Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld,” is an all-new anthology series of animated shorts from creator Dave Filoni, premiering exclusively on Disney+ just in time for the ultimate Star Wars holiday, May the 4th.
The popular series, which began in 2022 with “Tales of the Jedi” and continued in 2024 with “Tales of the Empire,” this time focuses on the criminal underbelly of the Star Wars galaxy through the experiences of two iconic villains.
Former assassin and bounty hunter Asajj Ventress is given a new chance at life and must go on the run with an unexpected new ally, while outlaw Cad Bane faces his past when he confronts an old friend, now a Marshal on the opposite side of the law.
Release Date: 4th May 2025
Creator: Dave Filoni
Writer: Matt Michnovetz
Executive Producers: Carrie Beck, Dave Filoni, Athena Yvette Portillo
Co-executive producer: Josh Rimes
Senior producer: Alex Spotswood
Cast: Nika Futterman, Corey Burton, Artt Butler, Lane Factor, AJ LoCascio, Clare Grant, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Eric Lopez
Composer: Kiner Family
This year’s May the 4th was celebrated with six new episodes from the Tales of series, with Tales of the Underworld featuring three episodes with Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane. Clocking in at around 15 minutes, these episodes aren’t meant to drop a ton of mind-exploding scenes. Rather, they are meant to give us more background on characters we are familiar with.
A Way Forward
We start with Assaj Ventress. When Ventress appeared in the final season of The Bad Batch, it caused quite a stir because, according to Dark Disciple, the 2015 novel by Christie Golden, Ventress’ life had come to an end. Was this another example of a canon novel getting overwritten by a TV series? Actually, no. In A Way Forward, we’re shown exactly how Ventress returned to life. As Quinlan Vos lowers Ventress in the water, Mother Talzin speaks to her from the netherworld. She grants Ventress life, the cost being her heart’s desire. Ventress has become super popular over the years. Her balancing act between the dark and light sides of the Force is one of the most fascinating stories in Star Wars. She arguably has one of the best character arcs in all of Star Wars. In A Way Forward, Ventress aids a young Jedi, Lyco Strata, in escaping an Inquisitor and reveals herself to be Count Dooku’s former lead assassin.
Friends
In the second episode they continue their journey, Lyco questions whether Ventress is part of the Hidden Path. A secret organization for Jedi-in-hiding. Ventress locates a friend named Latts Razzi for work. Razzi first appeared in The Clone Wars episode, Bounty (season 4, episode 20). Ventress is really not a bad person at all. To be fair, she’s quite likable even though she’s still working through her feelings.. Ventress has experienced a lot of severe trauma early in her life and was taken in by bad eggs who took advantage of and corrupted her. Remember, she was the only person who fully believed Ahsoka when she was accused of bombing the Senate Building.
One Warrior to Another
Lyco and Ventress continue searching for knowledge of the Hidden Path when they come upon a homestead where a human girl and her grandfather live. The grandfather knew Ventress from his days in the Separatist Army during the Clone Wars. While out searching for water, the girl, Ventress, and Lyco are attacked, but it’s revealed that the grandfather was stealing their water. Ventress’ character growth is evident here as she sees there’s more than one way to solve a problem than with violence. Lyco and Assaj’s working relationship gets off to a promising start, but one has to wonder if Lyco Strata will appear in future stories.
The Good Life, A Good Turn, and One Good Deed
These three episodes tell the story of how Cad Bane became the notorious bounty hunter we see later in The Clone Wars and beyond. His real name growing up was Colby. Colby and his best friend Niro (another Duros) would get into mischief around town until one day a mysterious adult Duros approached them, offering them a job. Eventually, Niro would get captured by the law, while Colby watched and then abandoned his friend to join the businessman. Years pass, and Colby is now known as Cad and is fully entrenched in the criminal underworld. Niro, on the other hand, is now a deputy. The ending is pretty predictable with Cad killing Niro in a gunfight, but that’s not the point.
Even as Cad shoots Niro, he is torn. The little boy hovering over Niro is Cad’s son, and it hits him where his life has taken him. These episodes lay on the western aesthetic of Star Wars hard. Bane’s career began with him winning a shootout, and it ends with him losing in a shootout to Boba Fett in The Book of Boba Fett. The circle is complete. Assaj Ventress’ and Bane’s episodes serve something like a yin and yang. We see Ventress rising from the ashes of her history, while Bane descends into the criminal underworld.