OMG Star Wars is reviving 'Clone Wars' -- and there's a trailer
If you thought Star Wars was done telling tales in the prequel era, think again.
As Lucasfilm announced to a surprised fandom at San Diego Comic Con on Thursday, The Clone Wars -- the animated series set between Episodes II and II -- is getting one more season, five years after its abrupt cancelation.
The series, which began in 2008 when George Lucas decided to turn the first few episodes into an animated movie, covers the conflict in the galaxy far, far away that preceded the Empire. The Clone Wars -- spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen Star Wars Episode III or beyond -- were a mere pretext for Emperor Palpatine to seize power and wipe out the Jedi via their supposedly loyal clone army.
In the new season, all your favorite misguided Jedi are back -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda -- as well as the estranged Jedi apprentice to Anakin, Ahsoka Tano.
That's going to further complicate the already out-of-joint Star Wars timeline. The last time we saw Ahsoka was in the Rebels animated series, set in Imperial times, in which she has a lightsaber duel with Anakin in his subsequent identity, Darth Vader.
Clone Wars was much more lavishly animated than Rebels; the amount of money it cost to make each episode was one reason why Lucas' successor, Kathleen Kennedy, canceled it after five seasons. A truncated sixth season of episodes that were already in the works was later released on Netflix.
Season 7 doesn't seem to have skimped on the animation costs either, judging by the most impressive scene in the trailer. Composed of 12 episodes, it will drop on the forthcoming Disney streaming service sometime in 2019. (In the meantime, Disney will also launch a new animated TV series set in the era of Episodes VII and VIII called Resistance.)
Clone Wars showrunner Dave Filoni's intention was to have Anakin and Ahsoka team up one more team to defeat Darth Maul. Because of Rebels, we already know he survives that to die at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine.
But having just seen the live action version of Maul on screen in Solo -- there's that confusing timeline again -- we have to wonder whether Clone Wars will also include Maul's new employee and erstwhile Han Solo girlfriend Qi'ra.
As George Lucas suspected when he launched Clone Wars a decade ago, there's life in the prequel era yet.
Topics Star Wars
Chris is a veteran tech, entertainment and culture journalist, author of 'How Star Wars Conquered the Universe,' and co-host of the Doctor Who podcast 'Pull to Open.' Hailing from the U.K., Chris got his start as a sub editor on national newspapers. He moved to the U.S. in 1996, and became senior news writer for Time.com a year later. In 2000, he was named San Francisco bureau chief for Time magazine. He has served as senior editor for Business 2.0, and West Coast editor for Fortune Small Business and Fast Company. Chris is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a long-time volunteer at 826 Valencia, the nationwide after-school program co-founded by author Dave Eggers. His book on the history of Star Wars is an international bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages.
