When The Ninth Jedi, an animated short film set in an alternate future where the Jedi are all but lost, debuted in the first volume of Visions, it gained popularity among fans who asked to see more of this unique story set in a galaxy, far, far away. Now, there is not long to wait as a full eight-episode anime series is set to continue Kara’s tale and expand the story of The Ninth Jedi. Last week’s trailer gave hints as to where the story will go, so let’s dive in and see what we can piece together.
Firstly, in case you haven’t seen it – here’s the full trailer:
First, a brief recap in case you’ve had a recent memory wipe. The Ninth Jedi set the scene – many generations have passed since the Jedi protected the galaxy and since then the galaxy has fallen into war. Margrave Juro harvests kyber crystals and tasks Lah Zhima with building lightsabers – an art long forgotten to the galaxy. After coming under attack, Lah Zhima’s daughter Kara delivers the lightsabers to a group of Jedi assembled by the Margrave, only for almost all the Jedi to reveal themselves as Sith before being defeated by the Margrave – Kara and Ethan, the only true Jedi to answer the call. In The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope, Kara is stranded on a derelict ship after being attacked by Jedi Hunters. She assists Toto, a lonely droid who helps her believe in herself and overcome the Hunters who come after her.
The opening scene of the trailer delivers on the opening monologue of the first short, describing a galaxy consumed by war in the absence of the Jedi. We see a large-scale space battle between what seems like multiple factions exchanging fire. In Child of Hope, Kara says that her father told her the galaxy had given into fear and hatred and it needed the Jedi to guide people back to the path of good. Where the two shorts told more intimate stories that built up the story of the galaxy – it looks like in the series we will see the bigger backdrop of the quest to rebuilt the Jedi with bigger actions and consequences.
We see Margrave Juro, the leader of the quest to rebuild the Jedi and Homen, a former Sith who turned back to the light, travelling the galaxy to seek out Jedi. We briefly see a long-haired human wielding a lightsaber with flourish, who in a brief shot later seems very much part of the team, so it seems their quest will, in part at least, be successful and we will get to see more Jedi and learn how they are surviving in this era when the Jedi are hunted to near-extinction.
The trailer cuts to the action and we see Kara confidently charging into blaster fire, deflecting a barrage of blaster bolts with ease. It seems that she has let go of the self-doubt which plagued her journey so far and has accepted her place as a Jedi. Ethan, the timid Padawan, also seems to be more sure of himself, leaping into battle in what looks like the interior of a starship or space station, maybe to rescue a captured Jedi.
The trailer introduces us to the primary antagonist, Nawaam, who speaks with a Kylo Ren-style voice modulator. This is the first time we’ve seen Nawaam, but he was first mentioned in Child of Hope by the Jedi Hunters, who said they had been offered a 100-million credit bounty to destroy Kara, and that Nawaam was committed to exterminating all Jedi. In the trailer, Nawaam claims that he will bring order to chaos. We see shots of planets being bombed and destruction, which seems like it is linked to Nawaam, but this could also be showing the chaos he is trying to prevent.
We see that the Nawaam is using kyber crystals to build a superweapons because, well… this is Star Wars after all! We see massive kyber crystals being extracted from asteroids followed by scenes of planetary destruction reminiscent of the Starkiller Base firing in The Force Awakens. This again shows that the stakes are much higher in this series.
We see a scene showing Kara’s father, referred to as Lord Zhima, as a Jedi. In what appears to me as a flashback, with a change in art style, we seem him actively fighting against thugs armed with blasters. Zhima has seemingly walked away from this path for a humble life with his daughter. It seems that, among the galactic stakes, the story will still centre around rescuing her father, who is likely being held as a valuable prisoner for his skill in crafting lightsabers.
Then, amid some action shots showing the Jedi taking down various Hunters, we see the series is going to seriously challenge Kara’s worldview. We see Nawaam take up a lightsaber, which surprisingly turns blue, suggesting he has a good heart underneath the mask in spite of his actions, which clearly shocks the Jedi. Nawaam challenges Kara’s beliefs in the Jedi as agents of justice, challenging her by asking how many she has killed in the name of justice, triggering a scene where her lightsaber appears to have turned red. Looking at her expression though, I don’t think is a mirror of The Acolyte where Osha turned to the dark side. Kara looks genuinely shocked at what’s in her hand and I feel this will be a moment of her maybe realising she has gone too far and then returning to the light.
The trailer ends with a curious shot as someone ignites a blue lightsaber blade which slowly turns a sort-of translucent shade of black. In the original short, Kara’s blade was faint, but this is something more akin to the Darksaber.
All will be revealed when Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi debuts on Disney Plus on August 5.
A teacher from Wales in the UK, Aled has loved Star Wars ever since that Star Destroyer flew over his head and blew his mind.