The latest animated installment in the ever-growing Star Wars canon is the collection of animated shorts on Disney+, collectively titled Tales of the Jedi. The group of six shorts were split up to focus on two key characters in the Star Wars series, Count Dooku, and Ahsoka Tano. The series filled in missing details about the backstories of both characters. Fans of the Star Wars films and animated shows were already thoroughly familiar with these characters, but Tales of the Jedi served as a way to keep their stories evolving. Dooku’s decision to leave the Jedi Order and become the newest apprentice to Darth Sidious is finally explored in a meaningful manner and more information about Ahsoka’s backstory, such as her family and what she did between the end of Revenge of the Sith and her appearance in Star Wars: Rebels is further established.
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There are a number of great Star Wars animated series out there that have served to expand the universe and give more thorough backstories to certain stories and fan-favorite characters. Tales of the Jedi is an exciting new avenue to continue telling these kinds of stories. In the six short episodes that have been produced so far, the series has been remarkably emotional and brought a whole new perspective to characters that fans have known for nearly two decades now. The potential of exploring some of the galaxy’s most interesting characters in these one-off stories is too good not to continue. So, with that, here are six Jedi that deserve to have more of their stories told in future installments of Tales of the Jedi.
Leia Organa
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Now, it’s obvious that Leia is one of the most beloved and well-developed characters in the entire Star Wars series. Beyond being a central figure in the original trilogy, she also played a key role in the sequel films and has appeared in the likes of Rogue One, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, the animated Rebels series, and more. However, there is still plenty more to Leia’s story that can be told on-screen. Specifically, there is a lot of potential in the period of time following Return of the Jedi.
In the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker, a short flashback briefly gives fans a glimpse at Leia’s Jedi training by her brother, Luke Skywalker. While we know that Leia would eventually choose not to pursue becoming a full-on Jedi Knight, it could be interesting to see the circumstances that led to that decision. In a Tales of the Jedi story, Luke’s training of Leia could be told in specific detail. It would give fans the satisfaction of seeing more of Leia as a Jedi, and it would tie up the loose ends left by that Rise of Skywalker sequence. Plus, it would also just be really cool to see Leia and Luke as adults brought to life through the amazing Clone Wars animation style that continues to be used in Tales of the Jedi and The Bad Batch.
Mace Windu
20th Century Fox
Moving much earlier in the Star Wars timeline, Mace Windu is one of the most recognizable characters from the prequel and Clone Wars era. He was featured heavily in the prequel films, where he was played by Samuel L. Jackson, and he’s a recurring character in the Clone Wars animated series, where he was often given his own standalone episodes. He also already appeared in a supporting role in the Dooku story of Tales of the Jedi. With all of these depictions already, it would be easy to overlook Windu and assume his story is already complete. While he does have an established backstory in the Star Wars canon, it could be explored much further through his own Tales of the Jedi story.
Similar to how the series handled Ahsoka’s backstory, a Windu-centric Tales of the Jedi story could explore the character’s home world and how he was recruited into the Jedi Order to begin with. Beyond that, there are surely lots of other adventures when Windu was a Padawan or even as a Jedi Knight and Master in the time before The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones. If Tales of the Jedi really wanted to make some waves, it could even (finally) confirm the long-speculated theories that Windu survived his fateful encounter with Anakin and Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith. Since his death was never explicitly shown on screen, an episode like that could show how he survived the fall and where he was in the following years. In addition to being an immensely anticipated story that would drive a lot of interest, that change in story would also open the door to Jackson appearing as the character again in a live-action film or series at some point.
Yaddle
Disney Platform Distribution
Yaddle is an excellent example of Tales of the Jedi taking a formerly unexplained character and giving them their own agency and powerful story. Yaddle was essentially an extra in The Phantom Menace, but her inclusion in that film got a lot of fans excited simply because she was the same species as Yoda. However, her sudden disappearance from the next two films in the prequel trilogy was never explained. That is, it wasn’t until she was introduced (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) as a key character in Dooku’s story in the first season of this new series. Even then, however, she still only appeared in one episode. While that episode did a lot to establish her character, there is still more than enough material to make Yaddle the lead character of her own story in the future.
