Say what you will about the Prequel Trilogy, but as long as breath remains in Dave Filoni’s breast (and dollars remain in fans’ wallets), Lucasfilm will continue to treat us with more tales from that era. From The Clone Wars to The Bad Batch to Rebels, you’d think the events prior to the destruction of the first Death Star during the Battle of Yavin would have been already covered–but apparently not in a universe as expansive as Star Wars’.
And with Filoni’s latest, we go back to and, even further, beyond the prequels in Disney Plus’ Tales of the Jedi. Following two branching paths of stories, Tales of the Jedi follows both Ahsoka and Count Dooku during some unexplored periods of their lives.
Seizing the opportunity to bring back a few fan favourite voice actors from both animated and live-action casts. Ashley Eckstein, Corey Burton, T.C. Carson, Phil Lamarr, Matt Lanter, and James Arnold Taylor of The Clone Wars all return as their respective characters, and Savage Oppress actor Clancy Brown takes on a new character for this series. Janina Gavankar of 2017’s Star Wars video game Battlefront II joins the cast as Pav-ti, Ahsoka Tano’s mother.
Joining them are some of the iconic live-action actors including Ian McDiarmid as Darth Sidious and Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, the latter making his second appearance as the Master Jedi following the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Bryce Dallas Howard even hops out of her director’s seat for other Star Wars shows and joins in the action as the beloved Yaddle, a character many have wondered about since her appearance first in 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Despite–or maybe because of– Tales of the Jedi’s very fan-serving cast, there remains a strong overtone of Filoni’s go-to story elements: reluctant/non-traditional parental figures paired with above-average apprentices whose destinies challenge their masters’. While the nature of this dynamic remains interesting and in character with most Star Wars stories, it can’t be helped that it’s becoming a little repetitive that all of Filoni’s extra-feature projects carry this element. From Anakin and Ahsoka, to Kanan and Ezra, to Din Djarin and Grogu, these tales have become too similar.
Of course, within the parameters of Star Wars, the conveniently necessitated aspect of “rhyming” stories tends to permit more of the same from show to show. Of course, this can get a little tiresome, but we’re not quite there yet… thankfully.
A large part of what makes Tales of the Jedi different from Filoni’s previous animated works is the driving force of characters whom we already know, but lack knowing about. Both Qui-Gon and his master Count Dooku have been significant entities in Star Wars lore for more than two decades now, but beyond the now non-canon novels and comics, very little has been explored of either character in the Disney-era continuity.
Similarly, Ahsoka, who has been a mainstay in almost all non-feature film content remains a bit of an enigma beyond her discovery by Plo Koon, and her years as Anakin’s padawan. Her years leading up to becoming the rebel agent Fulcrum, and the decade between Rebels and The Mandalorian still remain a mystery.
Tales of the Jedi is no Visions terms of strength of standalone storytelling, as it shouldn’t be. It’s far more concerned with fleshing out these characters within the established canon, and it definitely gets the job done. Nevertheless, as much as Filoni’s work remains beloved and interesting, it wouldn’t hurt to have the reigns of the extended tales handed over to new blood.
Tales of the Jedi debuts on Disney+ on 26 October.