David writes:
On October 18, 2024, Lucasfilm Publishing announced a new Star Wars comic series from Marvel. Titled Star Wars: Jedi Knights, the comic takes place before the events of the 1999 prequel film Episode I: The Phantom Menace, with the Jedi serving as the peacekeepers of the galaxy. Each issue focuses on a different pair of heroes leading a specific mission, as they work together to stop a new and dangerous villain targeting Qui-Gon Jinn. And that dark force is a shadowy figure named Atha Prime.
Does the name sound familiar?
Although Atha Prime made his canonical debut in the Star Wars universe in the March 2025 Jedi Knights series, the character has existed in some form for decades. According to a 1995 article by Steve Sansweet for Star Wars Galaxy Magazine, designer Mark Boudreaux and the Kenner team began working on new action figures and a new story concept in 1984, in the hopes of continuing the Star Wars toy line after the original trilogy concluded. And the designers titled it "The Epic Continues."
The proposed idea centered around heroes Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, taking place in the years after the events of 1983's Return of the Jedi. But the deaths of Darth Vader and the Emperor left a villain-sized hole in the galaxy. So the team created Atha Prime (pronounced Ay-tha), whom they described as “a genetics master, ruler of the dark worlds and architect of the Clone Wars.”
A Lucasfilm concept sketch from the original trilogy became the starting point for the new villain. While working on Return of the Jedi, artist Nilo Rodis-Jamero attempted a few takes for the Emperor’s Royal Guard before landing on the elegant red-robed sentry.
The early Royal Guard design featured above became the groundwork for the Kenner team’s new villain, one whose forces aimed to destroy Luke, Han, Princess Leia and the rest of the Rebellion in the years after the destruction of the second Death Star. The toy designers established Prime as someone who aimed to conquer his enemy through intellect and cunning rather than by brute force. And in this way, Prime was the precursor to the legendary Imperial strategist Grand Admiral Thrawn.
But how did Atha Prime get his name?
And why is Atha pronounced “Ay-tha” instead of “Aa-tha?”
According to an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Tim Effler, Kenner's Director of Product Concepts in 1984:
For The Epic Continues, Kenner's vision for Star Wars in a post-movie era, we needed a villain to replace the Emperor. I re-drew (with slight modifications) a sketch of an unused Emperor’s Royal Guard design by Nilo Rodis-Jamero, and named the character Atha Prime. Atha was an abbreviation of atheist, a word that conveyed evil, at the time. Combined with Prime, the name Atha Prime translates to number one evil.
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| Atha Prime concept art, courtesy of Tim Effler |
Unlike Vader’s army of Imperial stormtroopers, Atha Prime’s soldiers were the manufactured Clone Warriors he created. As Ron Salvatore noted in the original entry for the Clone Warrior concept art, the elite shock trooper resembled characters from the worlds of GI Joe and Masters of the Universe, which had begun to dominate the boys-targeted retail aisles in the mid-1980s.
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| Concept art for the Clone Warrior |
Blue-Four, a hollow-torso droid, served as Atha Prime’s “personal attendant and confidant,” according to Sansweet’s Star Wars Galaxy Magazine article. The droid’s design was clearly inspired by two other hot properties of the era: Transformers and Gobots.
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| Atha Prime's droid, Blue-Four |
Blue-Four also piloted Prime’s personal ship, the Apex Invader.
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| Side view of the Apex Invader |
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| Front view of the Apex Invader |
The Apex Invader would mount on top of another proposed vehicle, a massive Star Destroyer called the Annihilator.
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| The Annihilator |
After fleshing out "The Epic Continues" line, the Kenner team filled presentation binders with more than forty pages of concept art and descriptions for the action figures, playsets and vehicles and pitched the idea to Lucasfilm. You can view the contents of the binder in this Special Feature entry on the Archive from the collection of Lisa Stevens and Vic Wertz.
However, Star Wars creator George Lucas soon put an end to future Star Wars stories after the release of 1983’s Return of the Jedi and 1984’s Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, citing burnout from working on the franchise for close to a decade. Kenner pitched the line to Lucasfilm, but the studio respectfully declined the idea while praising the team for its on-brand attempt to capture the spirit of the franchise. And with interest in the property waning, Kenner’s live-action Star Wars toy line ended in 1985 with the Power of the Force action figure series.
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| Dark Empire's Imperial Sentinel |
But Atha Prime’s design didn’t die with Kenner’s unsuccessful pitch. In 1992, Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy used the character’s concept art to produce the Imperial Sentinel for the Dark Empire comic miniseries. Like the Clone Warriors, the Sentinels were clones themselves, gargantuan guards created to serve the Emperor’s Dark Side Adepts, those who wielded the Force for evil.
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| Imperial Sentinel first shot prototype and carded sample, from the collection of James Sawyer |
In 2009, the Imperial Sentinel also made an appearance as a miniature figurine for the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars role-playing game Jedi Academy.
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After purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney brought order to the vast archive of decades of Star Wars content across all forms of media, categorizing the films and a small grouping of side stories like the Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic and the animated series The Clone Wars within the franchise’s official canon. As a result, the company relegated Atha Prime, the Imperial Sentinels and the stories in which they featured to the non-canonical “Legends” status.
Thirteen years after the Disney deal, and forty years after being pitched as a Kenner concept, Atha Prime was recruited from the Legends lore to become both a villain and a recognized figure within Star Wars’ current comic run.
In February of 2025, ahead of the Star Wars: Jedi Knights premiere, Marvel teased Prime’s entry into the Star Wars universe with a special variant cover for the first issue of Legacy of Vader, another new comic series.
Prime officially debuted in the Star Wars: Jedi Knights comic series in March, as a single image among a pastiche of Force visions that may unfold in future issues.
According to the comic’s editor Mark Paniccia, the idea to establish Prime as the villain was the result of stumbling upon Kenner’s failed figure pitch.
Paniccia said:
While developing the series, writer Marc Guggenheim discovered this deep cut—the antagonist from Kenner’s unrealized The Epic Continues toy line. We saw the original design and were immediately sold. What a cool character to bring into canon and what a perfect book to do it in!
While little is currently known about Prime, a Marvel press release describes the villain as “a mysterious planet’s tyrannical ruler who boldly opposes the Republic and the Jedi Order.” The first issue of Star Wars: Jedi Knights arrived on March 5, 2025, with an Atha Prime action figure variant cover by John Tyler Christopher and a Foil Variant cover by Ramon Rosanas.
A special thank you to Tim Effler and Rich Alot for providing additional info on Atha Prime, as well as the figure's concept art image.
You can hear more about the Atha Prime story, as well as other relevant and exciting news from the world of Star Wars in episode #212 of the Star Wars: Prototypes and Production podcast, titled "The Galactic Newsdesk: A Season Of Change For Star Wars, Lucasfilm, Hasbro And Disney's Parks!"
