Should we worry about the future of Lucasfilm’s animation department?

With a big scary title like that, it’s easy to think this article is clickbait to fearmonger you into checking it out so I can get views. So to be transparent at the start, I’m going to go ahead and give you the “too long; didn’t read” version:

Will Lucasfilm ever gut their animation department?

My answer is no.

But I can absolutely see a scenario where Lucasfilm drastically cuts back on animated content in the coming years. I can also see them playing it safe by sticking to formulaic shows and staying within one art style.

The ongoing troubling news in animation this year has me extremely worried about Star Wars animation. With companies like Netflix, HBO Max, and Discovery+ tossing their animated content into the garbage, this gambit could have major implications for the entire industry. It would set a precedence that animated series could be used as sacrificial lambs and these corporations could rake in profits over the blood, sweat, tears, and time of their creators. Also, with so many Star Wars animated characters moving into live action, it’s only natural to wonder what’s going on with Lucasfilm animation. Disney will always be a home for animation. They built their entire company on it. But even the Big Mouse has recently done some pretty devious things to shows like The Owl House, which I will discuss.

I will also be discussing the class action lawsuit against George Lucas.

So, how did I get to this conclusion? We need to go back through history to look at the stigma against animation, the animation explosion during Covid-19, the hunt for equal pay through #NewDeal4Animation, the recent gutting of animation by streaming services, Disney and Lucasfilms’s poor treatment of their shows and creators, and finally sum up what it all possibly means for the future of Lucasfilm animation.

The stigma of animation in the United States

Animation is an incredibly old medium. Well before the age of television and movie theaters, historians believe that humans were trying to portray movement through machines such as the Magic Lantern in 1603. Through the 1800s, the ability to show movement in pictures grew. Some were simple items like the use of the flip-book or thaumatrope. More complex machinery came out of the Industrial Revolution leading to creations like the spinning mechanics of the zoetrope and the praxinoscope invented in the mid-to-late 1800s. These were all considered the earliest experimentations of animation.

The 20th Century changed with the rise of silent films and movies. This era is when the first major animated shorts to full feature-length films came out. Many classic characters like Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Merrie Melodies with Bugs Bunny, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves were created. Though it’s important to note that a lot of early animation was still considered low-brow entertainment and not taken seriously until movies like Snow White came along with massive success. Even in its earliest days, animation was considered a “lesser” medium to live action.

While much of the animation in this era was targeted toward families, Screen Rant discusses in an excellent piece covering the history of adult animation that there were still jokes and some cartoons intended for adults as well. Characters like Betty Boop were geared towards parents rather than children. It wasn’t out of the ordinary to see nudity, sexual innuendos, drinking, and smoking in animation in this era.

Then, the Hays Code came down on all of Hollywood, animation included. The Hays Code was a set of heavily imposed guidelines that essentially banned “profanity, suggestive nudity, graphic or realistic violence, sexual persuasions, and rape” in movies. These guidelines affected Hollywood well into the television age which is why many early sitcoms showed married couples in separate beds. For example, these codes especially targeted queer content for “Sex Perversion.” This led to many queer characters in both animation and live action to rely on what’s called “queer coding.” In a history of queer animation video from Insider, they used the example of animation getting away with Bugs Bunny kissing another man because animation lends itself to be more surreal in its circumstances since it’s considered a joke. Only recently in the 2010s have we seen a major rise in LGBTQIA+ content in animation.

While there was still animation created with adult content in mind, the rise of companies like Disney as well as enforcements from the Hays Code made mainstream animation aimed toward families and more specifically children.

Animation exploded with the boom of television in the 1950s. Out of this in 1952 came The Television Code. Think of it like the Hays Code but with even more stuff like making it mandatory for networks to air Christian broadcasting or not allowing networks to show a negative portrayal of nuclear families. The only real mainstream animated content had to be family oriented.

Things started to change when Hanna-Barbera released The Flintstones in 1960, making it the first animated series on primetime. Originally, the target was more adult with Fred and Wilma sharing a bed. The Flintstones was also co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes with the adult characters advertising the products in the show. They also pushed Busch beer as well. Those commercials are fun to watch. Go look them up on YouTube. But as the ’60s went on, Hanna-Barbera found their primetime ratings struggling. With kids watching shows like The Flintstones and Yogi Bear with their parents, they decided to take an earlier timeslot which led to a major shift in how and why animation was seen as “for children.”

Adult animation in the era varied too. Some movies like the X-rated Fritz the Cat were a box office success while Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto’s 1970 adult animated film Cleopatra bombed hard in America. Many films like Heavy Metal and Allegro Non Troppo have become cult classics over time. Still, they wouldn’t be able to stand up against the onslaught of the creation of Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Saturday Morning Cartoons was the boom that solidified the mindset for decades to come that cartoons are made for children. The Television Code guidelines remained in effect up until 1983 meaning that everything in these timeslots had to be sanitized down. This is why a lot of series like G.I. Joe had those lesson of the week segments. The other factor that changed everything—and yes, this will be important later when discussing Star Wars animation—was the introduction of toy lines. Shows like Transformers and He-Man: Master of the Universe had their own set of toys that made children ask their parents to buy them. Long story short, Capitalism does what Capitalism does best, and network CEO’s put a major focus on shows that made them extra toy money. If you’ve ever seen Netflix’s The Toys that Made Us, the ­He-Man episode in particular does a great job summing up how these creators would make new characters just to sell toys.

Everything changed again in the 1990s. The Television Code was gone which paved the way for one new show to change history and truly splinter animation into the categories of children’s animation and adult animation. The Simpsons premiered in December of 1989 and became a juggernaut through its first season in 1990. It became both the longest-running American animated series as well as the longest-running American sitcom.

Following in The Simpsons footsteps over the last several years were other successes such as Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty. With the rise of cable television and streaming services, many of these adult animated series were on either primetime or late night. Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block has been home to many of these series as well as anime.

Anime is another huge factor in this. While anime has been around for decades in America, the boom of the genre has affected the course of Western animation in both kids’ and adult animated series. Historic shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender were heavily inspired by anime. Founder of Anime News Network, Justin Sevakis, has discussed in the past that while anime is actually considered a subculture in Japan outside of major shows like Pokemon and Naruto. Even this lauded genre around the world has a stigma to it within its parent country showcasing that a powerhouse genre like anime is still looked down upon unless it’s something Studio Ghibli.

Another example of the stigma against animation was the creation of the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars. As Slashfilm explains, in 1992, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture. This made live-action filmmakers so mad that this cartoon rivaled their work that they lobbied the Academy. This led to the creation of the Best Animated Film category, thus further separating animation and live action in the eyes of Hollywood.

