Posted by During this year’s Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm Animation revealed a new series of shorts titled Tales of the Jedi. Though this new show had been teased (and sort of leaked when Lucasfilm employees posted pictures of their company holiday gifts!), fans attending the Saturday afternoon panel got some more details from Dave Filoni himself, and an exclusive look at the upcoming series due for release in Fall 2022 on Disney+.
What to Expect
Tales of the Jedi will be a series of shorts focusing on different Jedi throughout their lives. Dave Filoni, the executive producer and writer for the series, revealed that the idea came about while he was traveling back and forth working on the fan-favorite series The Mandalorian. When talking about the difference between live-action and animated Star Wars, Filoni had this to say:
“I don’t see them as very different at all… it’s all just Star Wars to me!”
For this first installment, there will be six episodes exploring more characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Three of these will focus on the fan-beloved Ahsoka Tano, and three will focus on the life of Count Dooku- and the apprenticeship of Qui-Gon Jinn. At the panel, fans got to see art of both the younger Count Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon. It was also confirmed that Liam Neeson will indeed be returning to play Qui-Gon, along with his son providing the voice for the younger version of the character.
Filoni explained that he wanted to explore the legacy and impact of the relationships between Master and Padawan- especially the “linage” involving Count Dooku. Master Yoda was Dooku’s original Master, and Dooku went on to train Qui-Gon, who trained Obi-Wan Kenobi, who trained Anakin Skywalker.
Anakin will, of course, make his own return in Tales of the Jedi. Like with the episodes involving Dooku, the Ahsoka Tano episodes will span a long period of her life. Fans attending the panel were treated to an exclusive screening of the first episode of Tales of the Jedi, featuring Ahsoka.
Young Ahsoka in Tales of the Jedi
The following will contain spoilers for the first episode of Tales of the Jedi.
The first episode that Ahsoka features in explores her origins- opening with the day of Ahsoka Tano’s birth in a small Togruta village. There is a small time skip in the episode with the main events taking place one year after Ahsoka has been born. Her mother, Pav-ti Tano, voiced by Janina Gavankar (Star Wars: Battlefront II, The Morning Show), takes Ahsoka out for a traditional hunt that takes place one year after the birth of a new child.
After shooting one of the planet’s deer-like native creatures, Pav-ti approaches the dying animal with Ahsoka in a carrier in front of her. Ahsoka tries to look away, but her mother reminds her that she must face death and not fear it. As Pav-ti prepares to take the animal back to their village, though, Ahsoka is taken by a much larger, much scarier bear-like animal. Her mother is grief-stricken and the shots she fires in an attempt to scare the animal off draw the attention of the rest of the village.
In the creature’s lair though, Ahsoka is worried but not terrified. Here, we see the first look at her abilities with the Force. As the animal charges at her, she simply reaches out a hand and makes a connection with the creature. And while her village is looking for her, Ahsoka simply rides on the creature’s back and returns.
Expressing both shock and confusion as to how this is possible, Pav-ti looks to the village elder for answers. Examining her, the elder explains: “Jedi. Ahsoka is Jedi.”
Dave Filoni explained that at first he meant this episode to finally tell the story of how Plo Koon found Ahsoka and took her to the Jedi Temple on Corascant. But he explained that when he sat down to write the episode, he started writing about Ahsoka’s mother instead.
“The first person to tell her ‘Don’t be afraid’ is her Mom.” – Dave Filoni
Tales of the Jedi Trailer
After telling the audience that he wouldn’t be swayed into showing another episode, Filoni instead showed attendees the very first trailer for Tales of the Jedi. Though this trailer has not yet been made public, there is a lot in the trailer that I hope to dissect at a later date! But here’s what I remember from watching it at Celebration.
For the Ahsoka stories, we of course already knew that we would be seeing tiny baby Ahsoka before she is found by the Jedi and taken to be trained under them. For the other two episodes, one seems to be set during Clone Wars and another after Order 66.
In the glimpses we got of Ahsoka’s episode set during Clone Wars, it seems as if it may be set shortly after she acquired her second lightsaber. Anakin is seen telling her to work harder, and that it is his responsibility to make sure she can take care of herself. With both sabers in her hands, the Clones shoot stun shots at her- very reminiscent of the Order 66 scene in the Siege of Mandalore arc. She is knocked down, but Anakin calls for her to try again and again.
For the third episode, Ahsoka appears to be being hunted down by one of the Inquisitors after the events of Order 66. She does not appear to have her new lightsabers yet as she faces this Inquisitor down. It may be that this episode could be an adaptation of parts of E. K. Johnston’s Star Wars: Ahsoka novel in which Ahsoka faces the Sixth Brother.
The scenes from the Count Dooku episodes in the trailer are perhaps not as easily placed in the timeline based on the short glimpses and the single time I’ve been able to view the trailer so far. One scene in particular stood out to me, though. During a duel, Dooku nearly beheads his opponent but is stopped by Mace Windu, who also returns to the animated world of Star Wars. Windu warns Dooku that he is going too far as Qui-Gon looks on.
It will be very interesting to trace Dooku’s downfall through these episodes. We of course already know how Sidious was able to entrap Anakin into becoming his apprentice, but now we will see more of how Dooku’s views and opinions drew him to the Dark Side. This story will probably prove to be very dark, too, as Filoni explained that had he shown a Dooku episode that the panel would not have turned into talking about all the cute and adorable things in Star Wars!
Tales of the Jedi promises to be a very interesting and deeper look at the lives of various Jedi throughout the Star Wars timeline. Though only one season has been confirmed so far, there is the potential for this series to cover a lot of ground for a lot of Jedi and Force-wielding characters. Look for the trailer to be released to the public soon, and continue following us here as we bring you more news about Tales of the Jedi!
(P.S.: Dave, I was one of the people yelling “Where’s Ezra?!” during that panel. Please bring him home soon!)
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