizon ⁓ Still working with my friend George man ⁓ on various different things ⁓ and yeah and preparing to I mean obviously there's a dad aspect to this this show as well and coming up to the point where my youngest is about to leave home and go to university. So we're in the process of trying to work out what life looks like after that. know, after having kids around the house for 20 odd years, we'll certainly have no kids around the house. And it's going to be, it's going to be odd. It's going to be weird. But yeah, so lots going on with that as well. Jason Munoz: I can only imagine as I'm like trying to like tell my kids, so like I need just one hour of silence, please. Well, while I do this, they're they're running amok doing something. ⁓ yeah, right. I do want to get back to that because I have some dad questions about that whole journey. But you mentioned ⁓ a new star. We might as well just jump right into it. Terror on Mustafar is an audible original. It literally just came out. Cavan Scott: Yeah, exactly. Whereas I'm going, no spend more time with me. Spend all the time you can with me. And they're like, no, bye. ⁓ right, fair enough. It's fair. Jason Munoz: So, I mean, I feel like these audible releases have been kind of like just out of nowhere for everyone, but I'm sure for you, you've been working on it for a while. But so just tell me about kind of the history, the impetus for the story, and just a little bit more about the whole thing. Cavan Scott: Sure. Yeah, so this is the second one of those shorts. I mean, it's what? About four hours long, aren't they? They're aimed at younger readers. It was middle grade kind of age. But obviously, like all Star Wars middle grade, it's supposed to be written so anyone can listen to it and enjoy it in this case. Yeah, they came out. Audible has a funny way of marketing, as in they don't do it. So they literally draw on me because Both myself and George Mann have worked for Audible before on various other things, mainly Sherlock Holmes. And there is no promotion period. It's just like, here's a thing and it lands, boom. And that's, you know, for all these Star Wars releases, that's what they do. There was a slight hiccup in Mustafar that it was leaked beforehand because someone, I think, the wrong button and it suddenly appeared somewhere and then it was taken down again. So it was the worst kept secret that it was happening. Jason Munoz: Whoops. Or was that their marketing strategy? Cavan Scott: But yeah, so yeah, exactly. But it came a few years ago now. Again, I think it was New York Comic Con. Mike Scalane asked me if, know, because obviously I've been working quite a lot on the audios from Random House for both for High Republic and then before that Dooku. And audio has been my life for 25 years or more, working in various things. So he asked me, you know, they were going to sign up with Audible to do some exclusives. would I be interested? think originally the plan was to do them as dramas, but then it became that it would be like a prose version. But for the first one I did Jaws of Jakku, we play with it a bit and it's told in the first person. So it reads more like a monologue. This latest one, Terra, Terra Mustafar is a more traditional third person story. But yeah, so it was a very nice situation when Mike said, do you want to do something High Republic? Do you want to do something, you know, something else? And it's interesting because both Jaws and Terra Mustafar, Jaws and Jakku, for me was going back to things because some of the first things I ever did in Star Wars were stories of Rey on Jakku. And likewise, you know, obviously I spent many years for the comics writing the tales from Vader's castle and dealing with Fanny and all those kind of things. So, you know, when I said I said, you know, I was in the middle of like pulling the High Republic together for the end of phase three. And I was like, I don't think I can put my heart and soul into writing something else for the High Republic at the minute because it was all in Cumberton at that point, you know. And I wanted to write more Star Wars, but I was like, can I write something that's not, you know, in that period? So they said yes, as long as it's going back to Jakku and as long as it's going back to Mustafar. But I mean, that's no problem, you know, for Jakku. We've talked about this before. Jakku and Rey. Jason Munoz: Yeah. See you less. Cavan Scott: For my kids, know, my kids now, as I mentioned, both, my eldest has gone to drama school, my youngest is about to go to uni. They both at 20 and 18 have pictures of Rey on their wall still, you know. So it's, her, for them, she is Star Wars, you know, that she was their entrance, that and Rebels were their entrance in Star Wars. And so anything I can write with Rey going back to that planet, obviously that one sets slightly later in the timeline. So it's... Jason Munoz: Love it. Yeah. Cavan Scott: set just before Rise of Skywalker. She goes back, literally, it's a return to Jakku. ⁓ Yeah, that's a little bit of a love story for them. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to write it from the point of view of a kid who meets Rey and looks up to her as being a hero, because that's what I live with. ⁓ And yes, my eldest at drama school, largely because of Rey, largely because of the two things. were Daisy Ridley as Rey and Jodie Whittaker as Doctor Who. Those were the two things that made my eldest one to be an actor. then yeah, Terror on Mustafar. It's a Halloweeny type story, which we released in May, but you know, it's Halloween every day as far as I'm concerned. Again, a bunch of kids, in this case, Imperial cadets, who hero worship, a different kind of hero worship, a Imperial cadet or a scout actually. He's not even a cadet yet. who worships Vader, worships the ground Vader stomps over and then comes face to face with Vader and realises that perhaps the hero worship was slightly misjudged. So yeah, so it was a case of returning to places which was quite good fun. But I love writing middle grade, I love writing for kids. There's actually not a lot of difference in writing Star Wars for middle grade and writing for adults because you have to have a venture in my views. You have to have intrigue, you have to have emotion and that's what you need for middle grade as well. So it's the lens you're looking at Star Wars through, the filter is slightly different when you're writing for kids. But yeah, there are a lot of fun writing those books. Because again, you still write them like a book. It's still written in exactly the same way. But you've always got half a mind that someone's going to have to read this. And of course, for... Tara, it was Mark Thompson, the great Mark Thompson. So I was always, always hoping when I knew that I was writing Vader that he'd be doing the voice, but he's great. He's so good. Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. That's actually what I was going to ask. was going to say, do you know that Mark's on board like when you sign on or does that kind of inform the way that you write knowing who your narrator is going to be or maybe you don't know who the narrator is going to be? Or does it change anything? Cavan Scott: No, don't know. I mean, we knew in the High Republic that obviously Mark was going to do all the main sort of adult novels. And his voice for Mark Eon Roe absolutely influenced Mark Eon Roe by the end, you know, because he became the performance for it. I mean, I've worked with Mark on things beyond Star Wars as well. I wrote some stories for Weird Tales and asked for Mark to do the audiobooks for them, you know. So it's... He's great. He's phenomenal. But yeah, I had no, I say I had a hope that it would be Mark. ⁓ He doesn't do a lot of those sort of like the original ones. But again, I think when it's Vader, you want someone who can sound like Vader and boy can you, I mean, he can sound like anyone. It's ridiculous. ⁓ And so I was very glad, very glad when he was the voice. But yeah, I didn't know until it was advertised the first time incorrectly. ⁓ I had no idea it was Mark. Jason Munoz: Yeah. ⁓ really? So you didn't hear any previews? You didn't get any sort of heads up? Wow. OK. Marked in DMU and OK. Cavan Scott: So that was... No. No, not at all. So yeah, for this one I didn't hear a thing. Yeah, but it's fine. means I get to experience it, you know, for the first... By the time I've heard it, I've forgotten it. So it's like, you know, that's actually quite nice. Yeah, it did. And it really did. I so yeah, I sat down and listened to it while I was driving and doing all, know, washing up and stuff and listening to it like everyone else does. Jason Munoz: Sure. It was like it was brand new. Cavan Scott: And again, was the first of all, if it was, if I'd known it was Mark, I probably would have written in a certain way because I know how Mark says things. at the same time, you never know how he's going to say something. You know, you never know the little bit of ⁓ emphasis you do when you write Invader and you know what, you know, because he obviously has the pattern and the timber and everything off of Pat. But like with any kind of performance. Jason Munoz: Okay, yeah. Cavan Scott: Because those books are performances as well. It's not a straight read. mean, it's definitely a performed by. There's always going to be something that will surprise you. And I used to have this when I used to write Doctor Who and those voices I literally grew up with, you know, of the doctors from the 80s. There'll be moments I'd write them lines and know exactly how they would say the word TARDIS and exactly how they would say the companion's name or something like that. But then they'd surprise you because they're the doctor and you've just written words in their mouth. But they would say something. and it just takes on a new life. And so that's why I love doing anything in audio. And as I'm moving more into animation and things like that, it's very similar discipline. It's those little moments of performance that essay, it's a life that you never expected. There can be something, an emphasis placed on a word that you wouldn't have expected, but from that moment on, you can never not read it in those words. So same with like the High Republic books. the ones that are obviously written as prose novels. There are moments now that I can't read them back without hearing the performer perform them. Jason Munoz: Yeah, and that's like a whole other level of collaboration and like artistry, right? That comes into it that you can't plan. That's like something that happens outside of you. And then the listener is going to even interpret it a different way, too. So that I'm sure that makes it even more fun. Cavan Scott: No. Yeah, and you know, just to explain, most of the time with audiobooks, you don't have any kind of contact with it. It's something that happens after you're done and you're finished on a book. Audio drama is different because you're quite often involved in the process and there's that edits and that kind of thing. With my last audio for Star Wars, Tempest Breaker, I was definitely more involved in it because my daughter's in it. So, you know, so I went into the recording. I mean, I'm in it as well. I play a droid. Jason Munoz: Mm. Cavan Scott: I'm a butler droid. I say about three lines ⁓ and No, so I'm the drug there's a bit when when Lawned he goes to a ball that Mark in rows gonna be out There's a droid that comes up it goes drinks madam, and that's me ⁓ and I get killed later on I Don't think I'm credited. No, I'm just I'm there my daughter is my daughter's credited Jason Munoz: I don't think I knew that. Was that uncredited? Are you in there? Are you in the credits? Okay, okay. Now everyone's gonna have to go listen back. Yeah, that's so cool. Cavan Scott: It says she plays a padawan and I literally killed my baby in that story. Spoilers. But yeah, but it was great. I for that was a different experience for me because again, when she started to do drama, she used to do stage. So I used to see her all the time. Now she does screen stuff and I don't get to see it very often when she's at drama school, because it's all stuff they do in course. So it was brilliant to be able to go into the booth with her and see her perform. Because again, I don't get to see it so much these days. Jason Munoz: Ha Cavan Scott: So yeah, but with audio drama, you do spend more time talking about pronunciations, which can be controversial in Star Wars. And, you know, so there is more collaboration there. But yeah, with audio books across beyond Star Wars as well, you very rarely have any choice. You know, you don't know till it arrives. Jason Munoz: Sure. That's kind of a good distinction because I feel like these audible ones have been a little bit confusing because they are only in audio. So I think some people might interpret them as being audio dramas, but they're not. They're audio books that aren't really book, that aren't books. But their original audio, yeah. Cavan Scott: No, they're audio books. mean, yeah, I mean, so it's, yeah, I mean, it's the books written for audio first, basically, I think that's the way to put it. I mean, again, you write them, I write them in a way that I know it's gonna be spoken. So, and you do put a little bit of sound effects in there as well, but what you can't do is obviously you have to... Jason Munoz: Yeah. Yeah. Cavan Scott: You have to explain everything. Whereas in an audio drama, you let the action and the sound effects and the music do all, you there will, there might be, and this is not inside knowledge. don't know. One day there could be a book of these. I don't know if there will be, but it's written in a way that if it, you know, if it happened, you know, that that would be fine. Whereas obviously with the audio dramas, it's when they are printed, it's printed as a script because there is no... Jason Munoz: that it would work, yeah. Right. Cavan Scott: Because some people say to me, you why don't you just print your original book you wrote for the dramas? Because it was never a book. Except for in Germany where they novelize Dooku. that was a shock for me. And I don't think they were supposed to. I don't think they were supposed to novelize it, but they did. The next one definitely wasn't novelized. Yeah, yeah. The next one was definitely a script. Jason Munoz: It wasn't a book. Yeah. Interesting. Wow. Okay. Is that still on the market? Okay. So like you said before, every day is Halloween for you and Tara on Mustafar definitely kind of lives in that realm. Like I was definitely getting Tales from Vader's Castle vibes here. Do you kind of imagine this, like, I know those things are kind of non-canon and I know that's probably not in your mind all the time when you're writing, but I know for the fans, it's always very important to like make connections and to do those types of things. How much does that kind of sit in your brain as you're writing this, like kind of a canonical ver- story versus kind of what you've done before? Is it all kind of live in the same head universe for you? Cavan Scott: yeah, so nothing in terror contradicts anything you've seen in Tales from Vader's Castle. I mean, I have a very loose idea of what canon is and should be. ⁓ And again, I think this is largely from being, you know, the three things I loved when I was growing up were, you know, James Bond, Doctor Who and Star Wars. Now one of those has a canon, the others it's a bit like me. You know, ⁓ and especially Doctor Who, it's never had a canon. Me and George worked on a book when we had to do ⁓ the official history of the Dalek race as if it was a historical