The next entry in the growing list of Star Wars animation projects has received an exciting update. After the six original live-action films in the Skywalker Saga came to an end with Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge Of The Sith, the franchise turned to animation to tell more Star Wars stories. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was such a hit that Disney recently released a final seventh season nearly a decade after the show’s original conclusion. Before that seventh season, Star Wars: Rebels filled in gaps between Revenge Of The Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Most recently, Star Wars: The Bad Batch continued stories set up by The Clone Wars.
Star Wars animation has been a key storytelling component for the franchise ever since the success of The Clone Wars. While beloved characters like Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi can be further developed in animation, new characters can also be introduced to the franchise. Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) made her debut in animation as a teen in The Clone Wars and an adult in Rebels before making the jump to live-action in The Mandalorian, played by Rosario Dawson. Other characters introduced in animation like Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and Captain Rex (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) have become fan-favorites, while characters like Darth Maul (voiced by Sam Witwer) became more complex thanks to being included in animated stories.
Revealed during an appearance on The Convor Call (via The Direct), Kevin Kiner, the longtime composer of Star Wars animated projects, recently talked about his excitement surrounding a new animated project that Lucasfilm is working on. Check out Kiner’s full statement below:
“You know, we are working on a new project. It’s an animated project. It’s a Star Wars project. And that’s all we can say. It’s really, really frikkin’ great… To the point where Lucasfilm and Disney are giving us full orchestra for every episode… It’s a very special project, some great, great people are involved, and we’re really privileged to be part of that one. And I probably said too much already.”
Recent Star Wars attention has been on live-action storytelling, as evidenced by The Book Of Boba Fett’s success and anticipation surrounding Obi-Wan Kenobi. So, with The Bad Batch season 2’s release date still unclear, it’s exciting to know that Star Wars animation is still a critical part of the franchise’s storytelling. Rebels ended on enough of a cliffhanger with the disappearance of the show’s young Jedi lead, Ezra Bridger (voiced by Taylor Gray), along with one of the show’s villains, Grand Admiral Thrawn (voiced by Lars Mikkelsen), that a sequel to the series seemed certain. But, the unfinished stories from Rebels will likely be completed in live-action during the series following Dawson’s Tano, Ahsoka, as hinted at by Tano’s mention of Grand Admiral Thrawn during The Mandalorian season 2.
With clarity about how the unfinished stories from Rebels will be completed, speculation about what kind of Star Wars animated show Kiner is currently working on is up for debate. A recent leak revealed an upcoming series titled Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi, possibly following the adventures of Luke Skywalker, but there has been no official confirmation about the details of that show. Other speculation might point to more stories from The Clone Wars era being on their way since some planned stories for that show were never completed. Whatever new Star Wars animated series might be coming, Kevin Kiner’s excitement can only mean that the franchise has something special on the horizon.
Source: The Convor Call (via The Direct)