In early 2013, Lucasfilm announced that The Clone Wars would be "winding down".[4][5] Thirteen episodes comprising a new sixth season were made available in the U.S. for streaming on Netflix, along with the entirety of the series, beginning March 7, 2014.[6] A project known as The Clone Wars Legacy adapted unproduced story arcs into other formats, such as comics and novels.[7] The series was revived for a seventh and final season of 12 new episodes, which premiered on Disney+ on February 21, 2020.[8][9][10]
The Clone Wars received at first mostly positive reception and later acclaim from critics and became a significant ratings success, becoming Cartoon Network's highest-rated show during its initial run. The series was also nominated for numerous industry awards, including the Daytime Emmy Awards and the Annie Awards.[11][12]
The Clone Wars is set during the Star Wars prequel trilogy era, taking place over a span of three years in between the films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The protagonists comprise returning characters from the films, including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padm Amidala, Yoda, and Mace Windu, as well as new characters created specifically for the series, such as Anakin's Padawan Ahsoka Tano and clone Captain Rex of the 501st Legion.
The series is centered on the eponymous conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a separatist movement organized by the Sith Lord Count Dooku. The Jedi Knights of the Republic lead their legions of clone troopers against the Separatist droid armies headed by the cyborg commander General Grievous. Unbeknownst to the galaxy, the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious controls and manipulates both sides of the war as part of his master plan to destroy the Republic's democracy from the inside, eliminate the Jedi and create a new governing state under his rule. To that end, the series depicts the gradual deterioration of the Republic into the beginnings of the Empire that Palpatine would make official in Revenge of the Sith. Other antagonists include Dooku's apprentice and assassin Asajj Ventress, infamous bounty hunter Cad Bane, and rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul.
Season one focuses on various battles fought between the Republic and the Separatists. The Jedi compete with Count Dooku and General Grievous in an effort to convince different planetary systems to join their cause. Several episodes focus not on the conflict with the Separatists, but rather on other aspects of the Clone Wars. [citation needed]
Season two focuses on the involvement of bounty hunter characters in the Clone Wars. Darth Sidious hires Cad Bane to steal a holocron from the Jedi Temple that jeopardizes the future of the galaxy's Force-sensitive children; a Separatist droid manufacturing facility on Geonosis creates new weapons that threaten to turn the tide of the war; Grievous increases his attacks on the Republic fleet and overwhelms the Jedi; the Mandalorian terrorist faction, Death Watch, takes advantage of their planet's neutrality to target the pacifistic Duchess Satine Kryze; Ahsoka's lightsaber gets stolen; and the assassin, Aurra Sing, mentors the young Boba Fett in seeking revenge against Mace Windu for the death of Boba's father.
Season three focuses on the development of certain characters as the war rages on. Anakin learns about the nature of the Force, and his role as the Chosen One in an ancient Force realm; Ahsoka begins to grow into her own and is faced with several challenges that test her independence as a Padawan; and Asajj Ventress is betrayed by Dooku and left for dead, causing her to return to her Nightsister coven and attempt to exact revenge on Dooku through the use of her own pawn, the Nightbrother Savage Opress. Other episodes explore the democratic role of the Republic Senate in the Clone Wars, and how different planets are affected by the galaxy-wide conflict.
Season Four focuses on the escalation of the Clone Wars through battles of growing intensity on different fronts. Captain Rex and the 501st Legion are forced to go against their orders and act independently to oppose the rogue Jedi general Pong Krell. Obi-Wan fakes his death and goes undercover as a bounty hunter to thwart a Separatist plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. Ventress abandons her past and becomes a bounty hunter following the Separatists' massacre of the Nightsisters. Savage finds his long-lost brother, Darth Maul, who seeks revenge against Obi-Wan for his defeat over a decade before.[citation needed]
Season five features five main story arcs. In the first one, the Republic helps a group of rebels from Onderon, led by siblings Steela and Saw Gerrera, liberate their planet from Separatist occupation. The second arc focuses on a group of Jedi younglings who, after completing their path to becoming Padawans, have to prove themselves by rescuing Ahsoka from pirates. The third arc revolves around a team of droids who, while undertaking a mission to intercept an encrypted Separatist message, encounter an amnesiac former clone commando and must help him recover his memories to escape the planet they have been stranded on. The fourth arc deals with the return of Darth Maul, who joins forces with Death Watch and other criminal syndicates to take over Mandalore and exact revenge on Obi-Wan. The final arc features Ahsoka being framed for bombing the Jedi Temple and later convicted of being a cold-blooded murderer. She struggles to prove her innocence, leading to her questioning who she can trust and hiding out from the Republic. Though Anakin captures the real culprit who framed Ahsoka, her faith in the Jedi Council is shaken, so she elects to abandon the Jedi Order, leaving Anakin devastated.