record. ⁓ It's really hard because they have three origin stories that are completely contradictory. ⁓ And you can get away with it. Time travel, time you want me. But yeah, that show never had a continuity, never had a canon. ⁓ Jason Munoz: Right. Cavan Scott: it grows and it adapts in it. I am also someone who loves expanded media of all kinds. ⁓ And I love it when the expanded media doesn't quite link up to something. mean, one of my favourite moments in all this kind of work, the kind of work I do, it's nothing that is years before I was working in it. In Star Trek, when DC Comics used to do a Star Trek comic, they put one out after Star Trek 3. ⁓ where the crew of the Enterprise get the Excelsior and Spock's fine and there's a Klingon on the crew that's in Starfleet and the Excelsior's got a cloaking device and they go and have these wonderland ventures because they thought that's what would happen and then they find out that the next film starts two days after the last film and the crew of the Enterprise haven't got the Excelsior they're still stuck on Vulcan Spock's brain's mashed There is definitely not a Klingon in Starfleet. So they had to jump through so many hoops to get them back off the Excelsior to give Spock a... And I love all that stuff. I mean, I also love the bit where things just get overwritten and then you just have to try and, know, it's one of the reasons I do this job because I have that, I love that fan mentality of going, how does that work? How does this fit with that? And anyone who's read any of my Star Wars stuff, my canon stuff, knows that I'm forever trying to sneak legends stuff into it, or as I like to call it, the EU, because I still can't call it legends. Because for me, that exists, that's out there. ⁓ It's not in a room over there, it's just like, yeah, in my head, all of those stories exist. Even if they, in my head, Leia and Han had the twins and then they also had Ben. And it was just like, yeah, okay, cool. Jason Munoz: Yes. Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: Somehow I can make that work. And I love the knots you get tied into as fans trying to work all that stuff. And again, being a comic reader, you only have to read DC and Marvel to see how continuities just change. Read DC comics and every few years there's going be a new Batman. But it's going to be the same Batman as before. And he's got all the experience, but he's never had those. And like James Bond. Jason Munoz: I was gonna say, you're used to it. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Cavan Scott: the fact that we're supposed to believe that Daniel Craig is the same person as Roger Moore. But actually it's not anymore because it's, yeah, I love it. I love that stuff. So, but I do, you know, also I don't go in it willy-nilly and try and break things, but I will, so I will try and make it work. But it's like the Jackson stories. I try and make it work to every version of the Jackson timeline. So, you know, sometimes it's a bit different. I mean, we're going to see it in... I've got Jackson story coming up in a graphic novel later in the year. It's the one I was talking about the project. We're working on the art, the minute. This is sort of the first time Jackson and Han meet in canon. But obviously we know that they met differently in the Marvel run, which is sort of different to the EU anyway, even though it's sort of the same. And so, yeah, so that there is a contradiction there, but at the same time. I've tried to put in little hints that, know, somewhere in the force, those two experiences meet up. And if they don't, they don't. It's fun. Jason Munoz: I love, thank you for saying that. was thinking that the entire time you were answering that question is like, Star Wars should be fun, right? I think all storytelling and like media, that's the point and that it's entertainment for a reason. So I think sometimes people like make it too precious or they kind of hyper-focus on things that are too specific or too maybe limiting to their own enjoyment. So I love that you as a creator in this space as like a professional writer for Star Wars, like you. I love that you hold that imbalance so well because I feel like you know what the responsibility is and what the people are expecting and what they want, but you kind of have this open hand philosophy, right? I love that. Cavan Scott: Yeah, there's one of the script editors on Doctor Who, Robert Holmes in the 70s and he used to say, don't let continuity get in the way of a great story. And that explains so much about Doctor Who. And again, I also know what it's like to be the fan sitting there going, but no, no, no, no, that can't happen. No, no, no, no, no. The enterprise wouldn't have that there, discovery, you know, but then I sort of catch myself and go. Jason Munoz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You Cavan Scott: yeah but what am I talking about it's a spaceship that travels through space at warp speed and that you know and and I always think back to there was again sorry to keep mentioning Doctor Who on a Star Wars podcast but ⁓ there's a Christmas special Doctor Who which was the only time I ever watched Doctor Who with my mum who has a complete she doesn't like anything fantasy or science fiction it's completely against Jason Munoz: Yeah. Cavan Scott: Everything she likes but Christmas Day we'd sit down and watch Doctor Who because it was on and there what she didn't have a choice And I remember there was this entire scene where there's been like robots Santa Claus firing missiles out of like tubers and trombones you've had the TARDIS flying down the M4 motorway through Britain and all this stuff going on and then the doctor jumps from the flying TARDIS to a taxi cab that's driving along the motorway, the highway. And that was the point she went, ⁓ as if. None of the rest, you know. The flying police box, yeah, that's fine. You know, but the fact he could jump from one thing to another. And again, it's those moments when you go, ⁓ yeah, no, it's silly, isn't it? It's silly. It's silliness we take seriously. And I think that's the point. You know, you have to take it seriously. I can't be... Jason Munoz: This is so unrealistic. Yeah, yeah. Cavan Scott: flippant when I work in any these things, whether it's Star Wars or, you know, Assassin's Creed or all these things, because people love this stuff and, you know, and I love this stuff and I get it. I get when people get cross because I get cross about things. But then I think there is the moment you have to go, yeah, okay, but, you know, and, and it's, yeah, you know, and and Wizards in Space are really important and Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's Wizards in Space. 