New Star Wars Animated Series to Begin this Fall!

As the ashes of Star Wars Rebels settle, a new animated series featuring the talent of fan-favorite actors from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, Oscar Isaac and Gwendoline Christie, along with newcomers Christopher Sean, Suzie McGrath, Scott Lawrence, Myrna Velasco, Josh Brener, Donald Faison, Bobby Moynihan, Jim Rash, and Rachel Butera, and helmed by Star Wars animation veteran, Dave Filoni, is about to rise!

The official announcement broke today: a brand-new Star Wars animated series is in the works!

“The idea for Star Wars Resistance came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots” said Filoni. “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.”

Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, Programming and general manager, Disney XD, said, “Our colleagues at Lucasfilm have created a compelling narrative for an untold moment in the Star Wars galaxy, and we are excited to partner with them again on this new original series. Star Wars Resistance will bring viewers across generations an engaging story with heart, humor and both new and familiar characters.”

Read original announcement from StarWars.com.

According to the details revealed by StarWars.com, this new series is set before Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, and will follow the story of the young pilot, Kazuda Xiono. (Boy, that’s a mouthful!) The report says that this character has been “recruited by the Resistance and tasked with a top-secret mission to spy on the growing threat of the First Order.” The show will feature brand new and recurring characters from the Star Wars universe, with two of these being Poe Dameron and Captain Phasma, who will be once again be portrayed by the same actors as in the films, the aforementioned Oscar Isaac and Gwendoline Christie, as well as BB-8, Poe’s lovable droid. Beyond this, not much more is known about Star Wars Resistance, except that it will begin airing this fall – a date much sooner than many fans were willing to hope for, with the end of Rebels having only just passed.

Fans of the previous shows, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, should recognize some of the names on the crew for Resistance. Of course, there’s the ever-present, ever-trolling Dave Filoni at the helm so we can trust that this show is going to be epic, as well as that it will surely rip out our hearts and leave us screaming into the void more than a few times throughout its run. But there are several other experienced members of the Lucasfilm animation department involved, including executive-producers Athena Portillo and Justin Ridge, and art-director Amy Beth Christenson, all three of whom worked on both The Clone Wars and Rebels.

This show also seems to be taking a direction we have not yet seen from the Star Wars franchise, and leaving the CG animated style fans know from The Clone Wars and Rebels for a more anime-inspired look. However, the graphics currently released for the show are extremely minimal, so it very possible that traditional anime will simply be used to inspire the look and feel of the animation and design for this show, but the actual animatoin will be more akin to what fans are familiar with. All we can do is wait and see which option they end up going with as more information about the show is released!

Lucasfilm employee and active member of the online Star Wars fan community, Tracy Cannobbio, took to Twitter to clarify that each new episode will air first on the Disney channel, before moving on to Disney XD, as well as confirming the length of the episodes:

Yes. Each new episode will premiere on Disney Channel and repeat on XD. 🙂

— Tracy Cannobbio (@Tcann13) April 26, 2018

Hi! Each episode will be a half hour (well, 22 mins without the commercials). ; )

— Tracy Cannobbio (@Tcann13) April 26, 2018

She also made the positions of Isaac and Christie within the show’s cast a bit clearer:

Yes – they are both graciously making occasional appearances in the show as their awesome SW characters.

— Tracy Cannobbio (@Tcann13) April 26, 2018

Personally, I’m excited to see what this new show will hold! We only have the tiniest bits of information to tease us now, but more information will surely come soon. I’m eagerly waiting to see what these new characters will look like, as well as whether this “Kazuda Xiono” happens to be a guy or a girl and what species they’re member of. And I’m also rooting for appearances from some of my favorite characters from other areas of the saga, as the possibilities of who could show up are almost endless! But for now, I think I’ll just rest happily in the knowledge that we will indeed have some Star Wars to hold us over until the release of Episode IX next winter.

This article was written by Shay S., Creator, Chief Editor, and Podcast Host for The Elven Padawan.

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What do you think about the announcement of Star Wars Resistance? Is there a certain character or plot moment that you’d especially like to see come into the series? Let us know in the comments!!