There's nothing wrong with a smaller story.
Star Wars' upcoming 2026 release will once again showcase the type of storytelling that Disney does best. With The Mandalorian and Grogu finally out in the world, Star Wars has made its long-awaited cinematic return.
In the last seven years, since the divisive release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars has been focusing on stories for the small screen, with Disney+'s The Mandalorian leading the charge in a new era of galactic storytelling. Though Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be winding down their television output in the years to come, with only one live-action season confirmed for the future — Ahsoka season 2 will premiere on Disney+ in 2027, coinciding with the franchise's landmark 50th anniversary — Star Wars' animated slate is looking a bit brighter.
Not only will Dave Filoni's excellent Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord return for a second season, but the international anthology series Star Wars: Visions will debut its first official full-length spinoff later this year. Unlike Dave Filoni's Star Wars: Tales anthologies, Visions isn't restricted by the franchise's wider canon. Animation studios from all over the world have produced their own spin on Star Wars' biggest concepts, including the Force, the Jedi, the Sith, the Empire, the Rebellion, and more.
Some of Star Wars: Visions' standalone stories in season 1 proved so popular and innovative that they were granted sequel episodes in season 3, including Production I.G's"The Ninth Jedi.
" Set in the distant, not necessarily canonical future,"The Ninth Jedi" and its sequel,"The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope," explore a galaxy in which the Jedi are all but extinct following a war with the Sith. After Sith Hunters kidnap her father, a talented lightsaber smith, a young girl named Lah Kara embarks on a journey to save him and find the galaxy's hidden Jedi.
Supported by three powerful Force-wielders named Margrave Juro, Ethan, and Homen, Kara learns to embrace her power and her destiny as a symbol of the Jedi Order's brightest future. Now, Disney+ is taking "The Ninth Jedi's" story one step further, with the release of a spinoff series titled Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi.
The prospect of this new Visions show is undeniably exciting; not only is Lah Kara's story a great replacement while waiting for Daisy Ridley's return as Rey in the tentatively titled and frustratingly stalled Star Wars: New Jedi Order movie, but it's also the perfect showcase for the kind of Star Wars storytelling that Disney+ excels at. Disney's Star Wars Has Excelled At Telling Smaller Side Stories What Disney's Star Wars does better than anything is produce smaller yet no less powerful stories, ones largely detached from the wider Skywalker saga and the family's impact on the galaxy.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a surprising hit, a sci-fi heist thriller that could stand on its own despite its connection to Star Wars' first movie, A New Hope. The first season of The Mandalorian was so successful because it not only focused on an underdeveloped era of the Star Wars timeline but also introduced a vast array of new and exciting characters.
Then there's a show like Andor, which, despite chronicling the great conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion, focused primarily on the cost and sacrifices of ordinary people fighting against overwhelming tyranny. Andor's structure certainly helped; each block of episodes told a new and distinct story from a different section of the galaxy, forming part of a larger whole. It added to the history of the Rebellion rather than fundamentally changing it.
ScreenRant.com | SW Holocron Archive Interactive Quiz ScreenRant/ Movies/ Star Wars/ Trivia A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars?
“The Force will be with you. Always. ” 🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians ⚡The SithRule of two ⚙️The RebellionA new hope 🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way 👑The EmpireOrder 66 PUNCH IT! → QUESTION 1 / 8A NEW HOPE 01 The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be.
In which year did it premiere? A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980 ✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977.
NEXT → QUESTION 2 / 8THE CREATOR 02 A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him. ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner ✓ Correct!
George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi , then directed all three prequels . He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels.
✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope.
Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s.
NEXT → QUESTION 3 / 8THE TWIST 03 In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father. ” What relationship does it confirm?
AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father ✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it , and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context.
The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist. ✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin becomes Vader after his fall.
Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth. NEXT → QUESTION 4 / 8THE GREEN MASTER 04 Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him. AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson ✓ Correct!
Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today.
Yoda is Frank Oz’s. NEXT → QUESTION 5 / 8THE DISNEY DEAL 05 In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition?
A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel . 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012.
NEXT → QUESTION 6 / 8THE MANDALORIAN 06 The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” . What is the Mandalorian’s real name? ABoba Fett BCobb Vanth CDin Djarin DBo-Katan Kryze ✓ Correct!
Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet . The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff . Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff.
The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin. NEXT → QUESTION 7 / 8ORDER 66 07 Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film? AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Attack of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One ✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith .
Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened.
The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III. NEXT → QUESTION 8 / 8ANDOR 08 Andor is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him.
ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni ✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene.
Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton . ✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi .
Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse . Andor is Tony Gilroy’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing 🗡️ / 8 Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine?
⤴ ANOTHER GO Similarly, Star Wars: Visions and even Star Wars: Tales have been a refreshing change of pace for the galaxy far, far away, focusing on smaller side characters, their development, and worldbuilding experiments rather than burdening other already established characters and narratives. Shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian season 3, and even the relatively well-received Ahsoka are, to their detriment, all entirely dependent on Star Wars stories that have come before.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew may not have been an earth-shattering hit, but it worked because it told a refreshingly simple, unconnected story within a new genre, featuring new characters, lore, and settings. Disney's Star Wars is at its best when it allows itself to explore something original and character-focused, and that's exactly what The Ninth Jedi represents.
The Ninth Jedi Will Be A Refreshing Change After The Mandalorian And Grogu The Mandalorian and Grogu is a largely fun, family adventure flick, a low-stakes entry point for Star Wars to return to its theatrical roots. It doesn't do anything new; it neither adds to the so-called"Mandoverse's" timeline, nor detracts from it. While this certainly makes The Mandalorian and Grogu more accessible, it does highlight the movie's biggest issue.
Why did this story need to be told on the big screen before, or even instead of, The Mandalorian season 4? Once again, Star Wars has let itself be enticed by brand recognition, legacy characters , and interconnected storytelling.
Solo: A Star Wars Story and the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the latter of which cannot be extricated from the trilogy that preceded it, suffered from the same issues. Familiar characters and conflicts aren't enough to entice an audience anymore. The narrative needs to be just as strong — otherwise, the whole thing falls flat, which is exactly why the sequel movies became so critically divisive.
Disney Star Wars' best stories haven't relied solely on legacy characters, Easter eggs, or painfully familiar timeline events. Instead, they've focused on developing new characters, exploring original mythologies, and experimenting with genre and tone. Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi is perfectly positioned to do that, too.
This is a Star Wars story built entirely on its own merits and cool new ideas — according to director Kenji Kamiyama, the spinoff will explore the secrets of Kara's father's unusual lightsabers — and it's all the better for it. Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi will premiere on Disney+ in 2026. 21 8.5/10 6/10 Star Wars: Visions 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-PG Animation Action Adventure Anthology Sci-Fi Release Date September 22, 2021 Network Disney+ Franchise Star Wars 7 Images Close Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
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