100%. Yeah. Cavan Scott: The emotions are important and the stories are important and people spend a lot of money on these things. know, they invest a lot of time in these things. But at the same point, know, personally for me, I have to remember to get a bit of perspective because I can't take everything that seriously because my head would explode. Jason Munoz: Right, yeah, great philosophy for life everyone. You heard it from Mr. Scott himself. ⁓ Speaking of that, I'm gonna go back a little bit to what you talked about ⁓ when you were talking about your daughter and their inroads to Star Wars. And I think this is a great segue because I feel like having kids and having a different perspective on something that you love and viewing something through their eyes. Can kind of be a great reminder of those things and I know there's a lot of Star Wars to come this year for fans I know the Mandalorian and Grogu movie is coming out very soon and I that to me is like a that's gonna be I think that's my kids in road to Star Wars like my daughter has never seen This is gonna be the first original Star Wars movie that we're all gonna go see in the theater together She's we saw Return of the Jedi the 40th anniversary together. She's seen Star Wars and been around it But again because of her age, she hasn't seen everything ⁓ And my son, has not been an original Star Wars movie in the theaters for like seven years. So there's just been no opportunity for that. Obviously there's been TV shows. So all that to say, ⁓ it's so cool as a parent to see like what their on-ramp to something that you love is. And so I think this is going to be it for them. We went to the, don't know what, I want to hear what you did on May the 4th, if you did anything fun, but for me, the fourth for us. are the cinemas here in the States did like a special 25 minute preview of the Mandeloyne and Grogu. It was free, but it was kind of first come first serve. So we got to see the first 25 minutes and it got them so excited. And I was just like a proud father, like watching them be so excited to see Grogu and these characters that are, I think that's going to be the, that's going to be hooray. Like Grogu and Mando are going to be some kids out there in Rose of Star Wars when I think that's so cool. Cavan Scott: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, to be fair, Armie the fourth was kidless because they were off going off to do Star Wars things. So, you know, they don't need me to do that anymore. You know, it was, you know, so I think Chloe had a marathon. think she watched Empire Return, Rogue One and Solo. I think she said she watched. ⁓ Jason Munoz: Okay, okay. Right, right. Amazing. Cavan Scott: Yeah, I mean, and Rebels was playing somewhere else in the house here. And then we had a family barbecue because everyone was off doing Star Warsy things. So it was, yeah, it was, ⁓ so I mean, it's grown beyond the family unit now, you know, and it was completely, they discovered it themselves. I tried for years. They discovered it through Rebels. And then, yeah, then ⁓ the Force Awakens hit and they were just the right age, you know, eight and 10. That was it. Jason Munoz: That's awesome. Cavan Scott: They were just the moment we came out of that movie, BB8 for my youngest Chewie. mean, her room was a shrine for Chewie. Now it's all very Instagram ready and stuff. that's like, there's still some Chewie action figures in there and there's a Ray poster on the wall. But it's just all very nicely done now. ⁓ You know, yeah, it was there. You know, I just remember memories of driving. Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: and they're playing rebels in the back, which is them, this game they made up of if they saw a red car, that was Imperial, and if they saw a yellow car, that was the Rebellion. And so they would cheer or boo. So many things like that. again, you're right, seven years. So seven years ago, they were much younger. We went to see Rise of Skywalker, Connie, my youngest is in full Wookie onesie. Jason Munoz: Nice. Cavan Scott: whatever problems I had sometimes as a storyteller and a fan for things. So yeah, there were moments in Rise of Skywalker I loved, there were moments in Skywalker I didn't love, but I loved the experience of watching it. Not so much at the point when we thought Chewie had died, because I thought I was going to have to remove someone who was crying so much. You know, was thank God that he was only dead for a few minutes. ⁓ Spoilers, but... Jason Munoz: ⁓ no. Cavan Scott: Yeah, I mean, I will never forget the experience of watching that because for them, it was like me going to see Return of the Jedi. They were so excited and they will not have a bad word said against that movie. It's like me when friends say, well, the Ewoks are a bit crap, aren't they? You know, it's like, what are you saying? And so, and they know, I mean, I said, my oldest is at drama school. She's doing film studies there. She knows about filmmaking. She knows about storytelling. She knows about some of the issues, some of the structure might have. Jason Munoz: How dare you. Cavan Scott: cannot say anything bad about that movie because for her it's about sitting in that chair watching that film the entire experience of it. That's important and again when I look back at watching Rise I forget all the stuff around it and I remember afterwards back when I was on things like Twitter I went on and said you know Thank you. had a great time with my family and people piled on immediately. ⁓ could you have a great time? It was like, did you not miss the second part of that sentence with my family? know, where we're sitting there with popcorn. We're sitting there, as I said, with a Wookie. You know, we've all got Star Wars t-shirts on with all those fans and that experience, you know, driving to the cinema with John Williams music playing, know, driving back with it still playing, all those things. That's the important bit. That's the Jason Munoz: with my E.S. Yes. Exactly. Cavan Scott: the bit that now when I watch Rise of Skywalker again, which I still do, there are moments then I think about it through that filter and through that lens. ⁓ And so yeah, for me, that sequel era, whatever happens now, the sequel era is really important to me, because that was the era my kids grew up in Star Wars, you know? And then that has, yes, that's completely become, like my eldest is Grogu mad. I've just spent a month and a half. Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: Lino cutting her a ⁓ grogu for a wall and she's still again everything's grogu so she is beside herself about next week. But again it all comes from again it comes from Rebels you know she she met Ahsoka through Rebels she had no idea what the Clone Wars was she went back and and for her it was a really weird thing because there was like that was a weird Ahsoka in the Clone Wars you know she had to come she had to learn that that was Ahsoka before Ahsoka you know so Jason Munoz: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cavan Scott: Because to her, Ahsoka was the character she met in Rebels. But again, isn't that what it's all about? For me, when I started watching The Clone Wars, I was like, this isn't my Star Wars. But it soon became my Star Wars. And we all have those moments. And yeah, for her, was like she looked at The Clone Wars and went, that's not Rebels. And now loves The Clone Wars because it all comes around and we all get... This is what I always say to people online. Jason Munoz: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Cavan Scott: if I'm not online so much these days. But if people are arguing about Star Wars, it's like, I can guarantee we have more in common than we argue about, you know, because we all come back to three movies pretty much, you know, no matter where you are in Star Wars, everything comes back to that original trilogy. And ⁓ you can be guaranteed that any Star Wars fan, if they're truly a Star Wars fan, will be able to agree on things like that. ⁓ Jason Munoz: thousand percent. Cavan Scott: And so, and then all the noise around it, it's just noise, you know. And also, it's also opinion and opinions are good. That's why we're fans, you know. And you can love one thing. There's parts of Star Wars I don't love. There's parts of Star Wars I absolutely adore. And that's fine. That's just life. There's too much Star Wars to like everything, basically. Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Exactly. It's so true. And I always say Star Wars is for everyone, but not every single piece of Star Wars is going to be everyone's favorite, you know? Yeah. Cavan Scott: Exactly. ⁓ It's, yeah, it's, but again, it always comes, and it usually comes down to family and friends. I mean, that's where it comes down to, you know, it's usually a connection. It's, you've either seen it with friends, you've seen it with family, you talk to your friends about it, you talk to family, you know, and that's when it always comes back to. Jason Munoz: 100%. Yep. 100%. And yeah, I even going back to like the High Republic. I mean, I feel like that was another just kind of marked moment for me and my love of Star Wars. And that's always going to be my friends that I made online and around like those are now like my friends that I consider real friends, including people like you and the authors. And I feel like there was just a really special time where ⁓ that that was happening. And to me, that's another just like core memory of Star Wars for me now. And I even I Cavan Scott: Yeah. It's weird to me that it is a memory. It's still odd, but you're exactly, you know, you're exactly right. I mean, it was, it got us through a really tough time. Let's face it, you know, we launched that in pandemic and so it got us through a really tough time. It gave us something to focus on as right as it gave us something to focus on. And it's weird now because I have sort of the wider thing of when I look at the high Republic now, Jason Munoz: Ha ha ha ha Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: Obviously there are so many big memories of it. You know, there's the conventions, there's the panels, there's the launches. But now actually I just think of like 10 or 11 people that I worked on it with, you and that's the important bit. And we still see each other and we all talk to each other and we still meet up virtually as far as we can because we're all on different countries now. Claudia now lives in Europe and we've all moved around. But then when we can, we see each other. I mean, a few weeks ago, I was showing Charles and his wife around Bristol, you know, and we've got that connection which we're never gonna lose, you know. the other day my phone beeps and it's Daniel, you know, it's all those kind of things. And now that's what I look back with, you know. When I think of the High Republic now, everything we did was incredible and it literally has changed all our lives. But for the best part has been that group of people who are working together. Jason Munoz: Mm. Right. Cavan Scott: falling out over things and working out how to solve problems and dealing with this explosion of interest in this thing that we didn't think was going to be as big as it was or last as long as it did and all those kind of things. Yeah, I think that's the bit I'll always look back on. And I'm literally looking over there and there's the picture of us all sitting in Skywalker Ranch. Yeah, for me personally, obviously that's the thing. As well as I say, the wider thing of... Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: meeting people like you going to those conventions and people come up to you. Even today, we have meetings. So George and I have this sort of creative consultancy production company. We go into meetings with people at studios and they go, oh God, we're High Republic fans. so it's, when you're not there to talk about Star Wars, it's crazy, but it happens all the time. And you realize how far that went. Because again, it's when you're in the middle of it, it feels really small. Jason Munoz: ⁓ love it. Cavan Scott: even no matter how big it feels, it feels really small. And so it's always a shock where people go up and get, know, or people are still discovering it. Yeah. I mean, most weeks go by and someone says, I'm just starting to read The Rising Storm and I'm so sorry. ⁓ know, and I can say, I'm so sorry if you hate it or love it. That's a good thing. ⁓ And, you know, people are discovering these books. I think I don't, I don't think I'd really got my head around that bit as well that Jason Munoz: Yeah. Ha Right Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we'll continue to. Cavan Scott: People are starting the higher public now, you know, and just again, I suppose, yeah, yeah. Just like people are picking up the, you know, the EU stuff, you know, reading Zan for the first time and that kind of thing. It's like, again, that's what I love about this bonkers universe that we're so obsessed with in Star Wars with so much history and all these books over, know, so many stories, so many stories. There's always gonna be someone Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: finding them for the first time and going or and be able to go or if you like that you should go and read this and if you like that read that because that's bonkers that's weird ⁓ you know and yeah I love it I love it that's the thing that I always forget that I'm now the stories that I've written a part of that because I still haven't quite worked that bit out that they're in all part of the big tapestry so when people come up I go ⁓ god right ⁓ right yeah by the way you should probably read that book as well now and that one I didn't write that one so read that one you know yeah Jason Munoz: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I would ⁓ I designed like those character word shirts and it has like all the the nine from the final book. So it's like Avar, Elzar, sorry, Avar. ⁓ Yeah. So all of the characters from the final book and I was wearing it on casual Friday at my office. And this person in the break room was like, so what is that? Is that like Cavan Scott: Yeah. Yeah. Jason Munoz: I was like, ⁓ that's from there's actually a whole timeline of Star Wars that was like fully in publishing. So these are some of the main big characters. She was like, ⁓ my gosh, that is so cool. I didn't even know that that existed. That's amazing. And I was like, I'm going to keep educating everyone person by person that this exists. Cavan Scott: Yeah, yeah. And God bless you for that. you know, and what a world they've got. And again, they've got so many different routes they can take. If they try the High Republic and they don't like it, well, there's so many other things they can try, you know, and if they try that and they don't like it, well, perhaps they can come back to what we, you know, there's, that's what I love about it now. It's just, there are so many routes through this. I mean, hyper paths, you know, it's like, it's really exciting that, you know, and Jason Munoz: 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cavan Scott: the majority if you think it's really unusual for a franchise the majority of what's published is available you know and because there are so many franchises where you can't get old stuff you know you can't get you know but the fact that they've most star wars books stay in you know in some form or another stay in public in publication ⁓ and that's incredible it's amazing because and it's obviously it's the genius of george lucas and genius of star wars that is the you know the basis of all of that Jason Munoz: Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. In print. Yeah. Yeah. Cavan Scott: But we're really lucky as a phantom that that exists and that you can access all of these things really easily. Nothing really goes away to misquote Luke because you can always usually find it. yeah, a few rare things that, know, here and there. But for someone coming into this, it's incredible. You know, the fact they've got so much choice and they can just go down one route or they can do it all depending on how much time they have in their lives. Jason Munoz: 100%. Exactly. Sometimes I'm jealous of them. I'm like, man, I wish I could go back. I mean, I guess you can at any time, but you can't unremember all the things you already know. I just sometimes I'm jealous of people like, oh, you're to go. You're going to go. You're ready for such a journey. You're going to go on a journey. And that's what I think was so special to about the higher public. And it just was this like confluence of of IP that people loved. But also, like, I feel like book people and readers really felt like they were being seen and. Cavan Scott: