Star Wars: Visions premiered in 2021 and was met with positive reception from critics and fans. The anthology series saw some of the world’s best anime creators bring their talent to the beloved universe in a series of individual stories for Disney+. The studios responsible for the show’s animation include Kamikaze Douga, Studio Colorido, Geno Studio, Trigger, Kinema Citrus, Production I.G., and Science SARU, to name a few.
The first episode in the series, titled The Duel, is currently nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program, something executive producer James Waugh is very proud of. In an interview with Deadline, Waugh says, ’this one really encapsulated our vision of the anthology,’ regarding The Duel.
Waugh is right about the restriction live-action has put on the series. Star Wars requires very high budgets if you’re going down the live-action route, which limits which studios can work on something within the universe. However, through animation, most production cost concerns can be mitigated, allowing for a grand scale for each episode of the series.
“The Duel was one of the first pitches that we got back and there was this arresting image which is just the Ronin and this droid with this amazing straw hat, and it just felt so much in line with the cinematic language of all the films that inspired George, all the films we’d watch in film school. It just felt like they were really playing with not only the aesthetic of their inspirations, but also with cinematic devices. In many ways it’s actually a love letter to cinema and a love letter to George. We lucked out and we got an embarrassment of riches, but this one really felt like it encapsulated our vision of the anthology, as an expression of Star Wars that you couldn’t do in live action.”
James Waugh Says Visions Volume Two is on a ‘Global Level’
Disney+
Although the first iteration of Star Wars: Visions was entirely focused on the anime style, James Waugh says Volume Two will broaden the scope of animation to include studios from Africa, Chile, England, Ireland, France, and India. Waugh says there’s ‘so much great animation work going on in the world,’ and the producer wanted to explore that.
It seems like Star Wars: Visions will venture into the realm of Love Death + Robots with Volume Two, featuring various animation styles, some based heavily on cartoons, others looking entirely life-like. During the Star Wars Celebration in May, Disney announced the second season would arrive in 2023. So, look to Disney+ next year to see where Visions heads with their new animation styles.
“We announced that we’re gonna do a Visions volume two. The first anthology is anime because we all loved the style of it, but personally my intention for Visions was to always let it be a more broad palette, because there’s so much great animation work going on in the world… And so Visions volume two is sort of a global tour of some of the most interesting animation studios on a global level. We have studios from Africa, Chile, England, Ireland, France, India… and the guiding light there was that we wanted their storytelling to be a reflection of what Star Wars meant in their culture, but also a reflection of the myths and stories that could only come out of their cultural context. Spring next year is currently where we’re targeting and I think it’s an absolutely beautiful anthology.”
