How Star Wars Battlefront II's campaign approaches the saga differently to the films

For Star Wars fans, the most anticipated moment of 2017 is only 27 days away: the arrival of Episode VIII, The Last Jedi. But that’s not the only new story blasting in from a galaxy far, far away this year.

Video game Star Wars Battlefront II plunges players into intergalactic battles from all three eras of the saga – the originals, the prequels, and the new trilogy.

Where the previous Battlefront game focused on multiplayer, the sequel gives fans an extra treat – a single-player campaign, telling an all-new Star Wars story with a host of familiar faces.

Taking the lead is a new character, Iden Versio, whose story picks up at the end of original trilogy. Iden isn’t an ally of Luke, Han and Leia – she’s a soldier for the evil Empire, the leader of special forces unit Inferno Squad.

Kicking off as she witnesses the second Death Star’s destruction from the forest moon of Endor, Iden's story spans from the original trilogy to The Force Awakens.

“She is the purest child of the Empire that we’ve ever seen,” explains actress Janina Gavankar, who plays Versio in the game. “The Empire is in her DNA, her father is an admiral. She’s a literal poster-child, her mother drew her into propaganda posters. She’s there the moment the Empire suddenly has no leadership, when all seems to be lost, and she’s there to watch it rebuild.”

It’s a new perspective on the series’ classic good-vs-evil dynamic, offering human insights to the Empire’s inner workings.

“There are about a million people that died on the second Death Star, and that is heartbreak,” Gavankar says. “It’s such a turning point for the Empire. It’s actually very easy to put myself in anyone’s shoes, no matter what their alliance is, if you see a million people die. It’s life-changing. It’s not hard to imagine that instant, unbelievable grief.”

The story, cooked up in collaboration with the head honchos at Lucasfilm, isn’t just about Versio – it weaves in characters and locations from all three Star Wars eras, with plenty of fan favourites.

“We have a Luke Skywalker mission, his story intersects with Inferno Squad” says co-writer Mitch Dyer. “After Return of the Jedi, Luke's just found out Leia's his sister, his father's died having redeemed himself, the Emperor is dead – he's in a pretty raw place.”

For Dyer, the combination of all three eras and the characterisation of Iden Versio makes Battlefront II different to any Star Wars story on film.

“Iden Versio wouldn't exist without the three pillars of Battlefront – the trooper fantasy, the pilot fantasy, and the hero fantasy,” he says. “When you're making a game, you want it to be the best-feeling thing it can be. We would've approached the character very differently if it was a film. Immersing yourself in iconic locations as iconic heroes, like Luke and Kylo Ren, that's really special, and it plays into the Star Wars fantasies we've always had.”

Star Wars Battlefront II is out now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Follow Ben Travis on Twitter: @BenSTravis