“Star Wars” is obviously immensely popular, but there’s still a diving line between fans (other than the toxic fandom): those that watch and know the animated shows and those that don’t, assume they’re just for kids, but they’re more sophisticated than you’d think and work for both adult and young audiences. So, let’s break it down a little bit in case you don’t know “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” though you’ve probably heard about it a lot at least. The animated series is created by George Lucas, but it was worked closely on by a key Lucasfilm figure, Dave Filoni, director and executive producer of “The Mandalorian.”
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Filoni would go on to direct and co-create “Star Wars Rebels” (another terrific animated series). ‘Clone Wars’ was set between the events of “Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones” and “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” and in many ways has redeemed the prequels reputation somewhat by filling in the gaps of storyline and making Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the dark side a little bit more believable and strengthening the friendship between he and Obi-Wan.
The biggest element of ‘Clone Wars’ entirely missing from the “Star Wars” saga is the fact that Anakin Skywalker had his own Jedi Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) and she went on to become a huge fan favorite. But “Star Wars: Clone Wars” was canceled prematurely and following Disney’s 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm when they were reordering everything and deciding what and wouldn’t become canon.
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Without major spoilers, things ended on a kind of cliffhanger. Ashoka and Anakin became estranged, she left the Jedi Order, but Filoni had always intended to finish that storyline. Now, that ‘Clone Wars’ has been fully established as canon and Filoni is a major figure of Lucasfilm reportedly being groomed for a bigger role, he and his team of writers, directors and animators will finish the Ahsoka Tano/Anakin Skywalker storyline (and yes, if you’ve paid attention over the years and seen “Solo: A Star Wars Story” you know Darth Maul is still alive and central to this storyline).
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Here’s the official synopsis, but it doesn’t tell you much:
From Dave Filoni, director and executive producer of “The Mandalorian,” the new Clone Wars episodes will continue the storylines introduced in the original series, exploring the events leading up to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
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Created by George Lucas, with Dave Filoni as Executive Producer/Supervising Director, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” stars Matt Lanter as “Anakin Skywalker,” Ashley Eckstein as “Ahsoka Tano,” Dee Bradley Baker as “Captain Rex” and the clone troopers, James Arnold Taylor as “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Katee Sackhoff as “Bo-Katan,” and Sam Witwer as “Maul.”
“Star Wars: Clone Wars” got better and better as it went becomes more and more sophisticated and darker as it touched upon the events of ‘Sith.’ This final season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” starts streaming Feb. 21 on DisneyPlus and doesn’t look like it will disappoint in that regard and even in some of its moral texture about the Jedi and their role in the great war. Watch the new trailer below and if/when you get hooked, definitely get on to “Star Wars: Rebels” because some elements of the story and certain characters carry on from there.