As American animation was splitting between “kids shows” and “adult shows,” the influence of anime along with the rise of new creators on cable television with hit series such as Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, and Teen Titans throughout the mid-2000s to 2010s led to a new turbulent middle ground for animated content.

The Avatar: The Last Airbender generation weren’t kids anymore but they still loved these animated series. The internet made it much easier for these fans to connect and promote the shows they loved. YouTube also helped some series like Infinity Train by putting up their pilot episodes for free online. By the way, keep Infinity Train in your mind for the moment. We will come back to this point. Animation fans are more vocal than ever before. Even great directors like Steven Spielberg have been on record stating that all directions should work in animation first.

Getting into the late 2010’s and to the present, we’re seeing another major shift in animation. Cable is dying and streaming services have taken off. Still, looking back at everything so far, there are still many issues remaining.

Because of the structured history since its inception, from government rulings to network broadcasting and everything up to this point, animation is still seen as a lesser medium. One recent example was a Cartoon Network executive saying that “…Girls graduated out of animation” as the company wanted to focus on more live-action content. The sentiment reared its ugly head again at the 2022 Oscars when a joke was made that animation was essentially used for parents to babysit their children. I’m sure the creators of the nominated movie Flee felt great about that statement since their PG-13 animated film is about a man speaking under an alias as a child refugee from Afghanistan and reliving his trauma. Many creators in the industry voiced their anger like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse fame demanding that animation be recognized as cinema. They were nominated that year for The Mitchells vs the Machines.

Before the 2022 Oscars, the animation industry had begun to reach a boiling point versus the Hollywood norm. Tired of being seen as the lesser medium to live-action counterparts, one global event set the stage for these creators to feel so bold to come together and vocally speak out as one:

The COVID-19 pandemic.

Animation ruled during COVID

It was March of 2020. As Covid-19 cases began to spread and the world faced lockdowns keeping us all in our homes, Hollywood faced a huge crisis. How were they supposed to produce content when they couldn’t have their studios open to film? Luckily for them, one medium had already gotten used to working remotely, and that was animation.

Most animated studios before Covid-19 had offices and worked in person together. But it wasn’t unheard of for animators, writers, effects renderers, and more to work from home. Many studios worked with animators overseas. One example is Rough Draft Studios from South Korea. While Rough Draft does have a headquarter in California, many of its main animators are still in South Korea. They’ve worked on shows for Cartoon Network, Disney, Nickelodeon, and other networks. Rough Draft is only one of many animation studios that work overseas with American companies.

Compared to their live-action counterparts in Hollywood, animation had a much easier switch to working remotely. Jorge Gutiérrez (Maya and the Three) told Variety:

"“It’s weird — it’s almost like we’ve been training for this for years, and our time has finally come. We’re so used to working with studios all over the world, and a lot of times we work with artists all over the world. It’s a remote business and there are no sets — everybody’s drawing, and it all comes together on the computer. So we’re kind of set up for this.”"

In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, Mike McMahan (Star Trek: Lower Decks) said about the transition:

"“The pandemic was about as much of a disruption as a really bad rainstorm that knocks out power for an hour.”"

Kemp Powers, the co-director of Pixar’s Soul, shared a similar sentiment in a piece for EW stating:

"“Compared to live-action, animation is a breeze in terms of shooting during this [time of Covid-19]. Anything in live-action will shut you down. So, I don’t think it’s a surprise that suddenly all the networks are trying to very quickly get animated projects going.”"

And oh did the networks clamber for animated content as they scrambled to put together their Fall lineups. Animation saw a 22% rise in the pandemic which was “more than any other category, according to Reelgood, a website that analyzes streaming viewer behavior patterns.” People across the industry flocked to animation as it was just about the only job in town for them after 120,000 people lost their jobs according to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union. Actor Eric Bauza, who is the current voice actor of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in Looney Tunes Cartoons, said his live-action actor friends started calling him wanting to know how to get into voice-over. When Fox announced their 2020 Fall lineup, their animation lineup was completely intact while having to fill gaps for other shows.

It seemed like Hollywood was finally taking notice of the medium as it was the best prepared to face an uncertain future. EW reported an uptick in orders for animated series stating:

"“WME’s literary packaging group, which handles movies and shows adapted from books, sold through a total of 12 animated projects and two animated series since March of this year [2020]. For perspective, the group sold just one animated project in the entirety of 2019.”"

This doesn’t mean that it was an easy transition. Actors turned their closets into recording studios, learning how to check their audio levels. Companies would send out their sound engineers to people’s houses to help with setup. Writers found it hard to see what jokes landed well or failed.

Kemp Powers told EW that this was “’…a rude awakening” for studios.

"“They think animation is just easy and it’s not. It’s actually some of the hardest work to do in Hollywood and I don’t think it’s necessarily respected as much as it should be. Of course, people respect Pixar and they respect Disney Animation, but I don’t think people quite understand how much energy goes into doing this.”"

Still, animation was king during the Covid-19 lockdown. They carried major networks and streaming services on their backs releasing content made from their homes. Movies like Encanto took the world by storm. The Mitchells vs the Machines was one of Netflix’s highest-streamed animated movies ever. Shows like The Owl House and Amphibia were constantly trending on social media. Covid was the perfect time for audiences to give the medium a try and it paid off big time for the companies.

For nearly two years, the animation industry was riding high and seemingly starting to gain more respect. But as lockdowns let up and the industry returned to filming live-action content, animation faced a series of very rude awakenings starting in the Spring of 2022.

Netflix guts their animation department

In April of 2022, the animation community saw the start of a horrific year in the world of streaming services.

Originally reported by The Wrap, but I’m also sharing the same article that was published on Yahoo since it is not behind a paywall, Netflix sewed confusion in its Kids & Family department when it quite suddenly canceled many highly anticipated animated projects like Jeff Smith’s comic adaptation of Bone. They also fired several of their executives from their animation departments.

There was a time when Netflix was a haven for animation. They boasted supporting creator-driven original series and movies. Phil Rynda, who was one of the fired executives, had been told that Netflix wanted “to be the home of everybody’s favorite show.” But when the new Netflix Co-CEO, Reed Hastings, came in, that mission statement changed. Instead, they focused on more third-party series they paid for, not produced, like the upcoming new Boss Baby series. And even then series creator, Brandon Sawyer, had to clarify that none of his crew was fired. Because they work for DreamWorks, not Netflix. Which is very much the point here. It’s cheaper for Netflix to pay for the right to stream content made by other studios than pay for it in-house.

