Disney Announces Star Wars: Resistance Animated TV Series

Screen Rant

By Cooper Hood

Published Apr 26, 2018

Disney XD officially announces their new animated Star Wars TV series, titled Star Wars Resistance, set to debut in the fall.

Disney XD is going back to a galaxy far, far away with their new animated series Star Wars Resistance. The Star Wars universe is thriving with several forms of content being released. While the movies get the most attention, weekly comic books, several novels, and TV shows have also helped expand the canon. A live-action Star Wars TV series is currently being developed by Jon Favreau, but the franchise lost a vital piece earlier this year when the animated TV show Star Wars Rebels ended after four seasons.

Rebels was the second animated series to be part of Star Wars canon, following Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The Rebels finale was rather hopeful, considering many expected the series to kill off several of its key members as they don't appear in the original Star Wars movie trilogy. At the same time, it also left the door open for future adventures with characters like Ahsoka and Sabine, as well as other members of the Ghost crew. However, they won't be the stars of the next animated Star Wars TV show.

Disney has now announced that their new Star Wars animated TV show is titled Star Wars Resistance. As suggested by the title, this series will focus on the early days of the Resistance as seen through the eyes of new character Kazuda Xiono, "a young pilot recruited to help spy on the First Order." Oscar Isaac and Gwendoline Christie are also playing animated versions of Poe Dameron and Captain Phasma in the series, while everyone's favorite rolling droid BB-8 will likewise show up. Clone Wars and Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni has issued the following statement regarding his plans for Resistance, to go along with the show's official logo:

The idea for Star Wars Resistance came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots. My grandfather was a pilot and my uncle flew and restored planes, so that’s been a big influence on me. There’s a long history of high-speed racing in Star Wars, and I think we’ve captured that sense of excitement in an anime-inspired style, which is something the entire team has been wanting to do for a long time.

While specific character details are sparse, the voice cast has also been revealed. Christopher Sean (Days of Our Lives), Suzie McGrath (East Enders), Scott Lawrence (Legion), Myrna Velasco (Elena of Avalor), Josh Brener (Silicon Valley), Donald Faison (Scrubs), Bobby Moynihan (DuckTales), Jim Rash (Community), and Rachel Butera (Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time) will all lend their voices to the series. The question remains who will voice Kazuda, though it's easy to imagine Brener filling the role of a young pilot.

Since the new cast of characters are a mystery, the excitement will come from the fact that another series is on the way, and that familiar movie characters will be involved. Isaac and Christie are great gets for the show and logical ones too. Star Wars: The Last Jedi may have evolved Poe into more of a leader, but Resistance will provide a fun look at his younger (more cocky) days as a pilot. Phasma, on the other hand, appears to be dead in the films, so her role in Resistance will help flesh out the character's history. Based on the premise, it's possible that even FN-2187 aka Finn, Snoke, Kylo Ren, and General Leia (with someone other than Carrie Fisher voicing the role) could appear at some point.