25-04-2025
Star Wars reverses course from The Last Jedi with The Ninth Jedi series from Kenji Kamiyama
Amid sudden additions to Star Wars' theatrical release schedule, with Ryan Gosling and Shawn Levy swooping in to replace the last crop of movies that never came together, a new animated TV series is coming to Disney+. Announced this weekend at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Star Wars: Visions Presents—The Ninth Jedi by anime director Kenji Kamiyama will be the first long-form spin-off of the Star Wars anime anthology.
The title solidifies what we've long feared: Disney has moved away from the A Star Wars Story branding and has retreated to a more traditional 'Presents' structure. Considering the box office success of A Minecraft Story, the subtitle shuffle must sting. However, in this case, it makes sense. The Ninth Jedi isn't simply a prequel to The Last Jedi. It's a spin-off of Kamiyama's 2021 Visions short of the same name. As such, in addition to the series, the Ninth Jedi gang, namely the characters Kara (voiced by Chinatsu Akasaki) and Juro (Tetsuo Kanao), will return for another Visions short, 'The Child Of Hope,' premiering in Volume 3.
'I made a short story called 'The Ninth Jedi' during Volume 1,' said Kamiyama. 'Director [Naoyoshi] Shiotani is making one more film this time ['Child Of Hope'], and it ends with Kara's departure to look for her father in the first short film.'
Kamiyama, a supervising director on Ninth Jedi, explains that the episode will deal with 'lightsabers that change color depending on one's Force.' Kara's father invented these and was kidnapped. The director says the show will answer the question, 'What in the world was the reason for such lightsabers?' It's a good question, but we all know the answer is because they look cool.
'Child Of Hope' will debut in the third volume of Visions on October 29, 2025. Ninth Jedi has no release date.
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