This came on the heels of a confusing time for creators. Netflix has become infamous with creators for giving them data for their shows that makes no sense. Oftentimes, this “staged data” was given as a way for the company to back up its choices when it came to renewals and cancellations. But oftentimes, these analytics was nonsense. Dominic Bisignano, the creator of Centaur World, was given analytics with no context of what it meant for his series. When he asked for clarification and if his show would be renewed because of the data, he was denied an answer by Netflix. Bisignano ended up leaving the streaming service for Cartoon Network. Creators have described this method as “manipulative” as there was a lack of transparency from the company.

City of Ghost by creator Elizabeth Ito is another example. The series had a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes and even won a Peabody Award. But when the new Netflix mission statement came down, she was hit with all the same confusing data before Netflix canceled her show. Ito left Netflix for Apple.

There is also the ongoing argument that Netflix doesn’t promote its series and relies on word of mouth. To be fair, this is an issue across many services. Creators like Disney’s Amphibia Matt Braly pointed this out many times on Twitter about the Big Mouse.

Netflix, Disney, and other companies rarely make toys and merchandise for their original shows. To refer back to the Saturday Morning Cartoon history, toys mean money and money means more of a show.

There’s also another issue when it comes to relying on word of mouth. When your target demographic for these series are children, then the reasoning falls apart. Children don’t have jobs, or credit cards, or get to decide what streaming services are in their homes. All they have are whatever their parents pay for. They don’t have social media accounts and children aren’t breaking down the complex themes and character development on the playground. It absolutely kills that idea.

Netflix sabotaged its own animated series with lack of promotion and then gutted them from the streaming service for “not performing well.” There is still plenty of upcoming animated shows and movies hosted on the platform. Dead End: Paranormal Park from Hamish Steele just announced its season two dates. Nimona is slated for 2023, but it was bought up by Netflix after Disney shut down Blue Sky Studios. When Disney dropped Nimona, the movie was 75% complete. This probably sounds familiar to projects like Batgirl canceled by Warner which will be discussed in a moment. By buying Nimona, Netflix didn’t have to put as much money into finishing the project. And they still host their Academy Award-nominated movie The Mitchells vs the Machines which was made by Sony Pictures Animation, another third-party purchase.

Once a welcoming studio for animation, Netflix showed its true colors when it came to saving money. And animation was the first to fall. In-house animated series look like they’re becoming more of a thing of the past for Netflix.

Also as of writing this article, layoffs are still happening within the company five months later.

This went into a tumultuous summer for the animation industry. After bailing out streaming services during the pandemic and what happened at Netflix, these creators felt emboldened to make a strong push to be seen as equal in the industry.

#NewDeal4Animation

Since at the time I’m writing this the negotiations are still ongoing, I’m only going to give a simple overview. #NewDeal4Animation is not just one part of the animation community but is several complicated debates between The Animation Guilds (TAG), Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the IATSE, and all the smaller unions and guilds.

The simplest gist is it was time for contract negotiations for TAG. In 2018, they had a three-year agreement that was expiring, so it was not a surprise that this would be happening. Negotiations started in 2021 and came into this year.

What was a surprise was the pandemic and how much animation had carried the big networks and streaming services. Animation creators felt emboldened to ask for more equal pay compared to their live-action counterparts in the industry.

One of the biggest examples that came up was the disparity between animation writers and live-action writers. They do the exact same job, but animation writers get paid drastically less for doing the same amount of work.

To make it even more complicated, writers in general for both live-action and animation get paid far less through streaming services than they do for network shows. Basement Life Podcast does a great job explaining and simplifying how this structure works (heads up for swearing in that video). Michael Jamin who was a writer for King of the Hill discussed in a video how his residuals for network shows are far higher than his residuals for streaming services. This is an ongoing segment on his TikTok channel where he got one streaming service residual check for—wait for it– $.35.

Yes, 35 cents.

But the reason why this is complicated is that these residual contracts are not shared across the board for everyone. Giancarlo Volpe (Clone Wars) also worked on King of the Hill in the art department for six years. He doesn’t receive anything in residuals. These are just a few examples of the kinds of negotiations of animation fighting for equality with live-action.

There have been some victories this year. Titmouse, the studio that did The Legend of Vox Machina and Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures, went union this year becoming the first studio outside of Los Angeles to do so. In May, a new contract with TAG was ratified that did things like narrow the gender pay gap and raise rates for people in the industry. It’s important to note it is still nowhere close to what workers make in live-action. Until there is equality, these negotiations within the animation guilds and unions will continue.

Again, this is the simplest explanation of a multi-faceted issue with only one big example of many that plague the industry. But after Covid-19, it should have been a big win for animation and it wasn’t. It wasn’t even close.

Then as summer ended, the biggest and most troubling thing occurred. It’s the very reason I wrote this piece because depending on how it plays out, it could have ramifications in Hollywood for decades to come.

The fallout of the HBO Max and Discovery merger, Cartoon Network’s 30th anniversary, and a scary future for the industry

It’s the beginning of August 2022 and just another normal day on the internet. There had been some grumbling throughout the year around the merger of HBO Max and Warner Media. Some questions were whispered about Cartoon Network. October 2022 is Cartoon Network’s 30th anniversary, so some fans in animation circles wondered what was up with the lack of promotion and new content on HBO Max’s streaming platform.

The trouble began to brew in April as Warner Bros. Discovery merged with HBO Max to become Warner Bros. Discovery. A common thread began to run throughout all of the chaos, and that was Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

The first indication was the sudden cancellation of big named movies. The two that got the most press were Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, both of which were near completion. This was confusing for a lot of people. Why cancel two films that were almost finished? It didn’t make a lot of sense. A representative for Warner Bros. Discovery released a statement on Twitter saying:

"“The decision to not release Batgirl reflects our leadership’s strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max. Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance. We are incredibly grateful to the filmmakers of Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt and their respective casts and we hope to collaborate with everyone again in the near future.”"

The directors of Batgirl, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, released a joint statement of their disbelief this happened in the first place stating:

"“We are saddened and shocked by the news. We still can’t believe it. As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves. Maybe one day they will insha’Allah.”"

Things were scary during this time. As reported by Cartoon Brew, one of the major news websites that follows animation, Scoob! was 95% complete as it was slated for a holiday release. Another canceled children’s show, Little Ellen, had a completed third season that was ready to go and it was axed without warning. It was reported from an investor call with Zaslav that this merger was going to be a “course correction.”

