The Clone Wars has cast a long shadow.
The legacy of a single animated series that began in 2008 stretches to this very day. In an age where high-quality, story-driven 3D animation was a rarity, The Clone Wars stood as a unique example of what was capable from a medium often overlooked as a means of juvenile entertainment.
As of today, that legacy has produced hundreds of episodes of high-quality, story-driven content, which we continue to see in The Bad Batch, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance, Tales of the Jedi, and now in its sequel series, the much-anticipated Tales of the Empire.
This feels like an inevitable next step for the realm of The Clone Wars animation style and storytelling. If expressed as a continuous saga across all the programs that share this same animation style, we see a story, broad and deep, stretching from the dying days of the Republic into the fruition of the Empire, and it all works quite seamlessly.
The Clone Wars became darker in tone and in choice of story mechanics as time went on. Considering how much darker Revenge of the Sith was compared to its predecessor, Attack of the Clones, this can be seen as a natural occurrence even if only examined on the surface. However, upon closer inspection, The Clone Wars (which takes place between the two films) weaves its own narrative threats independently of its parent stories. Threads that continue this day in all the animated sequels the show has spawned over the years.
Tales of the Jedi stands as perhaps the most stellar example of this while also being an outstanding piece of animation that, even when considered as its own entity, separate from the series it spun off from, it’s more than capable of standing up on its own merits. If the new series had just been a second series of Jedi and their adventures in the waning days of the Order, that alone would have been a most welcome addition to the Star Wars catalog. However, the creative force behind the show clearly felt this wasn’t enough.
Instead, they have vied to take the program in a new and darker direction. Tales of the Jedi's highly personalized feel enabled a more mature form of storytelling that was seen in only limited quantities in The Clone Wars. This new series will likely give us the same down-to-earth feel but with the addition of the colossal strife and desperation that only an Imperial-dominated galaxy can offer.
After nearly a decade of waiting, Star Wars fans will learn what became of the traitorous Jedi padawan Barriss Offee. Offee was responsible for Ahsoka Tano’s departure from the Order and contributed to Anakin Skywalker’s disenfranchisement of the Jedi and the Republic.
This is not the first plot to detail a Jedi losing their way, but the depth of character that the previous season of Tales displayed means that we now have an opportunity to witness a tragic fall from grace in a way that has never been seen before in the galaxy far, far away.
Furthermore, we will learn about the origins of the mysterious (and perhaps underdeveloped) Morgan Elsbeth and the nature of her connection with Grand Admiral Thrawn, who we will see in glorious The Clone Wars-style animation for the first time.
Another welcome addition is an expanded look at the updated character model for General Grievous, who we only got the briefest of glimpses of in a snippet from the final season of The Clone Wars.
All six episodes of the new animated series Tales of the Empire premiere on Star Wars Day, May the 4th, exclusively on Disney +. You can watch the trailer below.