Some very exciting and unexpected Star Wars news dropped today, as six new animated shorts, Tales of the Underworld, will be coming to Disney+ on May 4.
The shorts will follow two bounty hunters, Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane, in their adventures in the galaxy. From the look of it, we will learn more about Bane’s backstory, while we will also explore more of what Ventress was up to after the Clone Wars (continuing what we saw in The Bad Batch). Bane will confront an old friend, while Ventress will apparently take on an apprentice and face down an Inquisitor.
Three of the episodes will be about Bane, with three about Ventress. This is the third different installment in the Tales of… Star Wars series, which began with Tales of the Jedi in 2022 (about Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku) and then continued with Tales of the Empire on May 4 last year (about Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee). Both previous chapters were well-received and very well-done, giving the chance to showcase the stunning animation quality produced by Lucasfilm Animation while at the same time exploring some characters and stories that might not warrant an entire series, but that are worth telling.
This makes it especially interesting that Ventress is included, as we have guessed for quite a while that Lucasfilm had plans to continue her story in animation – further explaining her surprise appearance in the final season of The Bad Batch. Many fans have speculated that the next major animated series would follow Ventress and the Path, and while that’s still possible, the fact that three of these episodes are about her have me thinking that the next show could be about something else (which I’d be glad for). They’re going to announce that at Celebration later this month, so we won’t have to wait long to find out.
I’m really excited for this, and I love that it will mark something fun to binge-watch on May 4, in celebration of Star Wars Day. This will be the second year in a row this series has premiered episodes on that day, and I’d love for that to become an annual tradition. I’m a huge fan of this Tales of… format, as the storytelling potential is near limitless, given the nature of the show and the relatively minor commitment (of three short episodes). I can’t wait to see these six shorts, but in the meantime, we have a trailer and poster to get us hyped.
Star Wars Thoughts 
I absolutely flipped when I saw more Ventress stories. I really fell in love with this character in The Dark Disciple. I wonder if these stories cover before or after The Bad Batch, will they hint at how we got from her death in the book to her appearance in BB. And that’s not Boba she’s hanging with, is it? She’s worked with him before.
I really enjoy these small story arcs, and that they are arcs, not just simple stories. They really enrich the other stories these characters appear in. That’s one thing I love about Star Wars – by going back and inserting more stories into the timeline, the whole timeline is deepened and enriched. And YAY! for binging on May 4!!! I hope this continues as well. Cheers!
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