Tales of the Jedi Trailer Reaction
Article by Kieran Burt.
After the delay of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Tales of the Jedi will now be the next animated project coming out of Lucasfilm, and it looks great. The trailer focuses on the two main characters of the show, Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku, and hints at what is going on in each of their lives.
The trailer opens with a character called Pav-Ti narrating, saying to honour the places where there is life and death. This character is Ahsoka’s mum, so it’s highly likely she is speaking to Ahsoka. One of the scenes that drops out immediately is of Padme’s funeral from the end of Revenge of the Sith, which will be another scene from that film that returns in animated form (some already featured in the opening to The Bad Batch), and later on in the trailer reveals that Ahsoka is likely at the funeral. This helps tell the audience that the story won’t stick to one time period, instead jumping around as it is fit.
Throughout the trailer, audiences are given a flavour of what time periods are likely to be explored. Ahsoka’s story will focus on four key parts of her life, her childhood before The Clone Wars, her training during the early parts of The Clone Wars (phase 1 armour is visible), some point close to the end (Rex is seen wearing his phase 2 helmet), and after Order 66 (near the end of the trailer Ahsoka encounters an Inquisitor). Dooku’s story will likely exclusively stick to before The Phantom Menace, as he leaves the Jedi before the film.
Dooku gets a chance to shine a lot in this trailer, dropping several hints that he and the Jedi don’t see eye to eye. He getn is a sinister line read of “I want to bring peace and order to the galaxy”, and later on, while on an encounter with Mace Windu, is told to stand down. It’s clear there will be a lot of foreshadowing to Dooku’s fall, which hopefully will be shown in the show.
Another hope for what is shown on the Dooku side of the shorts is a look at Sifo Dyas. This is the Jedi master who foresaw that the Republic would need an army, and, pressured by Dooku, went to the Kaminoans to create the Clone Army. Star Wars The Clone Wars isn’t afraid to have political conversations and intrigue, hopefully this series will delve into that side of things too.
But Dooku and Ahsoka won’t be the only Jedi to appear in the show. As mentioned, Mace Windu will appear, as will Yaddle, and a younger Qui Gon Jinn, as Dooku’s apprentice. Qui Gon’s return is great, especially as it’s already been confirmed that Liam Neeson will return to voice the role, with his son voicing younger Qui Gon. Plo Koon is likely to appear, as he is the one who discovered Ahsoka, and the trailer shows Anakin’s darker side, as he repeatedly orders Ahsoka to train with the clones, something that came in handy for Order 66. Obi Wan and Yoda are briefly spotted.
Known characters that aren’t Jedi will also appear. Bail Organa makes a quick appearance, likely in the episode set after Order 66, to recruit Ahsoka to his cause. Rex too is present. A masked figure wielding a double bladed lightsaber appears close to the end, and while audiences haven’t met the character specifically before, they have met his kind. The subtitles reveal that he is an Inquisitor, the Sixth Brother.
This series will likely retcon two books, the Ahsoka novel by E.K Johnston and Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott. This is unfortunate, as both books have their fans, but these will still exist and it does bring the stories to a wider audience. Elements of the stories will also be kept the same. Ahsoka has already been partly retconned already, with the Siege of Mandalore arc changing how the siege ended for Ahsoka and the colour of her lightsabers.
Tales of the Jedi will be split into six episodes and will release all at once on October 26, 2022.
