Exhilarating Trailer for Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi, Releases August 5

In the 5 years since the original “The Ninth Jedi” short, leaving us wanting more but assuming nothing like it could happen, we’ve had the announcement of a full series and a second short, “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope“. And now we have our first full trailer for Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi and the revelation of a very soon release date, just over one month, with all episodes dropping on August 5! It’s an exhilarating trailer, blowing up the world of the short in ways fans could barely have dreamt. Check out some new images and some details from the Anime Expo where this all first premiered, below!

While it’s not clear HOW many episodes we’ll get, the fact we’re getting a full series is still a bit of a shock. The Visions Presents label is meant for when Lucasfilm and the respective studios feel it’s the right time to expand the world of the various shorts across all three volumes so far, so to think there could be more to come boggles the mind even more. And yet somehow the trailer for the Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi is still more jaw-dropping than all that. Plenty of the signature action and grandiose feeling to the events that was present more in the first short appear in the trailer, yet what the new villain Nawaam brings to the table suggests the character and introspective work of the second short will be present as well. The idea of a lightsaber-smith and how a blade reacts to its holder’s heart has been the world of The Ninth Jedi‘s most intriguing aspect, so seeing them lean into it more, where the villain’s blade shows blue and yet we see Lah Kara holding one that’s red, offers a juxtaposition I’m screamingly eager to see them explore. What is dispensing justice to the galaxy really look like? How can one do it without violence? And can the ends really justify the means to bringing order to chaos? Fascinating concepts I really hope Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi will get to explore alongside its memorable action.

From the interview with Producer Hitoshi Ito, Supervising Director Kenji Kamiyama, and Director Shunsuke Tada, I’ve enjoying what I’m hearing. Kara’s father, Zhima, finds killing in the name of justice something that pushed him away from training her as a Jedi. Yet it seems the creators want to let Kara find what kind of Jedi she wants and can be, letting her develop and grow based on what she feels in her heart rather than others suggest. It’s definitely what I hope to see with Rey in the post-The Rise of Skywalker world, developing what it means to be a Jedi not just solely from what came before, but truly learning from the mistakes of the past to forge something different.

The villain Nawaam, “…reflects the duality of humans,” and what a great person to pit Kara against in the series. Still struggling with being confident in herself, as we saw in “Child of Hope”, what will it do to her attempts to gain such confidence if the person she’s facing appears more just and pure than she? Kara knows helping others will bring light back to the galaxy, but how can she manage it and still fight the evil rising to face her? I’m sat for this conflict even more than the fighting!

As for how we’ll review Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi since it’s airing all its episodes at once on August 5, I’ll probably still follow the format of review per episode, as I’ve been really looking forward to this show, having only dreamt it was possible years ago, and want to cherish it and work through its themes and beautiful animation like it deserves, not rush through it just to cover it.