Some of this “correction” was the next hint that something bad was brewing. Warner Bros. Discovery suddenly laid off 14% of HBO Max’s staff. These people were about to join many more creators as the new course had devastating consequences for the animation community.

Days later without any warning, Warner Bros. Discovery gutted over 30 titles from HBO Max’s library. Some of these were classic Sesame Street specials as well as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. Many were staples of Cartoon Network which, again, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Many of these shows had completed seasons ready to go like Julia Pott’s Summer Camp Island. Cartoon Network shows like Infinity Train, OK K.O.!: Let’s Be Heroes, and Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart especially got a raw deal. Not only were they taken off the HBO Max catalog, but all of their social media accounts were removed. Any music on streaming services was taken down except purchase sites like iTunes. For Infinity Train, the pilot episode was available for free, which had over 5 million views, and was taken off of YouTube. Also, these creators also can’t put these shows in their portfolios. They don’t own the shows. HBO Max owned them. And with the deletion, there’s now nothing to show for their work.

Infinity Train’s creator Owen Dennis wrote a long article on his blog detailing how they had absolutely no warning. This was devastating for creators across the board who voiced their anger at the entire thing.

But the question was why? Why would Discovery and David Zaslav do this?

Was it because the shows were underperforming? This was one explanation given by Discovery. Like how Netflix loves their data, a lot of these streaming services don’t have to share how a show is doing with viewers. Many creators don’t have a good idea if their show is succeeding. And also as Owen Dennis pointed out in his article, none of the live-action classic movies from the ’30s-60s in HBO’s catalog were cut. He stated:

"“…it’s hard to believe that Shock Corridor, Mystery of the Wax Museum, The X From Outer Space, Ice Station Zema, Red Sonja or Captain Blood, while all fantastic movies in their own rights, are being “frequently watched”. So clearly, it’s not frequency, therefore it must be something else.”"

The underperforming explanation is such a slap in the face as Amphibia creator Matt Braly pointed out as much in a long thread on Twitter. He stated:

"“What really bothers me about all this HBO/Netflix treatment of animation is the narrative that these shows weren’t profitable and thus, cutting them makes sense. We are not business people. Our responsibility as creators/artists was to make great content. The responsibility of the studio/network is to monetize it. Yet we are the ones being punished for the complete failure of another department. Most of these cut shows were never even given a CHANCE to make money. There is never a revenue source that can be directly tied to a new IP. No toys, no books, no games- no chance to even prove they could be profitable. Historically our value on a linear platform was to keep ratings steady, or grow them. That could be tied directly to the millions being made via advertising and partnerships. It’s a fuzzy relationship at best, and doesn’t directly link the IP to profit, but it was something. So what happens if you don’t even have that? Well, on a streaming service, because things are 1000x more competitive than linear, you can’t just do well anymore, or good. You have to do EXCEPTIONAL. Your show has to spike and prove beyond a doubt, that subscribers are hooked. Hard to do when you are a new IP going up against Star Wars! Bottom line is that animated shows, especially new/recent IP have not been given any chances to succeed. Companies made zero effort to monetize our hard work- many of these shows weren’t even advertised. Anywhere. All WE can do is continue to fulfill our end of the bargain – making great content. But for the love of GOD these studios/networks need to try harder to set us up for success and come up with some kind of business model that helps us…(gasp) make them money.”"

Toby Jones who was the executive producer of OK K.O.!: Let’s be Heroes whose series was one of the victims of the HBO purge responded to Braly’s Twitter thread:

"“Early in my career, I asked a showrunner what factors made a difference in whether a show (or even a single episode) does well in ratings. He said the ONLY thing that really matters is if it’s promoted. Promotion = good numbers, no promotion = bad numbers. It’s not rocket science”"

It’s a horrible, vicious cycle that, like with Netflix, streaming services do to these creators. These companies do not promote their series, they do not make merchandise for them, and then these CEOs turn around and punish the creators for the company not doing its job. It’s a horrible way to do business.

To follow up, even more cancellations rolled out like with the highly anticipated movie Driftwood from Cartoon Network as well as the in-the-works series Batman: Caped Crusader and upcoming Looney Tunes specials. While I am personally upset over Driftwood because it sounded like an excellent new project, the Batman one doesn’t make any sense. It has big names behind the project like J.J. Abrams. DC Comics and Looney Tunes properties are two of the major franchises within Warner Media. Why axe them at all?

At least unlike the Batgirl movie which looks to be gone, Batman: Caped Crusader is being shopped around for other streaming services. But if it’s not bought up, who knows if it will ever see the light of day?

It is important to note that Cartoon Network has been fighting hard against this. Their executives are just as upset as the creators. A lot of their shows are being affected the most. Cartoon Network warned Discovery not to do any of this. It would damage relationships with creators. They also advocated for some of their shows to make sure they still air like Summer Camp Island which is great! They are trying to preserve their legacy as much as they can.

But there’s a real chance that Cartoon Network might not even be around by next year. There have been some rumors and deleted tweets within the industry saying that Warner Media will completely absorb the company, thus ending Cartoon Network. Take that with a grain of salt as it is rumored, but it is a very real possibility of this merger. Some 30th birthday, huh?

So why did all of this happen in the first place? Creators demanded answers. It was hard at first to get any explanation. When it comes to mergers, the normal higher-ups they would talk to have been either moved to other departments, fired, or quit. The chain of command for answers was broken. As of writing this, there has been no official statement from Discovery or HBO Max. What we do know is how this affects the creators and what is the most likely cause of all of this pain.

Money.

As the dust started to settle, the truth came out. This all happened because David Zaslav wanted to cut down on costs with the company’s $3 billion debt.

By cutting animation, Warner Bros. Discovery doesn’t have to pay creators their residuals, something they were fighting so hard for with #NewDeal4Animation. In many cases, the residuals go to the unions to fund animators’ healthcare. By cutting these costs, Warner Bros Discovery is directly defunding the healthcare within the unions. Some of the shows that have completed unreleased content like Scoob! can be tax write-offs for the company taking a loss.

CNBC estimated this would save Warner Bros Discovery tens of millions of dollars of that $3 billion debt. I also would like to point out that last year, David Zaslav made $246 million. If this fails, he’s going to be fine. This guy can walk away from all this right now and it would not impact him in the slightest.

But what he has done to the animation industry could have horrible ramifications. After Netflix and HBO Max’s treatment, there is a deep distrust from animators towards streaming services.

