Young Jedi Adventures possibly being the first time we get to see the High Republic on screen is an exciting prospect. The High Republic has been such an amazing new series of stories, and I’m excited to see it fleshed out more.
One of the parts I’m most anticipating is looking out for who from the books and comics might show up in the series. At this time, we don’t know when Young Jedi Adventures is set in The High Republic. It could be prior to Light of the Jedi or after it. Being a pre-school series, my assumption would be pre-Light of the Jedi. That’s when the galaxy was at peace and it would offer a chance to flesh out the world more before everything fell apart. Because of this, I thought it would be fun to do some speculation. I’ve already discussed Regald Coll at length because, to me, he’s the best choice to be one of the adult characters for the show. But who might be good additions outside of him?
Here is who I would love to see in Young Jedi Adventures.
Kantam Sy and Torban Buck
I mentioned Kantam and Torban in my Regald Coll article, but I wanted to bring them both up again. Both are teachers for padawans so they would be awesome cameos. It would be a great tie-in to the Star Wars Adventures line too which is one of the few all-ages media projects in the High Republic. Torban is such a joy of a character, and he would fit in so perfectly with an all-ages series.
Plus, having a non-binary character like Kantam in a pre-school show would be groundbreaking. Non-binary characters are so few and far between in a pre-school demographic. Having Kantam would set amazing precedence for other future shows to follow the groundwork.
The padawan characters as older younglings
Since we don’t know when Young Jedi Adventures is set, I think it would be cool to see some of the padawans of the High Republic as either newly minted padawans or in their final days as older younglings.
Bell, Reath, Keeve, Lily, Vernestra. Any of them would be great to see who they were prior to Light of the Jedi. Lula, Qort, and Farzala as younglings are also fantastic choices. Granted, the lack of Zeen would be a bummer. But if the show is set after the events of Light of the Jedi, the Young Jedi Adventures crew meeting Zeen and seeing a Force user who isn’t a Jedi opens the door for interesting conversations about how there are many paths a person could take.
They could be mentors for Kai Brightstar, Nubs, Nash Durango, and the entire crew. Burryaga is a character that would be wonderful in animation because he’s already the face of the early reader books which looks like a cartoon with his design. He would of course be older than everyone since he’s a Wookiee, but like the others, he could be a great addition to the cast for a cameo.
Loden Greatstorm
Look, this is my bias talking. Loden is still my favorite character of the High Republic. I miss him all the time. This is absolutely my personal desire wanting more content for him.
But I also think it would be good to give him more background. Loden was taken out of the stories so early that it would be nice to have more about him. While I would love an entire prequel story about Loden, Young Jedi Adventures is not the platform for that. I do think him joining the crew of younglings for an episode or two would be perfect.
Loden’s impact has been felt across many books and comics. Reath thought about his lessons in Out of the Shadows wanting to share advice with Vernestra and Imri. His loss was brought up in the Adventures line with Farzala and Kantam. Of course, Loden was a vital part of Bell’s narrative. Loden was an important person in the story of the High Republic, so it would be a good opportunity to learn more about him.
And Loden should be voiced by Zeno Robinson.
Not that I’ve thought a lot about his casting or anything!
Narrator: She has thought way too much about this.
The Firebrands
It boggles my mind that Avar, Elzar, and Stellan have barely been together, all three of them in the same room despite being told they’re these amazing best friends. So Young Jedi Academy is a good chance to have all three.
Seeing their dynamics and how they interact in animation would be fantastic. They all bring something unique to the story. Avar is the paragon Jedi who could set an example for the kids. Elzar is the unorthodox Jedi who could showcase how to work outside the normal examples of the Force. Stellan would be a future High Council member and represent how the Jedi Order works as a whole. Seeing them all three together on a screen would be such a delight.
Porter Engle and Sav Malagán
The thing about Porter and Sav is I think their use in Young Jedi Adventures would be more about the synergy of the entire project. We know they’re both main characters in Phase II, so it would be a good idea to use them. If people really dug their appearances in the series, it’s then easy to point at the books and comics to say, “Go check them out over there if you want to know more.”
Especially Sav. We know she’s going to be in the new Adventures line which is for all ages. From a corporate selling point, these two make sense to me to show up in Young Jedi Adventures. It would also be a chance to see the return of Maz Kanata since Sav and Maz are friends.
The High Council, specifically Jora Malli
We know that Yoda is going to be in Young Jedi Adventures. He’s in the promotional artwork. This opens the door for more of the other High Council members to appear too. A lot of the members of this era’s High Council are new characters who we’ve only seen used occasionally. It would be a good chance to introduce them on screen.
Like Loden, I would specifically love to see Jora Malli. She was also taken out so early that we really didn’t get to spend much time with her. Her relationship with Reath and Dez was unique and they were some of the early highlights of Project Luminous for me. Part of me would love for Dez to still be a padawan in the show. We don’t have official artwork of Dez, so it would be a chance for him to get some images for him. More importantly, we could see their master and padawan relationship. We know how Jora and Reath acted together. Jora and Dez would be some new territory.
Honestly, this list could be a heck of a lot longer. Seeing anyone from the High Republic show up in Young Jedi Adventures would be a joy. Arkoff, Cohmac Vitus, Orla Jareni, Sskeer, any of them would make fantastic additions and cameos in the show. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
I can’t wait to watch the heck out of this show for pre-schoolers.
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