Gand (planet)

Gand was a fog-shrouded planet located in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories, in grid square T-8 on the Standard Galactic Grid, that was the homeworld of the insectoid Gand species. With an atmosphere composed of ammonia instead of oxygen, its air was thick and poisonous to most off-worlders and Gand had to wear respirators in order to breath in oxygen-based atmospheres. It was the homeworld of Zuckuss, a male Gand who was one of the first findsmen, who were known for their uncanny tracking skills, to go off-world when Gand's mystic findsman traditions, which dated back centuries, began dying out, as well as Churkk.

Gand was first mentioned in the new Star Wars canon in Ultimate Star Wars, a 2015 reference book written by Patricia Barr, Adam Bray, Daniel Wallace, and Ryder Windham. It was originally created for Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, a 1989 Star Wars Legends supplement written by Michael Stern for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.

When writing for the Gand character of Zuckuss in the Star Wars: Bounty Hunters comic line, writer Ethan Sacks found there was not much pre-existing lore established about the Gand homeworld. As such, Sacks was free to write Bounty Hunters 32, a story that explored Zuckuss's younger years on his home planet. Thanks to those flashbacks, the comic also ended up being Gand's first appearance within canon. Via that issue, Sacks was able to lay down new lore for the Star Wars universe, much to his joy. In an interview with Star Wars Insider, he described it as a thumbprint he was allowed to leave behind on the Star Wars mythos and a gift to his younger self.