The horrible icing on the cake is because of the streaming wars, many companies don’t make hard copies of their animated series. DVD and BluRay aren’t always an option. For example, when all this happened, Warner Media stopped producing physical copies of Infinity Train. DVD sales for the series skyrocketed and sold out on Amazon. In turn, eBay prices have risen for these DVDs. These same canceled shows were dominating charts on iTunes because it was the only place that fans could purchase these series. Physical editions only apply to a few shows though. Some series are just gone for good.

It’s become so bad that some creators have called for fans to pirate these shows because it’s now the only way to see this content any more.

Years of work, hundreds of hours, missed time with friends and family, working late evenings, blood, sweat, and tears of these creators are gone. All because some rich dude at Discovery waved his magic pen thinking these people are expendable. Thousands of lives were affected in a single day. One anonymous showrunner told The Wrap:

"“There is clearly no long-term, multiseason career in animation anymore, not just at WBD but anywhere. None of these streamers will commit to picking up more than one season of a show at a time, which is just not how animation works. Animation is a long-term investment — you can’t just pop in and pop out and think you’re gonna get good quality.”"

If you want some quick rundowns of everything I just talked about, I highly suggest these videos from The Roundtable Part I and Part II, Basement Life Podcast, and Saberspark. They source all of their references. But they’re also reactions from the point of view of a fan. I should warn you that there is swearing in all four videos because they, like me, are mad at Zaslav and Discovery. But they’re good looks at the general confusion in this time period.

If David Zaslav’s gambit pays off and he makes money from the pain of people working under him, it sets a dangerous precedence for the entire industry. Not just with animation, but all shows are then at the mercy of these corporate executives to churn and burn their series and contracts. If Zaslav’s treacherous game works, it opens the door for every other streaming service to do the same. It would show that this pain works for the few people at the top to thrive while both consumers and creators are left with scraps and low-quality content going forward. Comedian Adam Conover summed it up best in this video, but warning, there is some swearing in this summary.

This brings us to Disney.

The thing about Disney is, unlike the other services I’ve discussed so far, they got their start in animation. It is their thing. They will always be a home for this kind of content. That said, it doesn’t mean they’re not without their controversies. There is, of course, the big stuff like how Disney-Pixar protected John Lasseter when he was committing sexual assault and misconduct. Heck, just the man Walt Disney himself was a monster in many ways like throwing his workers trying to unionize and industry rivals to the U.S. Government during the Red Scare.

What I want to focus on is the more recent behavior when it comes to animated series under the Big Mouse.

Disney

Disney loves their formula. They have a perfect little box that they like to keep their projects and creators inside of despite Walt Disney giving us the literal devil in Fantasia. It often stops them from taking chances on projects and progressive storytelling. Also, Disney has also showcased a lot of the same horrible behavior and treatment that has been listed so far in this article.

Coming into the early 2000’s, Disney Television Animation or TVA was incredibly focused on franchise series for the Disney Channel like the Aladdin and Buzz Lightyear shows. But those ratings were falling off so Disney TVA was highly considering shifting away from creator-driven TV-Y7 rated shows to pre-school-focused programming only. It was the safest choice that would lose them the least amount of money.

The saving grace that kicked off a new animation renaissance on the network was Phineas and Ferb.

Phineas and Ferb was such a massive hit it opened the door to series like Gravity Falls, Star vs the Forces of Evil, and later entries like The Owl House and Amphibia. Disney saw they could still make money on these series. But it was only because Phineas and Ferb was a wildly popular hit. If it had failed, we’d be talking about a very different-looking Disney Channel today.

There is a fear among Disney executives of losing money despite being one of the richest companies on the planet. It has often led to conflicts with its creators.

Bless Alex Hirsch, Matt Braly, Sam King, Dana Terrace, and so many other Disney TVA creators and showrunners who have been quite vocal over the years about how Disney as a corporation has treated them and their work. One of the best ways to see what’s going on behind the curtain of the Big Mouse is not to follow big names like Jon Favreau, who will always have the best treatment. Follow the smaller creators. That’s where you see the truth come out.

One of the best examples of Disney trying to protect themselves and controlling a show came in Gravity Falls. Alex Hirsch gave an interview with The Mary Sue about the lengths Disney would go to stop queer content in their shows. One episode in question was “The Love God” where Cupid shows up. One of the storyboard artists drew two little old ladies falling in love. They’re not even named characters. Hirsch knew it would be a problem with Disney censors and, like the fantastic creator he is, left it in. He told The Mary Sue:

"“The note came back immediately “The scene of the two old ladies kissing in the diner is not appropriate for our audience. Please revise.” I responded with a one word answer: “Why?” This basically broke the censors. The couldn’t think of a single way to phrase an answer to that question so they made me talk on the phone so there would be no paper trail. They were terrified of sounding like bigots… They basically admitted that there was no good reason why I should change it, but that they get complaints about this stuff from various homophobic parents and would rather avoid the headache, and couldn’t I just drop it? I said that if we did that we were basically just being held hostage by bigots and screw that, lets rise above this crap and just pull the trigger. The worst thing that can happen is that we get some letters. Who cares? … It’s one of the only times I had a face to face meeting with the censors. I didn’t want to go back to my board artist and tell her that I lost this fight. I wanted to win, and I wanted to set a precedent, and I argued that little things like this could mean the world to people and that anyone who was pissed off deserved to be pissed off. But despite my greatest efforts it finally came down to ‘change the scene or we’ll cut it out of the episode ourselves.’”"

It’s like a throwback to the days of the Hays Code. It’s disgusting the lengths Disney went to avoid a paper trail and save their skins.

For Gravity Falls’ 10th anniversary, Hirsch posted a video sharing real emails he got from Disney censors. It’s a hilarious watch, but it’s also insightful on how the censors in the company look at their shows. Apparently, according to that video, furries are a big concern for Disney.

This is just one of many stories of Disney pulling this kind of behavior with their creators. Sam King mentioned a similar take with Disney executives when she wanted to make Penny in DuckTales a lesbian. She had to figure out a way to convey this around the Disney censors. Matt Braly had to fight against the Disney formula for his main character, Anne Boonchuy, to start the show hating Amphibia. Disney wanted him to make her a chipper “ray of sunshine and bubblegum” happy trope. He heard this from execs for years. Even if these creators get a show, the executives are always looking out for the company first.

To be fair, it is not every executive in the company as Dana Terrace has started when it comes to their content. It’s about finding the right executive to back them up versus the wrong executives who will snub them. Because executives in each department that have their own higher-up executives to answer to. So, execs in Disney TVA might be on board but they have to answer to their bosses too. It’s an entire chain of command going on. Once Terrace was stubborn enough to find the right people to let her have queer content in The Owl House, she said she was “very supported by the current Disney leadership.”

