Say Goodbye To The Clone Wars As Disney Launches A New Star Wars Generation

After 18 years, Disney and Lucasfilm are moving away from a core part of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as the franchise ushers in a new generation. The Clone Wars is one of the most important and best Star Wars shows ever made. It retroactively improved the prequel trilogy of Star Wars movies, which were initially ridiculed, it introduced a new generation of fans to Star Wars in the years between trilogies, and it told one of the most engaging stories in the franchise’s history.

Star Wars as a whole owes a tremendous debt to The Clone Wars, but the franchise has also been struggling to move beyond it. Since 2008, when The Clone Wars movie was released and the show began, Star Wars animation has been defined by the style of The Clone Wars. The blocky, almost clay-like artistic style has changed quite a bit over the years, especially in the smoothness of its motion, but the franchise’s animated efforts largely feature the same artistic vision.

The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Bad Batch, the Tales anthologies, and Maul – Shadow Lord have all had the same 3D animated style. For 18 years now, Star Wars animation at large has been synonymous with The Clone Wars‘ animation style. Even shows like Star Wars: Resistance and Young Jedi Adventures clearly took inspiration from The Clone Wars, though they did add more personal flair to the base 3D style.

There’s even been real-world pushback when Star Wars has tried to move away from the style of The Clone Wars in the past. One of the most common criticisms of Rebels is its animation style, and it’s not even that different. Resistance, as well, was criticized for its animation style, while Maul – Shadow Lord was lauded for its gorgeous animation. Star Wars animation has historically been beholden to The Clone Wars.

The only Star Wars shows that have managed to move away from the style of The Clone Wars either predate the show or are largely inconsequential. Droids and Ewoks featured hand-drawn 2D animation, as did Genndy Tartakovski’s Clone Wars miniseries. Webseries like Forces of Destiny and Galaxy of Adventures, as well, featured 2D animation. Beyond those precursors and exceptions, however, Star Wars has been entirely devoted to the style of The Clone Wars. That, however, has very recently changed, and it may continue to change the franchise in the future.

Star Wars: Visions Was The First Main Show To Leave The Clone Wars’ Animation Style Behind

In 2021, the anthology series Star Wars: Visions became the franchise’s first animated series in over 13 years to experiment with a new style of animation. While the show is part of Star Wars Legends and therefore not canon, it was released as a mainline, full-length series on Disney+, rather than as a miniseries on YouTube. Many of Star Wars‘ other shows, like Galaxy of Adventures, also rehashed existing stories, while Visions told entirely new tales.

Visions also went far beyond simply introducing one new style of animation to mainline Star Wars shows. The central conceit of Visions is that each episode is its own standalone story, and each episode is also animated by a unique animation studio from around the world. Seasons 1 and 3 primarily feature Japanese animation studios, but season 2 featured animators from Ireland, India, Chile, South Africa, South Korea, and more.

With the sheer variety of animation studios contributing to Visions, the anthology series also had a huge array of animation styles. Again, seasons 1 and 3 primarily featured Japanese 2D anime-style animation, but season 2 included stop motion, 3D computer generated animation, hand-drawn 2D animation, and many more styles. Different episodes of Visions draw visual inspiration from all over the place, and they’re reminiscent of everything from Into the Spider-Verse to Jujutsu Kaisen.

Visions is easily the most visually distinct animated Star Wars show since Genndy Tartakovski’s Clone Wars. As great as The Clone Wars‘ animation style is, it can get old when every single animated show is trying to emulate it. Visions is a breath of fresh air in a franchise that has been dominated by the same 3D animation for 18 years now. Best of all, there’s even a chance that Visions could influence Star Wars animation at large in the future.

The Ninth Jedi Proves Visions Has A Strong Future With Star Wars

Star Wars: Visions recently got its first standalone spinoff show in Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi, a continuation of two episodes from the anthology series animated by Production I.G that shares the unique 2D animation style. Though it’s only been out for a week, the results are already in: reviews for The Ninth Jedi are calling it one of the best Star Wars shows ever. The Ninth Jedi is also doing well among audiences; it earned 83% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s currently among the top 10 most popular shows on Disney+.

There’s a lot to love about The Ninth Jedi, from its emotionally-charged story, its reinterpretation of classic Star Wars lore, and its deep exploration of philosophical themes. However, it’s impossible to deny that its animation style had some part in making it a hit. The Ninth Jedi has some truly beautiful scenes, some heart-pounding action setpieces, and just all-around gorgeous art direction. As an added bonus, it feels entirely different from the animated Star Wars shows of the past 18 years, which makes it all the more interesting.

With The Ninth Jedi becoming as big of a hit as it is, there’s a chance that Disney and Lucasfilm may give Visions as a whole a bigger role in the franchise. Star Wars shows in general are slowing down, with only Ahsoka season 2 and Maul – Shadow Lord season 2 currently in development. The franchise is turning its attention back to movies, which presents a perfect opportunity for a new kind of animation to fill in the void left by Lucasfilm Animation.

There are plenty of other Visions episodes that deserve their own spinoff shows, and The Ninth Jedi just proved that giving them a chance can be a critical and popular success. If Disney and Lucasfilm want to prioritize movies, they can leave the animation side of Star Wars to foreign studios and know that it will be in safe hands. This may even be the start of a new generation of Star Wars animation, one that’s not as tied to the style of The Clone Wars as it once was.