When giving my thoughts on the recent announcement of The Bad Batch, the next animated Star Wars series for Disney+, I mentioned that I was surprised to see the group get their own series and how I wanted to see something a little different from the next series given we have had 7 series of The Clone Wars. Today, I thought that I would take a look at these shows that I would love to see, including the pros and cons of some of these.
The Hunt for Ezra Bridger
I must admit that I thought this would have been the next series announced as a sequel to Rebels. This series would be set shortly after Return of the Jedi and start with Ahsoka and Sabine (and maybe Rex) journeying into the Unknown Regions in search of Ezra, while meanwhile Ezra and Thrawn are forced to start working together in order to survive, before finding a threat (perhaps as part of the season 1 finale) that means they need to ally with each other and their friends.
As well as bringing back some fan favourites, this could also potentially be a chance to bring the Chiss Ascendency to screens. However if rumours of Ahsoka appearing in The Mandalorian as a backdoor pilot to her own live-action series are true, it feels unlikely that we will be seeing her as a regular character in an animated series based around that same time in the near future.
Rise of the Resistance
Claudia Gray’s novel Bloodline shows the Resistance being founded 6 years before the events of The Force Awakens but we currently have very limited content from this period. This series would be able to follow the Resistance during their early days, focusing on the spies, officers and pilots taking on the growing First Order.
As well as giving us familiar characters like Leia, Artoo, Threepio and Ackbar, it could also give us more of characters from the films like Snap Wexley, Korr Sella, Kaydel Co Connix, Holdo and Tallie Lintra, while also bringing in characters from the wider media like Shriv, Joph Seastriker, Vi Moradi and Greer Sonnel. Meanwhile on the First Order side, we could get more of Phasma, the Knights of Ren, Cardinal and the villains from Resistance: Pyre, Vonreg and Agent Tierny.
Crimson Dawn
Remember that moment in Solo: A Star Wars Story where we found out that the leader of Crimson Dawn was none other than Maul? That moment opened up the potential for so many stories. Currently, if we take out this appearance, we have a gap of over 15 years between Maul escaping in the finale of The Clone Wars as head of the Shadow Collective and Maul being found stranded on Malachor. Solo showed us that at least half of this time has probably been spent dealing with the criminal underworld, while the lightsaber he carries also suggests that he has won a fight with an Inquisitor at some point.
A Crimson Dawn series would be a chance to bring back the amazing Sam Witwer to show more of Maul’s story and fill in some of the gaps, while it also gives us the chance to fill in more of the darksaber’s story as it is currently in his possession during this time, while also expanding our knowledge of the criminal underworld. The biggest issue I see for this one is how to portray it in a way that feels suitable for younger children considering we are following villains.
The Legend of Boba Fett
Right now, I consider Boba Fett to be a highly overrated character. An animated series showing his rise to becoming one of the top bounty hunters between Revenge of the Sith and The Empire Strikes Back could very quickly change this feeling, and with rumours suggesting that the character will appear in The Mandalorian, this would be the perfect opportunity for a series focusing on him.
Utilising the voice talents of Daniel Logan (and then Dee Bradley Baker/Temuera Morrison in later seasons), this would be a chance to show the rise of Boba Fett, starting with the intended story arc from The Clone Wars featuring him and Cad Bane, right up to him becoming a trusted ally of Darth Vader. This show would be the perfect opportunity to expand the criminal underworld and bring in a number of fan favourite bounty hunters like Bossk, Cad Bane, Embo, Dengar, Aurra Sing and IG-88, while also potentially being a lighter option tot he Crimson Dawn series by having some stories that show hi to be an honourable person, similar to how Sugi was picky in her jobs. Cameos from Han could also easily fit in to develop some form of rivalry between the pair.
The New Jedi Order
So following the end of the Sequel Trilogy, Rey is the sole surviving Jedi (that we know of), while there are Force-sensitive people out there like Finn and Temiri Blagg. Season 1 of this series could follow Rey as she takes Finn on as her first apprentice while they also travel to find other Force-sensitive people to train, as well as a new place to set up a Jedi Academy and relics from the Jedi’s past. The show could also allow characters like Luke, Leia and Ben Solo to appear as Force ghosts to help her on her journey.
This would be a great way to begin expanding the galaxy beyond the end of The Rise of Skywalker, but I see a couple of difficulties with creating this series anytime soon. First, there is the issue of finding a threat dangerous enough to worry a group of Jedi (even if most are apprentices) while not being worse than Palpatine – even a Sith spirit à la Exar Kun in the Jedi Academy Trilogy from Legends wouldn’t feel applicable so soon after the destruction of the Sith. Secondly, it’s hard to imagine Daisy Ridley or John Boyega wanting anything to do with Star Wars anytime soon (for good reasons), while it would feel very odd to hear them voiced by someone else so soon after the trilogy. More likely we see this in a novel.
The Adventures of Han & Chewie
As someone who really enjoyed Solo: A Star Wars Story, I desperately want some form of continuation. One way of doing so would be in the form of an animated series. Getting Alden Ehrenreich to return may be hard, but finding someone who can start as the younger Han and transition into the more experiences smuggler we meet in the Mos Eisley cantina would leave us a whole 10 years worth of adventures to play with, wile we could also look to expand the criminal underworld from a more child-friendly perspective and bring back characters like Lando, Boba, Jabba and even Hondo Ohnaka.
Personally, I’d rather see Alden return with Joonas Suotamo for a live-action series, but right now I imagine that an animated series would be more likely.
Phantom Squadron
The Aftermath Trilogy introduced us to Phantom Squadron, a squadron of New Republic pilots led by Wedge Antilles and including Snap Wexley, who fought in the Battle of Jakku. Following the battle, Wedge became head instructor at a flight academy, where Snap was going to become a cadet, while Snap’s mother Norra (who was entering a relationship with Wedge) also became an instructor at the academy. Both the novel Lost Stars and The Mandlaorian have suggested that there were still Imperial holdouts int he galaxy, so it could be that some event leads to Antilles and the Wexleys temporarily having to rejoin the fight and reform Phantom Squadron.
As well as a chance to see some more familiar faces – including fan-favourite Wedge Antillies – this would be a chance for us to really see the New Republic on screen in a significant role, while also helping us get a feel for the wider galaxy around the time of The Mandalorian. With the New Republic having scaled down their military presence following the supposed end of the war, we could also see Phantom Squad have other familiar figures from Lost Stars, Kendy Idele and Thane Kyrell join them as Corona and Phantom Squadrons are merged. This could finally be the way that we get a Lost Stars sequel, just on our screens rather than in a novel.
What do you think of these series? Are there any you would suggest?
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 