Mmm. Mmm. No, because no. Yeah, yeah. Jason Munoz: nurtured and I feel like that's kind of a corner of the internet of the world. It's definitely grown and it's different now, like books and I feel like I love that it's so popular, but in this specific fandom, felt like readers were being cared for. And I feel like I echo what you said about continuing to be close with your friends on the authorship side, because I have the same thing with my friends that we made discovering and reading and talking about the series. are the people who are constantly in my life. I text messaged them, I visited them. They're all around the world too. And so I think it was just like a special time of bringing people together. Cavan Scott: Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think as a fandom, are so fortunate as readers because I don't think there are many other franchises that cater to readers as well as Star Wars does. I mean, there are obviously lots of beloved universes that have lots of fiction and have had for years. know, but again, when you look at the sheer amount, I mean, I think that is for me the big three of Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who, you know, nothing. other than those three. There are obviously other fandoms that have a lot of things but if you're in one of those three fandoms you are so blessed because you have 50-60 years worth of material across all three ⁓ that you can just dive into and as they go down as many rabbit holes, green rabbit holes that you want. ⁓ It's incredible. Jason Munoz: Yeah. Cavan Scott: when you think about it, that when you come back, it's hard when you're trying to write it because you're like, ⁓ my God, there's 60, 70 years of content here. But, you know, it's, how do you write a story that no one's told before? Well, it's really difficult because there have been so many stories told. But again, what you've got to do at that point is go, well, how did those stories make me feel? And then, so you spend more time worrying about how it makes you feel. Jason Munoz: Yeah, yeah. Hmm. Cavan Scott: than it does about, am I going to be able to tell an original story? Because largely, you're probably not going to be able to tell a completely 100 % original story because there's been so many. But what you've got to do is try and tell, know, what did I feel like when I first read Splinter from the Mind's Eye and that kind of thing? When I first walked in and saw Dark Empire in the comic store, when I first read, you know, Heir to the Empire, that's what I want to hopefully bring out in people because it... That for me is the most important thing. What's it feel like when you're picking up and you're reading that book or that comic or listening to that thing or watching that TV program or watching that film? Does it, the work I've done, it make me feel the same way as I did when I was seven, 15, 21, you know? Because we all change and we all grow in our tastes and what we like. But again, you can always remember those moments, you know? ⁓ across anything you're enthusiastic. Jason Munoz: well, speaking of other things that you enthusiastic about, let's talk about some non-Star Wars things that you are working on, that you have released recently or you have coming up that you can talk about. ⁓ What other projects are kind of on your plate now? Cavan Scott: What can I talk about? So, this is always the question, Jason. So that was the biggest thing outside of Star Wars that I can talk about. I have a Masters of the Universe mini-series coming out from Dark Horse, which again, one of those things, I always joke that my to-do list is the same now as when I was 10. And for me, He-Man was, I mean, he was up there always and he's never, he's never really gone away. Jason Munoz: the Cavan Scott: I can't believe there's a, you know, I'm one of those guys going, what? There's a movie this year. They're doing a movie of ⁓ George and I, as I say, work on a lot of tabletop gaming products and things like that. And universities, there's a special There's a new game over here called Conflict 47 which is a weird World War 2 series of games, tabletop gaming, war gaming. We're working on that quite a lot with them about expanding that into a wider universe. And then the other thing I can talk about is my graphic novel Godfather of Hell which comes out from Volt in August. Now this was something that was coming out a couple of years ago as a normal monthly comic but then Diamond went bankrupt to the people who distribute comics and it all went a bit crazy. ⁓ And so we pulled it from the shelves and we're putting it out as a graphic novel in August this year, which is a very different to the kind of stuff you know, if you read Terror of Mustafrini at that age, you probably shouldn't read Godfire of Hell. It's a neo-noir thing, yeah, exactly. It's about someone who's a enforcer for the mob who ends up on the wrong side of a bullet. Jason Munoz: From the title alone, probably. Cavan Scott: gets sent to hell because he's done some very bad things, meets the devil's down there and realizes, oh my goodness, hell's just a racket and I can do well here. And they go, oh, we need someone who can go and enforce debts. You're the man for the job. So that's been a lot of fun. We're working on that. We're closing that out in a minute. That comes out in August. And other than that, I can't say. mean, there is some other stuff going on, but as always with these things. yeah, it's there's so many plates spinning, so many, ⁓ things in the air, but, yeah, those are the sort of three things. So there's the Jackson graphic novel I talked about from mad cave, ⁓ scoundrels and smugglers. There's Godfather of Hell for a slightly older reader. There's He-Man for a slightly younger reader. And there's the gaming stuff I'm doing with Warlord games. Yes, exactly. Jason Munoz: Awesome. Something for everyone. That mad cave one is this summer, right? I think. Cavan Scott: Yes, I think September. so Yeah, I think I think it's September. So we're Christian who's doing the art is incredible. It's got this real sort of crazy Animated style to it comes out. It's a graphic novel. So it's about 180 pages. I think He's finishing up the art at the minute And it's yeah, it's great. It's a load of fun. It's the say it's the first meeting you see the first meeting of Han and Jackson Jason Munoz: ⁓ OK, September, OK. Yes, I love that. Cavan Scott: It has just about every bounty hunter you can think of in there. Jabba has a problem. He gets in a load of smugglers and bounty hunters and somehow Han and Chewie and Jackson get pulled into that, into a bounty hunter race. When I was asked to do it by Mike, he wanted something with sort of wacky races in Star Wars. And I think it's certainly got that kind of element to it. But at the center of it all, you've got the fact that you've got Jackson. Han and from the moment they meet they rub each other up the wrong way But from the moment they meet Chewie can realize that there's something there and Chewie can see that there's a friendship that if only it could come out Because Chewie's wise and Chewie knows everything So so yeah, that's it's gonna be a lot of fun I think and the the Luke graphic novel that comes around the same time that Greg Pax written that's about that's superb as well. So Jason Munoz: ⁓ yeah. Cavan Scott: Yeah, Malko is going to be doing some really cool things with Star Wars. Slightly younger maybe than what we saw with Dark Horse and IDW, but not that much. And again, all age, so you know, it's very much written in the fact that if you want a fun Star Wars romp, know, those are going to be the graphic novels. Jason Munoz: That's awesome. Nice. I was really excited when they announced that Mad Cave kind of is entering with those types of titles because I miss those. I love the animated style. Anything