As a member of the same species as Yoda and Grogu, Yaddle also ages extremely slowly. She was born nearly 500 years prior to the events of the prequel films, and she was also a member of the Jedi Council; surely she had plenty of exciting adventures throughout her long life. She was around through the era of the High Republic, so a story of hers in Tales of the Jedi could also serve as a new on-screen exploration into that swiftly expanding era of the Star Wars canon. Her inclusion in the first season of Tales of the Jedi was a highlight of the series, so it would feel a shame not to bring her back in future installments.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
While Leia is one of the most popular and well-defined characters in the Star Wars canon, she’s got nothing on Obi-Wan Kenobi. In addition to playing a key role in the original trilogy, he was a lead character in the prequel films and the animated Clone Wars series; he recently got his own standalone live-action series and has appeared in both Rebels and Tales of the Jedi already. So, with all of these appearances in the franchise so far, why is it worth bringing Kenobi back into Tales of the Jedi for his own story? In short, he’s just a really dynamic and fun character who is almost always playing second fiddle in somebody else’s story.
While Kenobi’s adventures throughout the Clone Wars are extremely detailed, there are still numerous portions of his life that are worth visiting in Tales of the Jedi. Most obviously is the time he spent as a Padawan to Liam Neeson’s Qui Gon Jinn prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. When we meet the two Jedi in that film, Kenobi is already nearing the end of his training, and by the end of the film he’s a Jedi Knight taking on an apprentice of his own. A Tales of the Jedi adventure would allow for a much deeper exploration of Kenobi and Jinn together. It could more firmly establish their dynamic and how Jinn taught Kenobi everything he knows. Along the same line of that story, but at a different point in time, there could also be an episode set after the events of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which would explore Jinn’s teachings to Kenobi on the desert of Tatooine. There’s still plenty of story left for this fan-favorite character, and Tales of the Jedi is the perfect place to dive into it.
Qui-Gon Jinn
Kenobi’s Jedi Master was already included in the first season, both as a younger Padawan under the tutelage of Dooku and as the adult he is in The Phantom Menace (though young Kenobi does not appear with him). The little that Jinn is in the first season actually opens more doors for him to come back in the following seasons, though. There is clearly more story to tell between him and Dooku, as he already has to stop his Master from succumbing to the Dark Side in one episode of this series. Further stories with Jinn and Dooku could build on that and show Jinn coming into his own and actively taking a different path than his mentor.
Alternatively, if the creatives behind Tales of the Jedi didn’t want to do another Kenobi story, they could explore the Jinn/Kenobi dynamic through the perspective of Jinn. In that way, the show could see Jinn taking Kenobi on as his apprentice and teaching him how to become the Jedi he one day will be. Though Jinn played a significant role in The Phantom Menace, very little is actually known about his origin and how he became the legendary hero that he was. He was a bit of a renegade, often disagreeing with the decisions of the Jedi Council. Tales of the Jedi could show how and why he got to that point through delving into different stages of his life.
Ben Solo
Moving even further ahead to the sequel era of Star Wars, Adam Driver’s Ben Solo is another character that makes an excellent candidate for a Tales of the Jedi story. While his history and life are fairly well outlined, there are a lot of specific details that would be fun to get into the meat of. This story could cover the vastly different parts of Solo’s life. Several interesting stories could be when he first joins Luke’s Jedi Academy; how he is seduced to the Dark Side by Snoke, and even his journeys as Kylo Ren searching for the Sith Holocron at the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker.
While the Star Wars sequel trilogy may not have been the best material the franchise has to offer, the character of Solo/Ren was far and away one of the most interesting parts of those films. He’s a fan-favorite and certainly a character that is worth revisiting. Currently, the sequel trilogy feels somewhat set aside from the rest of the Star Wars canon; bringing those characters and that time period into an animated show like this would more firmly tie that era into everything else. Plus, just as it would be cool to see Luke and Leia in the Clone Wars animation style, the same can be said of Solo/Ren and Rey. Get Adam Driver in to voice the character as well, and suddenly this episode becomes a must-watch for any Star Wars fan.
