Animation Review: Star Wars – Tales of the Underworld

Very Average Joe
4 days ago
2 min read

Title: Star Wars – Tales of the Underworld

Director(s): Saul Ruiz, Steward Lee & Nathaniel Villanueva

Screenwriter(s): Matt Michnovetz

Studio: Lucasfilm

Released: 2025

Runtime: 6 episodes, ~15m each.

Tales of the Underworld is an anthology of 6 short animation films of comparable length to those in Tales of the Jedi and Tales of the Empire. Three episodes are about Asajj Ventress and three episodes are about Cad Bane.

The visual style is consistent to The Clone Wars and Rebels. One either likes it or not. As before, the environment looks good and there are not a few wide establishing shots showing off those. The characters and their motion are arguably better than in the past but… again, one either likes the style or not.

The writing overall is much better than the previous series. It is obvious more thought has gone into the structure and pacing.

Ventress’s death is retconned and she works as spaceport security. She prefers the “quiet” existence which one would assume she’d avoid working security, but one has to do something to make a living. There she meets a boy named Lyco who turns out to be a Jedi, presumably a padawan, and obviously on the run from imperial authorities (after Order 66).

From there, they are forced to go on the run. Slowly, their trust in each other builds. Lyco is the talkative type and mildly annoying. Even though he is naive enough to not know how to keep a low profile, he is not entirely naive either. Ventress is like the older sister.

The three episodes are structured well. The movement across all three episodes and the conclusion are satisfying enough.

The next three episodes about Cad Bane start with two young Duros “street rats”, Colby and Nori. One day, they meet an adult Duros male who, for a moment, looks like a young Cad Bane but one works out soon enough who’s who.

Colby and Nori are recruited by this adult, who claims to be a “businessman”, to take part in some crime but, of course, things don’t down well.

The three episodes are structurally sound with measured pacing towards the resolution. However, whilst the first episode is intriguing and perhaps even hinting at something deeper and poignant, it doesn’t go there. The plot and conclusion become predictable. Nevertheless, it is mostly well-executed for what it is.