that's always super close to my heart, like anything animated. Like I'm looking at my Batman animated series collection of toys, like anything stylized like that Disney infinity. I really loved the figures. They look they just remind me of that. That like harkens back to my like animation love from my childhood. So I'm so excited for this. Cavan Scott: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it's and also again, we start ⁓ the fandom young readers, you know, the fandoms always need new and that's when going back to when IDW launched Star Wars adventures, which sort of like went into then went into Dark Horses and now is going into Mad Cave. ⁓ The best were doing sign ins and having parents bringing up their kids, you know, to sign these comments. ⁓ The reason still writing Jackson's, you know, I've been writing him to what? Jason Munoz: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Cavan Scott: 2018 is that when we brought him back? The reason people say to me, ⁓ God, you're doing Jackson again. It's like, cause kids love him, you know, as I knew they would and kids read those books and you know, and they, need kids to read those books. We need them to be able to, know, because they can't always pick up the Marvel Star Wars books, you know, nor should they, know, again, and we need books like the Marvel books for a different kind of reader, but we definitely need and the comic industry in general. needs early reader comics, you know, because we need to teach kids how to read comics because it is a certain, you know, there are some people, so many people come to me from the high republic and said, the high republic was the first, my first step into comics, which I love, you know, but then they say, I had no idea how to read them, you know, because they never really read them. And if you've grown up with comics, you go, what? But actually when you think about it, they've got their own, you know, Jason Munoz: Mm hmm. Cavan Scott: their own flow, their own pace, know, way of working, you know, obviously the art and the words together. And so we need kids to read them from it because you haven't got that thing anymore of kids going into the drugstore and going, I'm going to pick up a copy of Superman or whatever, because that doesn't exist anymore in the same way. You know, people aren't reading Garfield and things in the papers like they used to on Sundays because that doesn't exist anymore. So we need Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Cavan Scott: ⁓ We need kids' comics to really help people, because otherwise there won't be a comic industry in 10 years, 20 years time, because we need them reading them now. Jason Munoz: 100%. Yeah. So that's what I love about Free Comic Book Day. gets families and people in comic shops. And I love that there's titles that, there was a Garfield one this year. My daughter picked it up and loved it. So I was like, I need to go buy. I used to own those Garfield. They would put them together. They were like, they would put the strips together. Cavan Scott: Yes. Jason Munoz: ⁓ I had so many of those when I was growing up, so I want to actually go find some from like the 90s. I don't think they print them anymore, but my kids would love them. They love reading that stuff. So anyway, I agree. Cavan Scott: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's when you talk to kids and they go, oh, hang on, Snoopy was a cartoon, it was a comic. Yeah, no, very much so. And yeah, I think we've lost a lot in the... Because comics have become something you go to a specialized shop to find. I mean, when I grew up in the 70s and 80s over here in the UK, our new stand, we had like hundreds of comics every week and now it's barely any. Jason Munoz: Yeah. Yeah. Cavan Scott: in newsagents, in supermarkets, in everywhere. know, would be all these humour comics and things like 2000 AD and things like that. I really mourn those days have gone because, you know, I don't know how kids are finding comics. But I do know actually, they're finding them through librarians and schools now because schools and librarians have realised what's been lost and they're trying to, and there are people like 10 Speed Press and a lot of the mainstream publishers are now putting out, you know, brilliant comics, things like. Heartstopper, which has been a sensation over here, that's originally a graphic novel. So kids are finding stuff. It's just harder these days. Jason Munoz: Yep. Yeah. And there's a new generation, I feel, of my son loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid, ⁓ Captain Underpants. So graphic novels are definitely a thing, but like those comic books and comic strips, yeah, that it's a little bit different. But anyway, they love it because they're something else that draws their attention and draws their eye. I just got to get like educators to understand that it counts as reading. Like, don't harp on graphic novels, please. Cavan Scott: Yeah. And I think it's changed. I think it's changed a lot. I think because we've, like all things, it's like the people who loved the prequels, you when their kids are now making stuff. So we all love the prequels now. You know, I think what's happening, we've got teachers and librarians who grew up reading the stuff and now look around and go, where is it? So you've got that generation of people who are now coming and going, ⁓ no, we need this. And especially, Jason Munoz: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, right. Cavan Scott: I've done a lot of ⁓ work with boys in schools who aren't great readers, don't think reading's for them, they think it's a very female hobby, they don't think books exist for them. ⁓ And sometimes comics are the best way of getting them into it because they don't, they somehow, and I'm not saying that comics are just for boys in any way, because I don't believe that, but there's something about comics that boys catch onto, hook onto. And for reluctant readers, comics are really good for young boys. ⁓ So it is good to see schools and librarians. mean, librarians, as we all know, are God's gift to the world. But they, you know, it's good to see them really starting to push comics through. And again, one of the reasons these books that we're doing for Malka are graphic novels is because that's how kids are reading. They don't read floppies anymore. They don't read 20-page, you know, monthly comics. They read graphic novels. So... Jason Munoz: thousand percent. Yeah. Yeah. Cavan Scott: That's why we've sort of moved from the kind of thing that IDW and Dark Horse have been doing to, you know, big chunky books, yeah, and with complete stories. Jason Munoz: Yeah. That's so fun. ⁓ Side personal note, my son is finishing up primary school here. He's in season six grade, so he's going to go into junior high school here. ⁓ And it's so cute because he is a huge reader. They have this point system where part of his grade, you have to get a certain amount of points after you read a book. You take a quiz and you get points, which to me can be problematic because it could encourage kids to read just for points. But he loves to read. But he also is competitive, so he wants to get as many points as possible. But the librarian at his school, we're mourning it because I'm like, she has got to know him so well and she's recommending him books because she knows how voracious of a reader he is. And it is like the sweetest thing. And we're like, ⁓ no, you're going to have to get to learn a whole new librarian when you go off to junior high school. So shout out to librarians, even school librarians. Like she's doing an amazing job there. I just anyway, that's like a short Cavan Scott: They're amazing. Jason Munoz: personal family note that we were literally just talking about. Cavan Scott: No, and I think you're right about the entire, sometimes