Disney XD has released an extended trailer for its new animated series, Star Wars Resistance. Resistance is the third Star Wars cartoon TV show developed overall (following Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels), but the first one that takes place several years after the events of the original Star Wars film trilogy. The series specifically picks up six months before Star Wars: The Force Awakens and explores the First Order's rise to power, as well as the growing Resistance against them.
Created by Lucasfilm Animation head honcho Dave Filoni, Resistance follows the adventures of Kazuda Xiono (voiced by Christopher Sean), a very talented but young and inexperienced fighter pilot who is recruited by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac, reprising his live-action role) to spy on the First Order and determine who the Resistance can and cannot trust. Meanwhile, when he's not carrying out top-secret missions for the Resistance, Kazuda makes his living participating in sky racing competitions with the other members of his makeshift family - a crew also known as Team Fireball.
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Whereas previous Resistance trailers have focused more on Team Fireball's sky races than their life-threatening missions for the Resistance, the show's extended trailer dives deeper into the First Order's growing efforts to transform itself into a super-power that can conquer the galaxy. For more on that, watch the video below.
Among other things, this extended Resistance trailer offers a better look at the TV show's version of the not-yet-operational Starkiller Base and features a special appearance by Gwendoline Christie's Captain Phasma (who, lest we forget, is still alive when Resistance takes place). Meanwhile, on the more heroic side of things, the clip features a welcome cameo by Rachel Butera as General Leia Organa, as she works out plans to, well, resist the First Order with Poe. Judging by this video, Butera is very much channeling the late Carrie Fisher with her vocal performance here.
All in all, this extended trailer is encouraging and suggests Resistance will aim to balance its kid-friendly sky racing story elements with the more dramatic subplot involving the First Order's increasing militarization. Clone Wars and Rebels were at their best when they blended whiz bang adventure for the whole family with mature storytelling and thoughtful world-building - and by the looks of things, Resistance is already on its way to achieving an equally successful mixture.
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Star Wars Resistance's one-hour premiere "The Recruit" airs Sunday, October 7 at 10 pm ET/PT on Disney XD.
Source: Disney XD