The newest Star Wars TV show, which currently has a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, is already getting a sequel next year – a spinoff show that promises to be unlike anything viewers have seen before. There’s something refreshingly liberating about Star Wars: Visions, an animated anthology series that’s run for three seasons so far. Each episode stands alone, allowing a different animation house the opportunity to play in George Lucas’ sandbox.
Star Wars: Visions season 3 released on October 29, and it was a little different to previous seasons. Before, every episode had been designed as a standalone; but season 3 featured several returning animation houses, with three episodes that continued stories from past stories. Even more excitingly, though, one of these is in fact a backdoor pilot.
Written by Kenji Kamiyama, Production I.G.’s “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope” continues the story of season 1’s “The Ninth Jedi.” It’s set in a galaxy where the light of the Jedi has almost been extinguished by the Sith, and the heroic Margrave Juro is attempting to bring the Jedi back. So far, Juro has found only a handful of potential recruits; the most notable is Lah Kara, daughter of a celebrated sabersmith whose father has been kidnapped by the Sith. “The Ninth Jedi” Child of Hope” focuses in on Lah Kara, and it’s a surprisingly character-focused episode.
Lucasfilm has already confirmed that this tale will continue next year, in a four-episode animated spinoff by Kamiyama and Production I.G. Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi is the first true spinoff from the anthology show, and it will be entirely unconstrained by canon, meaning absolutely anything can happen. Lucasfilm is yet to reveal an exact release date, but it adds to what is already a strong year for Star Wars; the franchise is returning to the big screen with The Mandalorian and Grogu, with Ahsoka season 2 due out as well.
Given the impending spinoff, it’s actually a little surprising that “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope” is so character-centered. But there’s a good reason for that; this episode sets Lah Kara up as either the savior or the galaxy, or its destroyer. Lah Kara is still driven by a desperate desire to save her father from the Sith, and she is open-hearted enough to come to care for others very easily and deeply. There’s a word for that in Jedi lore: attachment.
“Child of Hope” positions Lah Kara as the Chosen One analogue of this story. Like Anakin Skywalker, Lah Kara’s true motivation is not commitment to the light but rather to her loved ones. She’s already wrestling with so much fear about her father’s fate, and “Child of Hope” gives her added grief and sorrow when a droid she comes to care about sacrifices itself for her. It’s very easy to see the potential path to the dark side.
All this means Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi looks set to explore themes and ideas that are central to the entire Star Wars franchise. We have a new Anakin Skywalker figure in a galaxy that’s as dark as anything we’ve seen before in canon, and a hero whose choices will decide whether she stands for the light or falls for the dark. No doubt the spinoff will be on a much greater scale, but the story it tells will be as personal as any told by George Lucas.
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