Cable contracts can also make it difficult for creators. Unlike Netflix and more recent streaming services, Disney still has many long-standing contracts with cable networks. Cable networks hold a lot of power over Disney because the Big Mouse gets billions of dollars of ad revenue from these companies. To be clear, this isn’t just the Disney Channel. These are also channels Disney owns like ABC and ESPN. Disney is required to put content on cable which oftentimes traps shows there. Thing is, cord-cutting has been on the rise for years with over 50 million people dropping cable in favor of streaming services.

There are now two kinds of shows being created for Disney: the ones that air on cable first and ones made for Disney+. To use some Star Wars examples, Clone Wars season seven and The Bad Batch were both made for Disney+. The finale episode of Clone Wars was the most watched episode that year for a sci-fi series beating out both Stranger Things and The Mandalorian with 139.9 average daily expressions. It was a jump from its premiere which was 67 million.

Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Resistance were both released on cable. Rebels’ season two finale had one of the highest ratings for the channel Disney XD. But the numbers were nowhere close to Clone Wars with Rebels getting roughly 13 million views. This premiered in 2016 when cord-cutting was less than 24 million viewers. Resistance didn’t get the same luxury as it aired from 2018-2020 where cord cutting jumped from 33 million to 45 million viewers which put Resistance at a much greater disadvantage than Rebels because fewer people have a chance to watch it. Also, these two series first aired on the side channel, Disney XD, which is a premium channel for cable costing extra money in some cases to get it. Also to note as of recently, Disney XD is in the process of being phased out worldwide.

Matt Braly has been very vocal over the years about how these cable contracts hurt his show Amphibia. Because of how cable contracts worked, a season of Amphibia had to complete its entire season run before going up on Disney Plus. As a creator, he said:

"“I’d prefer if episodes would just go up a week after airing…not this whole waiting for an entire season to finish junk. Cable is desperately trying to hang onto what they have and it’s embarrassing” and that “…Disney is very inflexible and any new practice can take months and months to implement. Content will start to go up faster but probably closer to the second half of the year. If we’re lucky.…cable is essentially a wasteland and numerous shows are still bizarrely trapped there.”"

He also said in response to another Twitter user,

"“It’s such a shame, we’re busting our [expletive] on a show that is barely accessible thanks to the practices of Disney Channel. Everyone has Disney+ now so the whole thing makes no sense and our content suffers greatly for it.”"

More towards the back half of Amphibia’s run, Disney did start uploading episodes faster to Disney+ during hiatuses which did help.

Also according to Braly, cable ratings aren’t always accurate. He stated on Twitter:

"“I’ve never felt passionately about telling people to watch the show on Disney Channel because the truth is – if you’re not a Nielsen family your vote doesn’t really count. Streaming is different. Every single view counts now. So help us spread the word! … Help let Disney know that this is the kind of content you’d like to see more of! We’re so excited that WAY more folks will now have access to our show. If the show does well enough on Disney+ to get noticed, merch might be a REAL possibility!”"

Outside of Disney essentially limiting its cable shows, Braly brings up another important factor which is merchandise.

I’ve already discussed this in the Netflix section. I just wanted to point out again that not making merchandise hurts these shows. Also, Disney has canceled merchandise already in production with no explanation as Alex Hirsch has mentioned in this Twitter thread.

The maddening thing to me most of all is when Disney punishes shows for doing exceptionally.

The Owl House is a critically acclaimed series. It’s historic with the first bisexual lead character of a series and the first non-binary character in Disney’s history. The series has been nominated for the Annie Awards, the Emmys, and the GLAAD Media Awards, and it has also won a Peabody Award. It has an engaged fanbase that pushed for shirts and merchandise to be sold in stores like Hot Topic (remember, these shows usually don’t get merchandise). The Owl House was even renewed for a second season before season one even aired. According to Deadline, it was a top-five show in its age bracket for cable ratings. And on Disney Channel YouTube, The Owl House content had over 58 million views. This series seemed like it had everything going for it.

This is why fans were shocked to hear that season three was not only the last but it was also being cut from a full 22-episode season down to three 45-minute shorts. This is roughly the equivalent of a six-episode season. It was a slap into the face for a series that was doing so well.

Again the question was why? Was it the queer content? Disney does have a history of stifling those kinds of stories. Was it budget cuts throughout Covid despite the series being a powerhouse for their company? Creator Dana Terrace took to Reddit to offer up the explanation.

The reason why The Owl House was canceled and shortened is that it was performing well outside its target demographic and didn’t fit the Disney brand. It was also a serialized series, and they wanted to focus on more episodic content.

I’m going to repeat that nonsense:

The Owl House was performing exceptionally, and Disney punished them for it.

Because it didn’t fit their perfect brand formula. Terrace went on to say that the executives didn’t even give her a chance to defend her show or fight for it. They didn’t even talk to her beforehand. The decision was also made well before The Owl House was on Disney+ where it has been constantly trending on the platform ever since. Remember, more people are watching the streaming service than cable. She pointed out their ratings are incomplete because of the unknown numbers of its streaming service performance.

Reuben Baron of Paste Magazine mused in an article if The Owl House would have had a better fate if it premiered on Disney+ first. In the piece, the 2021 Lightbox Expo was brought up. It’s a convention for industry professionals. One of the features was Disney rolling out their ongoing brand and what it means. Disney Channel, which was what The Owl House aired on, was going to be for their target 6-11 year old demographic going forward. Disney+ was all-age viewing including shows targeted at teenagers and adults which is the age group that The Owl House was the most popular. But The Owl House premiered two years before this announcement, and the show got caught in the middle of this new direction just like so many Netflix and HBO Max series discussed.

In my personal opinion, if Disney had any sense, they would completely move The Owl House to air on Disney+ by itself. Though, the company is still held hostage by those cable contracts so The Owl House suffers for it.

Disney is not as rosy and wonderful to animation as they would like people to think. When the backlash to Don’t Say Gay was rolling out, Dana Terrace flat out said she was tired of making the company look good while the Big Mouse didn’t support their LGBTQIA+ workers. Disney wants audiences to believe they are the best place in the world. That animation is important to them! It’s what Walt Disney himself would want!

But they’re just as bad as the other streaming services.

This brings us to Lucasfilm.

Lucasfilm and the class action lawsuit against George Lucas

If you would love to hear an interesting and well-presented history of animation in Lucasfilm, I highly suggest the podcast Skytalkers. Their 2020 summer series is about the history of Star Wars animation covers the first Boba Fett cartoon in the Holiday Special up until the return of Clone Wars on Disney+. Charlotte and Caitlin source all the references and it’s a wonderful listen.

