Tales of the Jedi (2022)

Tales of the Empire (2024)

Development

While traveling to work on the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni began writing short stories about different Jedi characters from the franchise's prequel trilogy era. Carrie Beck, senior vice president of development and production at Lucasfilm, asked if Filoni wanted to turn these into a series, which he compared to her "find[ing] the money" for a revival of his animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the streaming service Disney+.^[6]

In December 2021, the logo for Tales of the Jedi was included on holiday gifts for Lucasfilm employees alongside logos for upcoming film and television projects at the studio. This was also the name of an unrelated comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics in the 1990s.^[7] Lucasfilm confirmed the project when announcing the schedule for Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in May 2022.^[8] Filoni discussed the animated anthology series, also known as Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi,^[9] in a dedicated panel, revealing that the series consists of six shorts,^[3] five of which were written by Filoni and the other by The Clone Wars writer Charles Murray with Élan Murray.^[9][3] Each short is approximately 15 minutes long.^[10][11] Filoni also served as creator, supervising director, and executive producer, with Athena Yvette Portillo and Beck also as executive producers.^[9]

At Star Wars Celebration London in April 2023, Filoni announced that the series would receive a second season.^[12] This was revealed to be titled Tales of the Empire or Star Wars: Tales of the Empire a year later.^[5] Lucasfilm described it as the second installment of the "Tales franchise".^[1][5][13]

Writing

Filoni said the shorts were slower paced than episodes of The Clone Wars and called them "a series of tone poems" with less dialogue and more visual storytelling. This was inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki as well as Filoni's mentor, Star Wars creator George Lucas.^[2][4] Each installment of the series explores "two paths and two choices". For Tales of the Jedi, one path follows the character Ahsoka Tano and the other focuses on Count Dooku. Each character is explored in three different eras of their lives.^[4] Tales of the Empire focuses on the characters Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee.^[5]

Filoni's first idea for the series was to show how Ahsoka was brought to the Jedi Order by Plo Koon, but he changed this to a story about Ahsoka's first hunting trip with her mother because there had not been many stories about "moms being moms" in Star Wars.^[2][14] He felt it was important that "Ahsoka's first experience with someone telling her, 'Don't be afraid,' is her mother".^[4] Beyond the first episode, which has a happy ending and features the "adorable baby Ahsoka",^[4] Filoni warned that "these aren't just fun, happy stories. It gets rough at times." He particularly felt that Dooku's life was "surprisingly tragic", and attributed some of the series' darker episodes to them being written during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] An aspect of Dooku that Filoni wanted to explore was the relationship with his Padawan learner, Qui-Gon Jinn, whom Filoni described as "one of the best and, in some ways, most interesting Jedi, because of his philosophy, which is different from the Jedi Council. And where did he learn that, if not from his mentor, Count Dooku?"^[4]

The final episode of Tales of the Jedi, titled "Resolve", loosely adapts the events of the 2016 novel Ahsoka by E. K. Johnston. Filoni explained that he based "Resolve" on the same outline that he had given Lucasfilm's publishing outline for the novel, which is why the two works tell the same story.^[15] Ashley Eckstein, the actress who voices Ahsoka, said the novel had not come into discussion while "Resolve" was in production and she never asked Filoni where the episode fell in relation to the novel. She regarded the episode as "an extension of the novel" and the beginning of "that chapter" of Ahsoka's life.^[16]

Casting

With the series' announcement in May 2022, Liam Neeson was revealed to be reprising his role as Qui-Gon Jinn from the Star Wars films while his son, Micheál Richardson, would voice a younger version of the character.^[17] Matt Lanter reprises his role as Anakin Skywalker from The Clone Wars,^[3] and Janina Gavankar was cast as Ahsoka Tano's mother, Pav-ti. Gavankar previously voiced Iden Versio in the video game Star Wars Battlefront II.^[4] In July 2022, Ashley Eckstein revealed that she would be reprising her role as Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars.^[18] A day before the series' release, Bryce Dallas Howard revealed she voiced Yaddle;^[19] Filoni approached Howard, a fan of animated Star Wars projects, to voice the character after their experience working together on The Mandalorian.^[20] Also reprising their Star Wars roles in Tales of the Jedi are Corey Burton as Count Dooku, TC Carson as Mace Windu, Ian McDiarmid as Darth Sidious, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa,^[21] and Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, Jesse, and the clone troopers.^[22] Clancy Brown voices an Inquisitor.^[9]

When details for Tales of the Empire were released, several voice actors were revealed to be reprising their roles from previous Star Wars media: Diana Lee Inosanto as Morgan Elsbeth, Meredith Salenger as Barriss Offee, Rya Kihlstedt as the Fourth Sister, Wing T. Chao as Governor Wing, Lars Mikkelsen as Admiral Thrawn, Jason Isaacs as the Grand Inquisitor, and Matthew Wood as General Grievous.^[5] The characters Darth Vader,^[23]: 17 Marrok,^[13] and Brown's unnamed Inquisitor from Tales of the Jedi also appear.^[23]: 18