with kids and our school system, we make it a chore. My youngest is now a voracious reader. She goes through so many years, she's discovered romance, she's crime novels. She reads all the time now. When she was at school, we could not get her to pick up a book because it was a trudge, was a chore, it was homework. And now it's pleasure. Jason Munoz: Mmm. Cavan Scott: you know, now she gets it. Now the first place we look at when we need to visit a new town is the bookshop. You know, this is the girl who wouldn't read a book, you know, and now she's come in and she's there and I've just bought, she's read one book and she's got the series in her bag, you know. ⁓ So it does happen as well that, you know, we spend so much time telling kids, you must read these things, you know, these things, and you must only read this, you mustn't read that, and you've got to do it for grades and all that kind of thing. Jason Munoz: Ha ha. Cavan Scott: It's brilliant that your kids are a reader. would not, I'm not surprised at this knowing you. But, you know, it can work against for some kids, you know, they can bounce straight off of it. And yeah, for me now seeing Con having this love, you know, this love for reading and, know, the kind of girl who knows book journals and all those kinds of things. Yeah, five years ago, that wasn't a thing. You know, was, know, Mike Sliglane used to send her books galore to try and help me to get her to read, like Disney books used to arrive. She's read them now. She's gone back and read them, you know, all those sort of twisted Disney stories and all those kinds of things. They, yeah, and it's, and again, actually, this is the appalliance of what we love with tie-in fiction. The thing that got her into it was there was the, can't think of the name, there was a Tinkerbell fantasy novel that came out a few years back, slightly older than Jason Munoz: Yeah, yeah. ⁓ yes, yes. Cavan Scott: You know, again, when I was a kid, if we weren't watching Star Wars, we were watching those Tinkerbell movies, you know, the flower fairy ones and it'd been over and over and over again. And I was, I know those films as much as I know anything, I think. And so that was the, she saw that and then went, ⁓ it's Tink. And so she picked that up and read it, which then led her into the fantasy section, which then led her into the fantasy section, which then led her into the horror section. And so, yeah, the importance of what we do. Jason Munoz: Okay. Cavan Scott: as tie-in writers and licensed writers, think is a... It's why I read, because I read Doctor Who novelizations when I was a kid. that... The Doctor dressed up as Sherlock Holmes, so I went and read a Sherlock Holmes thing. The Doctor goes up against vampires, so I read a vampire thing. You know, I'd go and find Star Wars novels or Star Trek novels, and they'll be next to the science fiction, you know, and they'll be, oh, I like the Falcon, I like the Enterprise. Well, there's a cool spaceship. I don't know what that is. I'll read that book. And I think, again... you need as many entry points in all of these things. And so that's why, know, again, Star Wars books, Doctor Who books, Star Trek books, licensed novels, you know, for anything from Minecraft up and beyond that, they're so important because they could be the thing that tips someone over into being a reader. Jason Munoz: Well, I feel like we just preached a whole lecture. No, I love it. We were doing it together. I was with you. So, Cav, what I want to talk about kind of the rest of the year appearances or maybe just even in the next 12 months, like where can people connect with you? Are you going to be at any conventions? you going to see a service celebration? 2027, can you say? Cavan Scott: I know I'm get off my soapbox now I'm having a sort of year off from things ⁓ just because the last few years were so crazy. ⁓ so when did High Republic finish last year, wasn't it? Obviously we really pushed that promotional period and we were everything. And obviously I live in the UK. It's getting to America is an experience these days. ⁓ And so I've decided to... Jason Munoz: Okay. Okay. Mm. Mm. Cavan Scott: have a year when I can just sort of like take the foot off the gas a bit. So I'm not going to be at so many conventions this year. I'm not coming to a ⁓ US one. And I'm sure I will be again one day. But yeah, I thought 2026 again, knowing it was going to be the year that Con would be going to university. George was moving down to live near where I live now. We've got a business together. We've got hobbies that we do together. ⁓ Yeah, we both decided actually that we were going to take a sort of step backwards. So there's going to be some, if you're in the UK and you're at the Games Expo in a couple of weeks time, we're going to be there. But yeah, I'm also taking a bit of a year to go to things that the conventions that I can just go to as a punter, you know, so with Games Expo, I'm going there because I'm doing some things with Conflict 47 and all those kinds of things. But I'm also going so I can buy lots of, you know, minis to paint and stuff. So. Jason Munoz: nice. Ministers? Yeah, yeah. Love it. Cavan Scott: You know, ⁓ so yeah, it was a little bit of a refresh and regenerate. And I've got, you know, we've got lots of work on so lots of things happening. But yeah, I have decided to take a pause. ⁓ And I think it's going to be good for me in the long run. And then when I come back to conventions, it's going to be exciting and I'll be enthusiastic and ready to bound Jason Munoz: Good. Okay. Cavan Scott: into the halls. Jason Munoz: Well, we support that. support a decision always. So do what you have to do. I just want to let people know if you are going to be out and about, where can they find you? maybe it's more to come, folks, more to come on where to see Kevin in the future. Cavan Scott: More to come, and it's definitely more to come. And again, I've taken a little bit of step back from socials. You can still get me in my newsletter, which is Cavletta.com. You can find me usually on Instagram. That's the one I go to ⁓ more often than not, but I'm not on there much. Again, same thing. We spend a lot of time on social media the last few years with iRepublic. ⁓ I have the chance to sort of just breathe a bit. And I think you're right. I mean, it is important. And when you're a writer and a creator, you have to... Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. That's great. Cavan Scott: We spend so much time wanting our creators to be online and available all the time. And the one thing that doesn't help is being creative because you're tired and it's hard to be creative when you're tired. And again, I've taken a year to say, you know, I'm going to learn some new craft. I'm going to learn, you know, some new things as well. So it's like... Jason Munoz: Yeah. Cavan Scott: Because again, you don't want to keep doing the same stuff all over again. So, you know, I'm looking at some different things I can write. I'm looking at different types of writing I can do. And hopefully people who know me from my Star Wars stuff, and my Star Wars stuff isn't going anywhere, it's still there. But you know, again, it's that I don't want to be on the treadmill just churning out more and more and more. And then it's so it's not so exciting for me or anyone else. yeah. So, yeah, 2026 has always been a moment for me to step back and breathe and and get back out there when it's done. Jason Munoz: Good. Well, having said that, I appreciate you carving out the time to come and chat ⁓ with me to talk about books and family life and preach about education and literacy. Kevin, thank you so much for joining me. And I'm sure that this will not be the last time. I wish you all the best. Thank you for joining. Cavan Scott: Always. Always. sure not. Thank you Jason.