Plenty of Star Wars projects were announced at Disney's Investor Day, but little has been revealed about the new Disney+ series Star Wars: Visions — until now.
The series of short films mark Lucasfilm's first foray into the world of anime with a ten-episode anthology structure, which will allow new creators to showcase their unique takes on the world of Star Wars.
While Star Wars has seen much success from its previous animated series like The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch, Visions will bring a completely new art style to the galaxy far, far away and allow for fresh voices to join the Star Wars universe.
To cater for these new voices in Visions, Lucasfilm has also relaxed the rules around what stories can be told within the Star Wars franchise.
STORIES IN STAR WARS: VISIONS WILL NOT BE CANON
After a long period without news, Disney revealed more details about Star Wars: Visions at Anime Expo Lite.
A list published on the official Star Wars blog outlines all the new things that were revealed about Visions at the expo, including that these films won't be canon in the Star Wars timeline.
Star Wars: Visions executive producer, James Waugh, said that Lucasfilm wanted to give creators "a wide creative berth" to create their anime films:
"We really wanted to give these creators a wide creative berth to explore all the imaginative potential of the Star Wars galaxy through the unique lens of anime."
Waugh said this was to ensure the stories were "as authentic as possible" to the creatives behind them and would allow them to tell stories "in a medium they're such experts at":
“We realized we wanted these to be as authentic as possible to the studios and creators who are making them, made through their unique process, in a medium they’re such experts at."
The EP said the idea behind the series was to allow creators to play with elements of Star Wars and a series "unlike anything we've seen before":
"So the idea was, this is their vision riffing off all the elements of the Star Wars galaxy that inspired them — hopefully to make a really incredible anthology series, unlike anything we’ve seen before in the Star Wars galaxy.”
A BRAND NEW GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY
In such a large franchise like Star Wars, it can be difficult to explore new creative avenues within such a packed timeline. Lucasfilm has built up an empire of films, TV shows, books and comics within this universe, so the thought of adding ten more anthology episodes complicates things very quickly.
It's good news, then, that Star Wars: Visions doesn't have to adhere to the rules of Star Wars canon. This opens up so many possibilities for these short films that will ensure they're distinctive both in style and in story.
It also allows the creators behind each of the Visions episodes to draw from their own unique experiences. The results of this were shown during the Special Look trailer that provided glimpses at Star Wars stories infused with Japanese culture in a huge variety of genres and styles.
These are stories audiences wouldn't typically see in mainstream Star Wars releases, so it's exciting to see them get their chance at the spotlight in this new series.
Star Wars: Visions will premiere on Disney+ on September 22, 2021.
