After the Star Wars Celebration event, we catch up on some of the big animation reveals.
A wave of announcements emanated from the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022, taking place over the past four days.
In terms of live action television, we’ve seen a first teaser trailer for Andor; the Rogue One prequel series stars Diego Luna and has already scored a second series commission.
We also heard about the Jude Law fronted Skeleton Crew, which joins an already busy slate. Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming now, Ahsoka is in production and The Mandalorian’s third season lands in February 2023.
However, live-action isn’t the only breed of Star Wars on television as there are new animated shows in the offing too.
Tales of the Jedi
News of Tales of the Jedi leaked earlier in the month, triggering much speculation on what the show’s collection of “animated anthology shorts” might hold.
At the celebration, the series was revealed as a collection of six shorts, exploring moments in the lives of Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku.
Excitingly, Liam Neeson will make his return to the Star Wars universe to voice Qui-Gon Jinn, his character from The Phantom Menace. His son, Michael will also voice a younger version of the character. It’s a surprise, as he recently suggested he’s only likely to return to the character on film. We sense a touch of the old Jedi mind trick there.
We read that one of Ahsoka episodes, ‘Life and Death’, premiered at the Celebration’s panel. It ran for approximately fifteen minutes and showed the character’s early life with her parents.
Tales of the Jedi will be on our screens in the autumn.
Visions Volume 2
It was also announced that the Star Wars animated anthology, Visions, is also getting a second run.
While the first season featured nine episodes of anime, the next volume will bring together stories from around the world. Creative teams in Japan, India, UK, Ireland, Spain, Chile, France, South Africa and the United States are involved.
While there’s no more to tell at the moment, the new episodes land on Disney+ in Spring 2023.
Young Jedi Adventures
Set to debut in spring 2023, a further animated show was announced aimed at a pre-school audience. Young Jedi Adventures takes place in the “High Republic” era of Star Wars – long before the movies of the Skywalker saga.
The story will follow a group of Jedi Younglings under the tutelage of Master Yoda. As they’ve grown up on Courscant, he sends them out into the universe to gain some life experience. At different outpost temples on the outer rim, they’ll have adventures and put what they’ve learned into practice: compassion, self-discipline, teamwork, patience, and friendship.
With Michael Olsen as showrunner and executive producer, as well as Dave Filoni, the show will air on Disney Jnr, as well as streaming on Disney+.
The Bad Batch Season 2
Finally, the troopers of Clone Force 99 return for more adventures.
With the clones voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, as well as Michelle Ang as Omega, the show continues to follow the former elite troopers as they survive in a universe falling under the power of Emperor Palpatine.
“Let’s get to work.”
The trailer shows the team in several all-action sequences, as well as encountering a lightsaber wielding Wookie!
For more info on the new run, there’s a roundup on the official Star Wars website. The Bad Batch Season 2 lands on Disney+ this autumn.