Star Wars: The Clone Wars


Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American CGI animated television series created by George Lucas and produced by Lucasfilm Animation. Set between Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, it follows Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano as they lead the Galactic Republic's clone army against the Separatist Alliance, commanded by Count Dooku during the Clone Wars.
The series originated from Lucas's desire to explore the untold stories of the Clone Wars era including characters and planets briefly mentioned in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Development began as early as 2004. Lucas hired supervising director Dave Filoni after being impressed by his work on the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Lucas worked closely with Filoni, and the creative team drew inspiration from a variety of sources, including the original Star Wars trilogy and Ralph McQuarrie's concept art, while also drawing on elements of anime, manga, and Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars microseries. The series was preceded by an animated theatrical film of the same name in August 2008, originally intended to serve as its first episodes. It officially premiered on October 3, 2008, on Cartoon Network and ran for five seasons before its initial cancellation in 2013.
Following its cancellation in 2013, a project titled adapted unfinished story arcs into other formats such as comics and novels. The series was later revived with a sixth season on Netflix in 2014 and a seventh and final season on Disney+ in 2020, which concluded with the critically acclaimed "Siege of Mandalore" arc, set parallel to the events of Revenge of the Sith. Although plans for an eighth season were ultimately scrapped, the series was followed by several sequels, including Star Wars Rebels, as well as the spin-offs The Bad Batch, Ahsoka, and the upcoming Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord.
The Clone Wars was a ratings success for Cartoon Network. While viewership fluctuated across seasons, the series consistently performed well, showing significant year-over-year growth. In its later years, the series experienced a surge in demand on streaming platforms, coinciding with the debut of The Mandalorian, and the release of its seventh season, becoming the most in-demand sci-fi series in the United States. The series explores themes rarely touched on in youth entertainment, such as war, genocide, sexism, gender roles, racism, slavery, imperialism, totalitarianism, corporatism, class warfare, political corruption, indoctrination, animal cruelty, and free choice. It also received critical acclaim and garnered numerous awards and nominations, including Daytime Emmy Awards and the Annie Awards.

Premise

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an animated series set between Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, during the Clone Wars, a three-year conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists. The series "flesh out the adventures of Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker" while exploring characters and planets introduced in the prequel films. It follows the Republic's fight against the Separatists, with the Jedi leading clone armies against droid forces commanded by Count Dooku and General Grievous. In addition to focusing on Anakin and Obi-Wan, the series explores other Jedi, introduces new and returning villains, and gives more attention to the Troopers and their experiences in the war.
Spanning 133 episodes, the series delves into the moral complexities of war, blurring the lines between good and evil, echoing Revenge of the Siths opening crawl: "There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere." This portrayal helped establish the series as a significant part of Star Wars lore, expanding the mythology in ways the films did not. It also bridges the gap between the prequels and the wider Star Wars universe, offering insight into the stakes leading up to Revenge of the Sith. Along the way, it deepens key characters like Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, and the Jedi Council while introducing new ones such as Ahsoka Tano, Cad Bane, Saw Gerrera, and Mandalorians like Duchess Satine Kryze and Bo-Katan.

Episodes

Production sequence

explained on his Twitter in 2016 that the series followed a complicated production schedule. Often, more episodes were produced than broadcast during a given season, resulting in episodes being released out of order. Typically, the production team followed a 26-episode schedule, which resulted in a few episodes being held back and aired the following season. For example, in season five, the team decided to air only 20 episodes instead of the usual 22. This decision led to further adjustments. If they had gone with a 19-episode season instead, the Clovis arc, which was originally part of the season four production slate, would have been included in season five, and the Younglings arc would have been cut.
While considering the future of the Youngling arc, Lucas envisioned it as the basis for a standalone series. He had the episodes edited into a pilot film, which was screened at that year's Star Wars Celebration. However, the motivation to create a spinoff was eventually abandoned, and the pilot idea was scrapped. As a result, the episodes remained part of season five. Additionally, only 13 of the intended 24 episodes aired in season six, and just 12 of 24 episodes aired in season seven. To help viewers understand the narrative timeline, the official Star Wars Twitter account shared an article in 2014 presenting the series in chronological order. This marked the first time Lucasfilm had promoted the episode guide on social media, and the list was later updated after the final season aired.