The reason I bring up this podcast is that animation has always held an important role in Star Wars history and Skytalkers seamlessly lays out all of these points in their episodes. The first television series for the franchise was animation with Ewoks and Droids. Genndy Tartakovsky’s Star Wars: Clone Wars was a connecting thread in the prequel era as well as the first terrifying appearance of General Grievous. After the prequel films, the only Star Wars on screen for a decade was the 2008 Clone Wars. Animation was some of the first projects in the Disney era with Rebels. Season seven of Clone Wars was one of the flagship shows of Disney+.

Animation has always had a special place for George Lucas. It’s part of the reason he reached out to Nelvana to produce his early series because Nelvana is a staple company in the animation business. Look up their list of shows. They more than likely had their hands in something you watched from the 60s to the present. Nelvana’s employees have gone on to help form DreamWorks and work in Disney to create movies like The Lion King. As much as George wanted to push technology in live action, he also wanted to push and innovate the medium of animation as well. He even created and funded the entirety of season one of Clone Wars out of his own pocket before ever approaching Cartoon Network to pitch the show to them.

But innovation comes with a cost and George Lucas, while a creator, has also made some serious mistakes.

It’s almost ironic as he speaks in an interview with Charlie Rose about how capitalism stifles creativity. He talks about how studios are afraid to take chances, which he is right about as has been outlined in this article. Money is the killer of a lot of creativity and innovation.

So then it makes me wonder why he hurt his own animators under him. In 2014, a class action lawsuit was filed against multiple animation companies including Lucasfilm. In the court documents, George Lucas was named as one of the ring leaders who came up with a conspiracy that violated antitrust laws and involved wage theft for his animators. Other companies involved were Pixar, DreamWorks, and even Apple’s own Steve Jobs was in on it.

The lawsuit claims that when Lucasfilm sold its computer animation division to soon-to-be named Pixar in the 1980s, George Lucas and Ed Catmull, who would be president of Pixar, agreed not to poach each other’s artists. Over time, the other companies joined in on this. As computer-animated content exploded, the conspiracy took a turn to maximize profits. Cartoon Brew explained:

"“The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant studios conspired to restrict competition by exchanging sensitive compensation information, fixing compensation ranges of their employees, and most crucially, refraining from solicitation of each other’s employees, in violation of federal antitrust law and the California Business and Professions Code. The plaintiffs claim that the defendants’ actions injured the plaintiffs and members of the class by “lowering their compensation and depriving them of free and fair competition in the market for their services.” Further, the plaintiffs claim that the studios fraudulently concealed their conspiracy, preventing the plaintiffs from filing their complaint in a timely manner. Federal antitrust law prohibits such actions as restrictions on competition.”"

Pando Daily also covered the lawsuit and stated that:

"“It was George Lucas himself who first initiated the illegal conspiracy to suppress tech workers’ wages by secretly coordinating recruitment and salaries with competing VFX film companies. Lucas later justified his actions by claiming that had he not secretly suppressed employees’ wages, the small movie studios would’ve gone bankrupt and everyone would’ve suffered. Stealing workers’ wages and their opportunities to protect Lucasfilm’s bottom line may have been an act of selfless benevolence, but it also turned Lucas into a multibillionaire when he sold out to Disney in 2012 and pocketed over four billion dollars for himself.”"

Pando Daily also has records from George Lucas testifying on the stand and, I say very sarcastically, they’re “fun” to read. He has no remorse for his actions. So apparently capitalism is only bad for George Lucas’ creativity. He had no problem hurting his own workers for decades.

Way to be a hypocrite, George.

And the animators won their case after being able to prove this not only affected thousands in the industry but these companies also stole millions of dollars from employees. Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Walt Disney Company paid out $100 million in the settlement.

It’s absolutely disgusting behavior. The gross thing to top it off is that George apologized to Disney, not to the people he hurt.

The possible future of Lucasfilm animation

The stigma against animation even within Star Wars is an ongoing battle. As a fan who got into the fandom because of seeing the Clone Wars movie on the big screen, it’s hard for me to see the ongoing stigma against the medium. Even recently, tweets were going around on Twitter about how the Kenobi series should redo the final battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul because Rebels was animated.

Even among animation fans, there is a stigma against change. One point that Skytalkers discussed at length was how toxic #SaveCloneWars was. Yes, it did keep up interest and help us get a season seven. But it was also used as an attack against fans of Rebels and Resistance. Those fans wanted more Clone Wars and would lash out at new animation styles as an ongoing fight against the Disney era of storytelling.

There is also the recent introduction of Star Wars television on Disney+. We have live-action Star Wars tv which does make that stigma against animation come up again. Remember, for decades, the only Star Wars on tv was animation. But live action does provide a new challenge for the medium. Star Wars Explained’s Alex Damon has referenced many times in his videos what he calls the Star Wars funnel. It is a chart of the popularity of content from general audience fans to the most die-hard ones. For the longest time, the order was the movies, then animated series, video games, and under that were the books and comics. But now with the development of live-action Star Wars, that has taken a firm place above the animated series and dethroned it. His video about Yoda’s lightsaber in The Book of Boba Fett is one of the best explanations of the Star Wars funnel and how it works. The stigma against Star Wars animation is going stronger than ever before.

After the events of Netflix and HBO Max gutting their animation departments, if those companies’ gambits succeed, it sets a precedence. We already know that both Disney and Lucasfilm won’t hesitate to throw their shows and workers under the bus to save money. Animation workers still haven’t gotten equality with their live-action counterparts after the #NewDeal4Animation negotiations. These companies are still putting themselves first over the well-being of their creators.

At D23 Expo 2019, Dave Filoni gave an interview discussing how he didn’t think there should be any more Clone Wars. He explains that Clone Wars characters can go on to tell new stories. At Celebration 2022, he said on stage that he considers live-action and animation to be equal. I agree and love both of these points. Animation is a very important part of Star Wars history as well as Clone Wars.

But Dave also doesn’t get to make all the choices as he still has executives to answer to.

We are also seeing many animated characters coming into live action with the first being Saw Gerrera followed by other powerhouse characters like Bo-Katan, Ahsoka, and of course the recent casting of Sabine and Ezra. With all of this casting news, there have always been discussions around Twitter about why not continue these stories in animation. Is it the funnel? Is it because live-action does appease a wider audience because of the stigma against animation in the U.S.?

What does this all mean for the future of Lucasfilm animation?

Looking at the upcoming projects, I can see some scenarios playing out based on the animated projects we have on the horizon. It’s time to take all of this information thus far and speculate.

