Skip to main content

Tales of the Jedi’s First Footage Teases Two Very Different Star Wars Stories

Image: Lucasfilm

Tales of the Jedi’s mysterious arrival on the schedule of Star Wars Celebrations had fans all over speculating what the animated series could be. Now, as producer Dave Filoni revealed at the convention, we know it’s far from what people were expecting. And yet, still kind of a surprise.

Revealed during Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, Tales will be a six-part short animated series developed by Filoni with Lucasfilm animation, and co-written in part with The Clone Wars scribe Charles Murray. The series is just six episodes long, split into two, three-episode anthologies: one that follows Ahsoka Tano across various points of her life, from her birth to her exploits after the rise of the Empire and perhaps beyond, while the other will depict a young Count Dooku, master to Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn (played in part by both a returning Liam Neeson, as well as Neeson’s son), before his exit from the Jedi Order and his fall to the Dark side.

In a trailer released to fans at Celebration, footage from the series included glimpses of a post-Revenge of the Sith galaxy, including glimpses of Padmé Amidala’s funeral on Naboo, and Bail Organa looking grim. Footage intercut sequences from both the Dooku and Ahsoka halves of the show: a younger Dooku igniting his blue lightsaber, and standing in front of the ancient tree at the heart of the Jedi Temple, and then cutting to him intervening in a tense standoff between villagers and armed guards (with massive, conical helmets) on a greyish planet, with lots of architecture evocative of bombed out towns in the First and Second World Wars. We also see Dooku and Mace Windu—looking very similar to his Clone Wars self—fighting droids in an autumnal forest, as Dooku gets increasingly aggressive, threatening the droid’s human leader before Mace intervenes and tells him to stand down. That’s not the only aggression from the future Darth Tyranus, either: we also see the young Qui-Gon Jinn, having ignited his own lightsaber alongside his master, get forced pushed aside into a building in the same village as glimpsed earlier, thrust away by Dooku.

In the Ahsoka footage meanwhile, we see glimpses of the future Padawan as a baby, as a Togruta village elder declares “Jedi. Ahsoka is Jedi.” We see moments of a baby Ahsoka being carried strapped to the front of her mother’s (a character confirmed to be played by Star Wars: Battlefront II’s Janina Gavankar during the panel) chest in forests, blaster in her mother’s hand. We also glimpse an older Ahsoka, this time a youngling, as she trains in lightsaber practice against remote droids, and eventually Clone Troopers firing stun blast rounds, with Anakin (the returning Matt Lanter) and other Jedi and clones watching in the background. Anakin repeatedly says “again!” as Ahsoka lets shots slip past and stun her to the floor.

“I’m tired of fighting,” Ahsoka tells her master, as we cut to shots of a traditional Jedi funeral attended by various Jedi—including a glimpse of Yaddle, although it was hard to say if this shot of Yaddle was from another scene. More intriguing shots from the trailer concluded with Ahsoka, wearing something similar to her slacks from the penultimate episodes of Clone Wars season 7, standing in a village engulfed in flames—over a seemingly wounded person, and behind them, an Imperial Inquisitor, their red-dual blade weapon ignited.

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi will stream on Disney+ this Fall.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Only Version of Return of the King Worth Watching Missing From Max After Streaming Bug

Screenshot: Warner Bros. Bad news for Max subscribers who’ve made re-watching The Lord of the Rings extended editions an annual New Year tradition: the third film in the trilogy, The Return of the King — which just celebrated its 20th anniversary! —is only available to stream in its theatrical version. No ancient evil is to blame, thankfully; it’s an unspecified “tech issue,” according to a Max spokesperson who responded to a comment request from Vulture after the issue was noted by dismayed fans on Reddit . The fact that The Return of the King extended edition is merely temporarily unavailable is actually good news given Max’s track record for removing content in the past, and the explanation makes sense considering The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers remain available in both their theatrical and extended editions. The Max spokesperson assured Vulture that The Return of the King extended edition will be, ah, returning soon to the service, though as of this writing i...

Unicorn Jerky Is Not Only the Perfect Name for a CBD Candy Edible, It's Also 20% Off, and Proceeds Go to The Trevor Project [Exclusive]

Unicorn Jerky CBD Candy | $24 | Sunday Scaries | Promo Code UJSUPPORT20 Unicorn Jerky (Subscribe & Save) | $19 | Sunday Scaries | Promo Code UJSUPPORT20 Read more...

You Can Visit Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in Hollywood

Image: Universal Pictures Just in time for Halloween and for the release of Blumhouse and Universal Pictures’ Five Nights at Freddy ’s fans can visit a pop-up location of the fictional franchise from the game and film. That’s right, a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza has mysteriously appeared in Hollywood. Like in the game and upcoming film, it’s a run-down spot that’s been closed down due to some mysterious activity within. Unfortunately, you can’t actually go in unless you’re hired as a security guard (kidding)—it’s just a facade for photo-ops you can visit. Check out the video captured by deadboifilms on TikTok below at the location on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood (near the Chateau Marmont Hotel). If you want to encounter the animatronic band of fuzzy and totally friendly creatures from the game, you’ll have to visit Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights, there’s a walk-through in the DreamWorks theater lobby that’s been taken over by Blumhouse which features the real Jim ...