Disney+’s New 8-Episode Star Wars Series Officially Brings Back Prequel-Era Duels [Exclusive]

Star Wars: Visions is returning in a big way this summer, and not in the way some fans may expect. After three critically acclaimed seasons of the animated anthology series, the latter of which broke new ground with several sequel episodes, the series is now getting its first official spin-off with Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi. As the title implies, the series will chronicle the continuing adventures of Lah Kara (Kimiko Glenn/Chinatsu Akasaki) as she and her friends attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order in this offshoot storyline.

While it would be easy to say, “What’s the point of this?”, if the story isn’t considered canon to the wider Star Wars universe, the beauty of Star Wars: Visions is how it gives a veritable playground to its creators without having to be too constrained by pre-existing ideas from the franchise. That helped The Ninth Jedi’s two standalone episodes in Star Wars: Visions stand out a great deal, with the idea of kyber crystals changing color based on the user’s moral compass being just one of many brilliant ideas that some fans would easily argue should be integrated into the main timeline.Of course, the prior Star Wars films also influenced the creators of the new series in more ways than one, and Collider’s Maggie Lovitt has the chance to speak with directors Kenji Kamiyama and Shunsuke Tada, as well as producer Hitoshi Itô, about some of the show’s biggest inspirations. Kamiyama listed Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back as one major influence, particularly pointing to how Han Solo (Harrison Ford) briefly wielding Luke’s lightsaber despite not being a Jedi changed his perspective on the legendary weapon:

“My biggest inspiration was actually Star Wars when I watched it for the first time when I was 12 years old. That time, I had a big misunderstanding, which was that I thought the lightsaber reflects the user’s heart and emotion, so when I watched Episode V, and the scene with Han Solo trying to rescue Luke, I thought, ‘Oh, you’re not a Jedi, so you’re not going to be able to use a lightsaber.’ But that was not the case. So I realized, ‘Oh, I was misunderstanding this whole time,’ and this was a big hint and big motivation to make this story.”

However, Itô also pointed out that his two colleagues are from the generation that grew up with the original trilogy, while he and many of the other writers on the upcoming show are younger and are more familiar with the once-derided and now-beloved Prequel Trilogy of films. In a show that’s packed to the brim with lightsaber duels, it makes sense that the prequels had a hand in inspiring The Ninth Jedi’s creators, as those movies are widely credited with having the franchise’s best fight scenes. Itô drew particular attention to The Ninth Jedi’s fourth episode having a sequence that was directly inspired by Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s (Ewan McGregor) final battle in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.

“Kamiyama-san and Tada-san are a generation from the original trilogy, and there are a lot of younger writers in the writers’ room, including myself. We are the prequel trilogy generation, so we remember strongly about Episode 4 and the battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan. So, it depends on that episode. We have that influence, too.”

Akira Kurosawa Continues To Inspire Star Wars’ Newest Creative Voices

The original Star Wars movies were influenced by many both in and outside the film industry, but no name is brought up more as a key inspiration for George Lucas’s sci-fi world than the great Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese filmmaker’s Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress are both routinely cited as specific sources for the first three films, and even to this very day, Kurosawa’s works continue to influence the next generation of Star Wars creators. Itô confirmed that The Ninth Jedi’s writers’ room used repeated references to Kurosawa’s work, even describing the legendary filmmaker’s resume as “the base of the series.” He continued:

“During the pre-production, we formed a writers’ room, and in the writers’ room, Kamiyama-san set two references for this series — Akira Kurosawa’s films, and also Star Wars: Episode IV — so I think that’s the base of the series.”

Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi officially premieres on August 5, 2026, on Disney+. Stay tuned to Collider for more Star Wars updates.