Entertainment

Disney+'s 40-Episode Star Wars Show Is Clone Wars For The Sequel Trilogy

Nairavoice · Nov 8, 2026 · 4 min read

Disney’s 40-episode animated Star Wars series is the sequel trilogy’s version of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The importance of George Lucas’ Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series can’t be overstated. While the original movie turned out to be a largely unimportant adventure and low-stakes introduction for Anakin Skywalker’s new apprentice, Ahsoka Tano — at least, until The Mandalorian and Grogu came along — The Clone Wars series remains an integral part of the Star Wars saga, a deeper exploration of the titular conflict that led to Palpatine’s and the Empire’s rise to power and the Jedi’s tragic decimation.

Set between Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, The Clone Wars featured dozens of recognizable big-screen Star Wars characters, deepening their developmental arcs, relationships, and their overall impact on the prequel era’s history. In the late 2010s, when Star Wars was wholly focused on developing the sequel trilogy, Disney commissioned a new animated series with the same mission as The Clone Wars: Star Wars Resistance.

Star Wars Resistance explores the First Order’s advancement and the Resistance’s earliest efforts to push back against its influence without the New Republic’s support during the events of the sequel trilogy (not between trilogies, like Star Wars Rebels).

The show follows Kazudo Xiono, a young, brash pilot tasked with a mission — by Poe Dameron, no less — to spy on the First Order from the Colossus outpost. Throughout its two-season run, several familiar faces appear in Star Wars Resistance, including Poe (voiced by Oscar Isaac), General Leia Organa, BB-8, Captain Phasma (voiced by Gwendoline Christie), General Hux, and Kylo Ren. Though Star Wars Resistance never quite reached the heights of The Clone Wars, it served an important purpose within the franchise and the sequel trilogy’s continuity.

How Star Wars Resistance Fits In The Sequel Trilogy’s Timeline

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While Star Wars: The Clone Wars is firmly set between the second and third prequel trilogy movies (except for season 7’s final arc, which takes place concurrently with Revenge of the Sith‘s climax), Star Wars Resistance‘s timeline is a little different. The show starts six months before Star Wars: The Force Awakens. At this point, the New Republic is still in power; one character even remarks that some people still haven’t heard of the First Order. It isn’t until season 1, episode 17, “The Core Problem,” that the show catches up to The Force Awakens, as Poe and BB-8 head out on a secretive mission to Jakku.

Kaz’s father, Hamato Xiono, appears as a New Republic Senator in Ahsoka season 1, which is set roughly 25 years before Star Wars Resistance.

Star Wars Resistance‘s season 1 finale, “No Escape: Part 2,” takes place after the First Order destroys Hosnian Prime, as seen in The Force Awakens. Season 2’s first few episodes take place during Star Wars: The Last Jedi. After a battle with the First Order, the Colossus survivors hope to find safety on D’Qar, the Resistance’s secret base. Sadly, they arrive after the Resistance’s forced evacuation, as seen in The Last Jedi’s opening sequence. The rest of the season follows Kaz and his friends as they try to fight back against the First Order’s growing influence.

Star Wars Resistance Deserved A Third Season

Thankfully, Star Wars Resistance doesn’t end on a massive cliffhanger; Kaz and his friends reunite by the end of the show, but it still deserved a third season. It’s a shame they never got to explore Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s story. Unlike the non-existent gap between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, a year passes between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. In that time, Poe Dameron became a leader in the Resistance. He could have called in Kaz and his friends for backup, sending them out on missions with Finn, Rose, or even Rey, with the season eventually leading into the Colossus’ arrival at the Battle of Exegol.

Given the narrative issues surrounding The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Resistance filling in the blanks would have helped the franchise tremendously, too. Lucasfilm’s Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker publishing plan wasn’t nearly enough (clearly). It wasn’t until shows like The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Bad Batch that Palpatine’s return became more plausible, but neither takes place during the First Order’s galactic domination.

What was it like living in a galaxy openly terrorized by the First Order? How did the unnamed members of the Resistance cope after the Battle of Crait? Star Wars Resistance could have answered those questions, leaning into Star Wars Rebels-style, civil war-type storytelling.

All episodes of Star Wars Resistance are available to stream on Disney+.