Star Wars just dropped a major hint for 'Visions' Volume 3

Star Wars fans are just two months away from the third volume of the highly acclaimed animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions. The official Star Wars account across various social media platforms have recently given us a tantalizing clue regarding what’s to come for the series.

“Back to where it all began.” was posted alongside an awesome new poster for the upcoming series due to air on October 29.

But what exactly does this all mean??

Visions tends to do things a little bit differently, even for a program set in the galaxy far, far away. Animated series have always had a bit more freedom of expression when compared to their live action counterparts. Things and events that are not practical or budgetarily feasible behind a camera can be achieved in the animation room. There are quite a few notable examples in the Star Wars franchise. The scale of the Zilo Beast from The Clone Wars and the disassembly of battle droids via force-powered karate chops in Tartakovsky’s 2-D Clone Wars would be difficult to achieve in the realm of live action (not to mention expensive!) Animation allows writers and producers to bring their creativity to new heights without fear of practicality or ‘realism.’

Visions takes this concept and runs wild with it. In volumes one and two, we have seen the likes of a musical on Tatooine, a stop-motion animated race and of course, a black and white Samurai-Jedi battle.

What really breathes fresh life into the series is that none of the stories take place in the traditional canonical universe. For rabid lore-collectors, this prospect can prove a bit challenging. Star Wars has almost always cleanly defined the parameters of its massive interconnected universe. While such a task is fascinating to watch unfold, it can be burdensome for creatives who may have a particular story in mind only to find that it contradicts a minor point in the established canon. Naturally, a world as big as the one Star Wars inhabits is already full of contradictions. This is true of current canon and the old Expanded Universe.

Being freed of such constraints is truly liberating from a creative standpoint. Star Wars has perhaps the richest environment and settings of any fictional reality. Its lived-in world offers potential like no other. Giving the audience the chance to see what that world looks like from fresh eyes doesn’t detract from the established stories. It in fact enhances what is already there and serves as a source of inspiration for yet more stories to be told.

In celebration of these remarkable new mini-worlds that have been created by a host of international animation studios. We suspect that the “back to where it all began” tag means that some of the new episodes will actually be making a return to some of those stories from the previous two volumes. With a handful of returning studios, who are by now veterans of making Star Wars stories, audiences will surely be quick to guess which pocket-universes will be making a return.

The poster, as shown above, has more than one familiar face from some crowd favorites. While this is a pretty unique approach, it is not without precedent. Disney’s own animation studio recently concluded the animated anthology series What if…? Taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or to be specific, in a series of alternate realities branching off from the main realm of the movies. Each season of that show had a handful of connecting threads. Could Visions be looking to do the same?

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 airs on October 29, exclusively on Disney+.