Is Star Wars Animation Getting Left Behind?
Image Source: Den of Geek
“200,000 units are ready, with a million more on the way.” This is how Lama Su described the size of the clone army in Attack of the Clones, but I feel that it could also be used to describe the amount of Star Wars content currently being produced by Disney and Lucasfilm.
This year alone has seen the releases of The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and dozens of novels and comics. And we’re still not done yet; the remaining months of 2022 will also see the releases of Andor, The Bad Batch Season 2, and Tales of the Jedi. But among this immense load of Star Wars content, is the animated side of the franchise getting as much advertising or recognition? I ask this mainly due to the uncertainty surrounding the release of The Bad Batch’s second season. The animated follow-up to The Clone Wars starring a ragtag team of renegade clones was originally set to debut its next season in spring of this year, but this original date was changed, most likely due to Lucasfilm’s focus on promoting Obi-Wan Kenobi. But even now, the exact release date for the new season seems to remain up in the air.
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The confusion began when the premiere of Andor was rescheduled from August 31 to September 21, most likely due to Disney not wanting the show to overshadow their latest Marvel streaming series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Then following a long silence in regards to The Bad Batch, the animated show’s second season premiere was finally scheduled to be released on September 28, before that date was briefly taken down and then rereleased the same as it was before without any explanation. As I’ve written previously, I believe releasing The Bad Batch Season 2 alongside Andor will cause the former to be overshadowed by the latter. Disney is putting a lot of marketing into Andor, and the Rogue One prequel series is more likely to grab viewers’ attention due to its direct link to a popular film, whereas most casual viewers will likely wait until Andor’s first season wraps up before checking out The Bad Batch. But I also think the show’s lack of marketing and focus is indicative of a larger issue pointed out by many Star Wars fans: compared to their live action endeavors, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be giving their animated projects the cold shoulder.
While there are outliers to this pattern, such as Visions and the highly anticipated final season of The Clone Wars, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be much more inclined to advertise their live action shows over their animated ones. This arguably began with Rebels, an animated series that only gained large traction after its initial airing on the largely unpopular channel Disney XD. There’s also the fact that the upcoming Tales of the Jedi animated anthology still hasn't had any advertising, despite its planned release being less than three months away. In addition, many fans continue to clamor for an official animated follow-up to Rebels rather than a live action one.
Image Source: starwars.com
Perhaps the best example of Disney not giving their animated projects the marketing they deserve is Resistance. From its very beginning, Resistance was given very little advertising while its first season aired on the Disney Channel. The situation was only made worse when the latter half of the show’s second season aired in the final months of 2019 and the first few weeks of 2020. With little marketing behind the show’s finale, Resistance’s final few episodes were completely overshadowed by The Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian. Even the finale itself was overshadowed by the trailer and subsequent hype for The Clone Wars Season 7, with the ending of Resistance receiving very little grandeur or fanfare in its initial airing.
Star Wars as a franchise continues to grow larger by the day, and Disney and Lucasfilm are clearly putting their all into their upcoming live-action efforts. While animated series like The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi certainly aren’t being ignored by either company, they are receiving very little focus in the marketing department compared to shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor. For nearly a decade, animation was the medium that maintained Star Wars’ position in the public eye until the release of The Force Awakens. As someone who was brought into the galaxy far, far away by animated shows like The Clone Wars and Rebels, it’s sad to see animation take a noticeable back seat to live action productions over the last few years. With that said, I am still hopeful that Lucasfilm will continue to put time and money into their animated projects and start giving them the space they need to stand on their own without having to compete with their live action counterparts. The last thing I want is for Star Wars to abandon one of the mediums where it still shines the most.
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