First of all, we haven’t had an animated Star Wars movie on the big screen since Clone Wars which was a financial flop. Granted, it was the first three episodes of the series edited together to make sure it had a feature-length film run time. It was never supposed to be a movie and was Frankenstein’ed into one. While it was under Cartoon Network’s brand at the time, this kind of financial failure is exactly the kind of thing that Disney execs could point to and argue why there shouldn’t be another animated movie on the big screen.

There is the upcoming A Droid Story. It was announced as an animated film. Still, it’s supposedly going to air on Disney+ and not in theaters. Disney+ is the safer bet than a theatrical release. And ever since its announcement, they’ve been pretty quiet on details ever since.

I’m on the fence about counting Star Wars: Visions in all of this. They are very much the outlier in this argument because it’s made to be a focus on anime in season one. Season two is showcasing Star Wars made by studios all over the world. In my opinion, Visions reminds me a lot of how Netflix seems to be moving forward. Instead of producing content in-house, it’s relying on other places to produce it. Though, to be fair, I have no idea how the financial side of making Visions works. It could be an in-house Lucasfilm production with the other studios. I couldn’t find that breakdown so I want to be absolutely transparent as I wildly speculate.

But also, Visions isn’t canon which means they don’t have to fit in with the Lucasfilm brand and mythology. It allows for different and innovative storytelling because they don’t have to be in the canon box. It makes me wonder why this kind of creativity was given to a non-canon project instead of a canon one.

The Bad Batch and the upcoming Tales of the Jedi are both created in a Clone Wars style. Clone Wars pushed a lot of technology forward for Lucasfilm and is still a huge money maker. It is a safe bet that anything with these characters will make a profit for Disney, which doesn’t like to take a lot of risks and loves its formulas. This style also keeps the #SaveCloneWars fans happy because it’s their wheelhouse. Both of these shows make sense in the Clone Wars style as The Bad Batch is essentially a sequel to the series. Tales of the Jedi is continuing stories of Clone Wars characters. This makes sense in the current context.

I think it will be telling if we get a season two of Tales of the Jedi. Say they want to focus on the original trilogy or sequel trilogy stories. Those animated shows were Rebels and Resistance. If the styles don’t match those respective shows, choose a new animation style, or they choose to stay in the Clone Wars style, it makes me wonder why. Why not try new things in an anthology series? Would they choose the Clone Wars style to save money with technology they already have? Because it’s a safe bet with a loud part of the fandom? Because they know the Clone Wars style sells? Will they choose a cheaper route over trying something new?

I love the LEGO Star Wars specials. I’d give anything for more Freemakers Adventures content. But they are promoting a brand. LEGO is a powerhouse in its own right. These truly have that Saturday Morning Cartoon feeling of creating these shorts to help sell games and toys.

A lot of the animated content on YouTube has mixed reception among fans. A good chunk of it is tailored to a younger audience, which is fantastic. The youngest viewers deserve Star Wars content made for them. There was a wide range of styles. But even that has its issues. Content made for young fans is missing a big audience. A lot of the styles are creative and beautiful, but it’s missing a majority of the fandom and the general audience. There is still a stigma against animation and many adults don’t want to watch shows made for kids. Galaxy of Adventures is gorgeous and some of Titmouse’s best work. But there’s really no new content in there as it’s retelling the movies.

This is the same issue with the upcoming Young Jedi Academy. I am ridiculously excited about this show. I’m a huge fan of the High Republic era. Depending on how filming for The Acolyte goes, Young Jedi Adventures might be our first on-screen look at the High Republic era.

The issue is it’s made for preschoolers. That is the target demographic. Again, there is no problem with making content for young fans. But being the possible first outing for the High Republic era is questionable. The High Republic is some of the more progressive, queer, and diverse Star Wars ever made. Most of the books and comics of the initiative are rated YA and up except for the few Middle-Grade novels, picture books, and the Adventures line. Why showcase this era’s first outing in a show for preschoolers when the majority of the fans reading this era are mostly teenagers and adults? I mean I’m going to watch the heck out of it hoping that Regald Coll, Kantam Sy, Torban Buck, and other characters show up. But the majority of the fandom will not watch the show. It’s a missed chance to share this era with a wider audience. It feels like Disney and Lucasfilm are wanting to hide this progressive storytelling behind an age wall.

Looking at all of these titles and the details around them, as an animation fan, it feels way too safe to me. Where is the next big thing in Star Wars animation? Where are the innovation and progression? Trying new styles? Pushing the limits of the medium? I love the Clone Wars style, but when are we going to see something new like Rebels and Resistance outside of Visions?

I have a real fear for Lucasfilm animation in the wake of David Zaslav’s gambit. If he and Netflix’s game of gutting animation actually makes them money, I could see Disney and, to be more specific, Lucasfilm trying something similar.

I don’t think Lucasfilm would ever fully gut their animation department. It means too much to the history of the brand. But I can absolutely see them take on a path that saves them money, take fewer chances, and play safely with Star Wars because of the stigma against animation. We know Disney won’t support their shows if it doesn’t make them money. It’s not like The Bad Batch has the same amount of merchandise rolling out like Clone Wars did. The cable wasteland that Resistance got caught in probably didn’t help their merchandise sales. And we know that Lucasfilm hasn’t shied away from hurting their animators to save money. As comedian Adam Conover pointed out, this leads to lower quality content which could be a possibility for anything outside of the Clone Wars style. All of this together makes me very nervous about the future of Lucasfilm animation.

I hope I’m wrong. I want to be wrong. I want nothing more than to see an adult animated Star Wars series in the same vein as The Legend of Vox Machina. I want to see new styles brought into a galaxy far, far away. I want to see the recent 2D and 3D blending of artwork in Star Wars like in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Bad Guys. Heck, I want to see a CalArts style Star Wars just to watch the chaotic discourse rage online while I cackle in delight.

We have to wait and see. History is still being written in Hollywood about this chapter. We don’t know what the next step will look like. We probably won’t know for a few years, if not until the next decade. It’s a very scary time for animation in general.

I can only hope that Lucasfilm takes up the charge to create the next wave of new content and styles. I hope they take chances. I hope they try new things without worrying about losing money since, you know, they’re one of the richest companies in the world. I hope they treat their employees fairly. Give those creators what they deserve. I hope they pay their animation department the same as their live action counterpart.

I want more than anything for Star Wars animation to succeed.

And while it’s not animation, bring back Jedi Temple Challenge too. Put it on Disney+. That show was a delight, and Ahmed Best deserves the world.

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