The Star Wars animated TV shows have more than proven their worth. After a slightly wobbly start, The Clone Wars quickly found its audience and created at least one all-time great character in Ashoka Tano, Rebels recently ended to critical acclaim and Solo directly tied it into the cinematic continuity, and the upcoming Resistance boasts an all-star cast and promises to flesh out the period in between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. With all that in mind, it’s no surprise that Rian Johnson was rewatching some of the franchise’s most controversial television episodes while writing The Last Jedi.
The news came from the man himself, who was asked on Twitter what he thought of the infamous Mortis arc on The Clone Wars. To that, Johnson responded: “I rewatched these eps early in the writing process, they’re so gorgeous and boundary-pushing.”
For those of you not in the know, the Mortis arc is a surreal and dreamlike arc that centers around a planet of the same name. Within the arc, Anakin Skywalker finds himself torn by visions that show his future transformation into Darth Vader, give him a proper taste of the power of the Dark Side and, most controversially, introduce characters who are the physical embodiments of the Force.
Much like The Last Jedi, these episodes pushed the boundaries of what the Force is and how to depict it. What they also have in common with Johnson’s film is that they split fan opinion right down the middle, with many claiming that the Mortis arc was too strange and overtly magical for the franchise.
While Star Wars: The Last Jedi was somewhat constrained by being the middle installment of a trilogy, Rian Johnson’s new trilogy will have no such boundaries. As such, we’re hopeful that he pushes the boat out and shows us something genuinely new in that galaxy far, far away.