Season six consists of four story arcs: clone trooper Fives investigating the premature activation of Order 66 in a fellow trooper's mind, and discovering the existence of the inhibitor chips implanted in each clone's brain; Padm trying to help her old flame Rush Clovis expose the corruption in the Intergalactic Banking Clan, which causes tensions in her and Anakin's relationship when he learns about her secret mission and intervenes; Jar Jar Binks and Mace Windu rescuing the captured Queen of Bardotta from a cult headed by the Nightsisters' former leader, Mother Talzin; and Yoda embarking on a journey to learn more about the nature of the Force after he is visited by the spirit of the late Qui-Gon Jinn.
Season seven consists of three story arcs. The first one is focused on Captain Rex's character, as he, Anakin, and a team of clones with genetic mutations rescue ARC Trooper Echo, previously believed to have been killed in action, and defeat the Separatists on Anaxes with his help. The Clone Force 99 characters got their own spin-off; The Bad Batch, in 2021. The second one focuses on Ahsoka, who befriends sisters Trace and Rafa Martez and helps them settle a debt with the Pyke Syndicate, while trying to conceal her Force powers because of the sisters' hatred of Jedi. The final arc, which is set concurrently with Revenge of the Sith,[13] depicts the Siege of Mandalore, a battle that had been referenced in previous Star Wars media. Ahsoka reluctantly returns to the Republic to lead an assault alongside Rex and Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze against Maul's forces on Mandalore. Once Ahsoka confronts Maul, he shares a haunting vision about her previous master Anakin, and how Darth Sidious' plan is about to come into full effect with Anakin in the center of it. After Maul is captured, Ahsoka is eager to speak to Anakin about what Maul told her, but while in a Venator-class Star Destroyer, Sidious executes Order 66, causing Ahsoka to be attacked by her own clone troopers. She manages to restore Rex's free will and releases Maul to cause a distraction, but he ends up disabling the ship they are on. All three ultimately escape. The final scene of the series shows Anakin, now Darth Vader, finding Ahsoka's lightsaber among the ship's wreckage sometime later, and leaving with it in silence.
The series started with a theatrically released animated film; this decision was made after the production team watched completed footage of several early episodes for the planned television series, which were ultimately combined into a single feature-length film.[14][15] Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film, while subsequent episodes aired separately on Cartoon Network.[16] For the film, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Samuel L. Jackson, and Matthew Wood reprised their roles as Count Dooku, C-3PO, Mace Windu, and the B1 Battle Droids, respectively, from the live-action films, but Lee and Jackson did not return for the television series.
On December 5, 2011, a full-length feature cut of one of the Season 3 trilogies of episodes (the one composed by "Nightsisters," "Monster," and "Witches of the Mist") was released for download on iTunes as an uninterrupted film[17] that was previously shown at selected screenings in 2010. The three episodes were written by Katie Lucas, who had previously written the Season 1 episode "Jedi Crash" as well as the Season 3 episodes "Sphere of Influence" and "Assassin." A repeat of season one aired in "decoded" episode format. Each installment contained unobtrusive text windows giving supplemental information about the characters and events playing out on screen.[18]
The series was cancelled in March 2013, after the conclusion of its fifth season, as a result of The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm and the decision to "pursue a new direction in animated programming".[19] This new direction, described as "a whole new Star Wars series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming", would yield Star Wars Rebels, a series airing on Disney XD rather than Cartoon Network. At the time of the announcement, Lucasfilm teased that, while they were no longer producing The Clone Wars episodes for Cartoon Network, they were working on additional story arcs that would appear elsewhere.[19] A sixth season was released on Netflix on March 7, 2014, along with additional media, such as comic books and novels, based on unfinished story arcs that would have been included in the season.
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