The Star Wars: The Clone Wars seventh season set to release on Disney+ will be quite different from the original plans. At long last, The Clone Wars will get to have a logical conclusion, as Disney has resurrected it for its final season. Though they hope to use it in a way that ties up any remaining loose ends and bleeds into Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, the initial plans for it from a number of years ago indicate that there is a lot being left out in favor of putting George Lucas' animated space serial to rest.
Following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm and of course Star Wars in 2012, The Clone Wars was swiftly canceled only a couple years later. It was an abrupt end that left fans wanting more, feeling short-changed since the show never got to flesh out the remainder of its time frame in the canon. It was public knowledge that the series had more to give, hence why die-hard fans were adamant about its return.
Fast forward to San Diego Comic Con 2018, and that return finally became a reality. The Clone Wars was to be revived for one last season which would serve as a wrap up to its many narratives. This is a plus for fans of the series, but sadly there are a number of episodes and arcs that will never see the light of day during this very brief run. In essence, this was not the season 7 that was discussed in years past.
Why Clone Wars Was Canceled After Season 5
After season 5, Disney saw to it that The Clone Wars was phased out. There were many reasons for this decision, largely due to them choosing to take the brand in a new direction. After all, the plans were already in place for Star Wars Rebels to fill the niche of animated Star Wars kids shows. For both shows to run against one another would be unwise and would certainly impact the success of both. Rebels couldn't become the vital piece of the canon that it did if it was running against the juggernaut that was The Clone Wars. It was in their best interest to finally cut the program loose for that reason.
Aside from the business end, it has been implied in the years since the end of the show that the themes were becoming "too graphic" to those in charge. Disney is, at its core, a company based on its production of children's media. The show was getting dark and a tad more violent over time, which is surely something they wanted to move away from. Star Wars Rebels was clearly more toned-down, and better suited for younger viewers, while still providing enough action to keep the audience engaged.
There Was A Season 8 Plan, And Some Episodes Were Done
Eventually The Clone Wars wrapped up, riding out the remaining episodes of season 5 and what were dubbed as "The Lost Missions" that comprised season 6. Season 7 was obviously never completed, with plenty of unfinished The Clone Wars material making its way online in 2015, but the paper trail did not end there. There were plans for an eighth that was never fully realized with some episodes even making it pretty far along in the production process before they were canned.
This eighth season was to be the final one for the series, as the last episodes would run into the battle of Corsucant as seen in Revenge of the Sith. In addition, there was to be a lot of bounty hunter content as well, specifically with Boba Fett and Cad Bane. The Mon Calamari would continue to be featured prominently as were the Mimban people who would come into conflict with Republic forces. There was plenty of story yet to be told, but most of these ideas have yet to come to fruition in any format.
The Lost Missions Wasn't Actually Season 6
Speaking of ideas that were never fully realized, The Clone Wars season 6 fans received was not actually the one that was planned from the very beginning. In early 2014 "The Lost Missions" became available on Netflix and later other streaming services globally. Though never airing on Cartoon Network like their predecessors, the whole season was of course still considered part of the canon. This group of episodes was more or less a series of smaller arcs that were far enough along in the production process that they were to be released as filler for lack of a better term.
They were effectively samples of what were going to be much longer, fleshed out stories had the series continued. The original plans for season 6 would have seen them better woven into the upcoming seventh. Yoda's adventures on Moraband would have been given more detail, the repercussions of the Clovis arc would have been explored and all in all the story would have been more well rounded as it pushed the grander Clone Wars narrative forward into its next chapter.
What Was Clone Wars Season 7 Actually About?
The old plans for The Clone Wars season 7 were hefty, and looked to cover a lot of ground in a span of a couple handfuls of episodes. Not only was it to deal with many of the arcs planned for the true season 6, but it would have chugged along toward Revenge of the Sith by establishing a lot of what was seen, and what wasn't in that film. A lot of The Clone Wars season 7 stories were told in other media since the show's cancellation, but some have been left in limbo.
The conflict between Darth Maul and Ahsoka Tano would get the spotlight as the Siege of Mandalore raged. Meanwhile her master Anakin Skywalker would have teamed up with Obi-Wan Kenobi to deal with Separatist activity on Utapau. Yoda would also get some time with the Wookiees on Kashyykk as their war with the Trandoshans escalated. Thus explaining his good relations with them in the previously mentioned film.
In addition to these more galaxy-wide conflicts, the season would also scale back and cover smaller arcs. Boba Fett would get more development as his partnership with Cad Bane soured, while the Bad Batch would see some action alongside their fellow clones. Much of the pre-Empire stories told in the new Thrawn book trilogy would be covered as well before the season would end up overlapping with events such as the abduction of Chancellor Palpatine and eventually Order 66 as seen in the prequel films.
Season 7 Is Cutting A Lot Of The Original Plan
The version of The Clone Wars that will hit Disney+ is without a doubt not the original version. In fact, with only 12 episodes on the way, there will be arcs that have wound up on the cutting room floor. In regards to what has been seen via trailers and other promotional material, these episodes will cover the necessary bases and even provide some retcons without going too far off track. Lucasfilm looks to be getting to the meat of the matter here, so most of the supplementary stories will have to wait for the time being.
It is no secret that the Siege of Mandalore will be a major focus of this season, considering it has become the centerpiece of the marketing for it. The Bad Batch will also be a presence at one point or another as indicated by their appearance in trailers, however the extent to which they will be involved is up for debate. Obviously Order 66 and many of the setups for Revenge of the Sith will be included at some capacity, but in the confines of only a few episodes it is not unlikely that there isn't much more than this on the way.
Many of these arcs, big or small, have been either told in some other form of media or are being saved for another time. Though a lot of the extra episodes such as those dedicated to Thrawn or Boba Fett have found themselves shelved for now, there is still a lot to look forward to in The Clone Wars' grand conclusion. Despite its bad start in season 1, the series will be fondly remembered as one of the most exciting and detailed portions of the Star Wars universe, and hopefully season 7 will deliver on a proper sendoff for it, even though it is coming in a condensed form.