Characters

Main

The following is a selected list of notable guest appearances in the series.
  • Pernilla August as Shmi Skywalker – Reprised her role as Shmi for a single scene in the Mortis arc.
  • Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn – Reprised his role as a Force ghost in several scenes during the Mortis arc and returned again in season six in a few scenes.
  • Daniel Logan as Boba Fett – Reprised his role as young Boba Fett in five episodes, though his performance received criticism.
  • Simon Pegg as Dengar – A ruthless bounty hunter from the original trilogy, reintroduced in the series as part of a team alongside Boba Fett and other mercenaries.
  • David Tennant as Huyang – An ancient droid who helps Younglings construct lightsabers in a three-episode arc in season five. He won an Emmy for his performance at Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program category.
  • Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla – The leader of Death Watch in seasons two through five, Vizsla is a warrior and political radical who temporarily allies with Darth Maul to reclaim Mandalore.
  • Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze – A strong, loyal, and independent warrior of the Death Watch group, Bo-Katan debuted in season four. Despite appearing in only nine episodes, the character stood out for her resolve within the Mandalorian terrorist organization, becoming an instant fan favorite.
  • Mark Hamill as Darth Bane – An ancient Sith Lord who appears in Yoda's vision in season six, marking the character's canon debut. Hamill previously portrayed Luke Skywalker in the Original Trilogy, a role he would reprise for the subsequent sequel trilogy following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012.

    Production

Concept and creation

Lucas first envisioned an animated Star Wars series set during the Clone Wars era as early as 2002, even though he originally planned to end the story with Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. During the film's production in 2004, Lucas decided to move forward with an animated series developed in-house. He worked with the R&D division of his company, Lucasfilm to launch Lucasfilm Animation to develop the series. Lucas then hired a team of "young, Star Wars-obsessed artists" and worked closely with Dave Filoni. Lucas financed the series himself and charged Time Warner licensing fees to distribute it. According to an anonymous source familiar with the company's animation operations, the earliest episodes likely cost between $750,000 and $1.5 million each.
In August 2005, Lucas confirmed that two Star Wars-themed television projects were underway: an animated series and a live-action series. In February 2006, Steve Sansweet emphasized that Lucas was deeply involved in the production process and that the series was scheduled for release in fall 2007. A year later, at the 2007 William S. Paley Television Festival, Lucas revealed that the animated series would consist of 100 episodes and described it as a "test" for a larger project. He promised it would feel more like the live-action films in terms of ambiance, pushing the boundaries of what television animation could achieve. Lucas also noted that his team was producing the episodes before securing a network deal, though he was confident that finding a broadcaster would be easy.
After finishing the first 22 episodes, Lucas pitched the series to television networks in late 2007. The initial response was lukewarm; Fox Broadcasting passed, even though its sister company, 20th Century Fox, had released the Star Wars films, and Cartoon Network, despite having aired Star Wars: Clone Wars, hesitated. However, Lucas's decision to produce a theatrical film of the same name attracted Warner Brothers' interest, leading them to persuade Cartoon Network to reconsider. The film, released in August 2008, was composed of four episodes from the series, originally conceived as a three-part arc titled "Castle of Deception", "Castle of Doom", and "Castle of Salvation", along with a standalone episode, "The New Padawan", which introduced Ahsoka Tano. While it was in theaters, Cartoon Network president at the time, Stuart Snyder, heard about the series and flew to San Francisco to screen several episodes. He praised it, calling it a "game-changer for Friday night programming." Around this time, Lucas had already announced that he was working on the second and third seasons and forging ahead with a live-action television series.