Animation

The series uses the same animation style as The Clone Wars.^[2] Charles Murray, Nathaniel Villanueva, and Saul Ruiz directed the Tales of the Jedi shorts.^[9][24]

Music

Kevin Kiner composed the music for Tales of the Jedi,^[9] after previously doing so for The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.^[25] As with the other animated Star Wars series, Kevin collaborated with his children Sean and Deana.^[26] David Glen Russell and Peter Lam also provided additional music for Tales of the Jedi.^[27][28] Sean and Deana Kiner are credited as co-composers with Kevin Kiner for Tales of the Empire.^[29]

The Kiners started with the three Ahsoka shorts. For Ahsoka's younger years in the first two shorts, Kevin wanted to call back to his earliest material for the character in The Clone Wars film and the first episodes of the series. He had to review the original compositions because it had been nearly 16 years since he started working with the character, and put a particular focus on woodwind instruments.^[30][31] For Ahsoka's third short, Sean and Deana created a new variation of Kevin's Ahsoka theme to represent her new status as a rōnin. Because Filoni was influenced by the works of Studio Ghibli and other Japanese cinema, they studied the music of samurai films when creating this new variation.^[26][32] They later expanded on this rōnin motif and the Japanese influences in the score for Ahsoka.^[33][34] The composers did not try to repeat the Japanese influences for Dooku's shorts, but Kevin felt some of those sensibilities carried over. Because Star Wars film composer John Williams did not make a theme for Dooku, the Kiners created a new theme that represents his fall to the dark side of the Force. It gets darker across the three shorts. When Yaddle follows Dooku in his final short, they revisited some of the synthesizer sounds that they used for the final season of The Clone Wars, along with some "experimental" vocal work.^[30][31]

A soundtrack album for Tales of the Jedi was released digitally by Walt Disney Records on October 26, 2022, alongside the series' premiere.^[25] An album for Tales of the Empire was released on May 10, 2024.^[35]

Audience viewership

According to Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, Tales of the Jedi was the 4th most in-demand streaming show in the United States during the week of October 29, 2022, to November 4, 2022.^[37] According to Whip Media's TV Time, Tales of the Jedi was the 9th most streamed original series across all platforms in the United States during the week ending October 30, 2022.^[38]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% for Tales of the Jedi, with an average rating of 8.3/10, based on 22 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Under the reliable stewardship of Dave Filoni, Tales of the Jedi is an absorbing expansion of Star Wars lore that will delight Padawan-level fans and encyclopedic Force scholars alike."^[39] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, Tales of the Jedi has a score of 78 out of 100, based on six critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[40]

Brian Young of /Film asserted, "These episodes are full of pathos and interesting connections to the broader Star Wars lore. The quality of work from the writers, from Lucasfilm Animation, and the music of Kevin Kiner has never been better. My hope is that these mini-episodes are popular enough to spin more Jedi into the limelight for more tales."^[43] Kevin Fox Jr. of Paste gave the series a grade of 8.2 out of 10, stating, "The overall result, as overseen by Dave Filoni, is surprising and strong. Tales of the Jedi succeeds by saying exactly what it means to and then making its exit, sure to have viewers ready for more. Whether it's ultimately a one-off season or the start of something greater, it's worth Star Wars fans' time to check it out."^[44]

Jamie Lovett of ComicBook.com gave the series a grade of 4 out of 5, saying, "These six Tales of the Jedi are beautiful, moving, and deceptively layered for their brevity while packing a few surprises and jaw-dropping moments along the way. Lucasfilm Animation managed to squeeze a lot of Star Wars magic into these shorts, and viewers will only be disappointed that there aren't more of them."^[45] Alex Stedman of IGN gave the series a grade of 8 out of 10, writing, "Tales of the Jedi is a strong, tightly written showcase for two important characters in Star Wars lore: Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano. Dooku in particular gets a good amount of meat added to his character’s bones, while the other episodes feature a welcome look into Ahsoka at different points in her life. It’s moody and methodical at times, while still managing to weave in some beautifully animated action. It may not be absolutely vital Star Wars content, but there are certainly worse ways to revisit these characters before Ahsoka gets her own series."^[46]

For Tales of the Empire, Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 86%, with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 22 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Star Wars takes a walk on the Dark Side in this fleet and filling animated series, which conjures just enough excitement to get fans' lightsabers rattling."^[41] On Metacritic, Tales of the Empire has a score of 76 out of 100, based on five critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[42]

Accolades

Tales of the Jedi received a nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Broadcast Animation at the 2023 Golden Reel Awards.^[47] It was also nominated for Outstanding Short-Form Program at the 2023 Producers Guild of America Awards.^[48]