Disney+ rolled out a significant enhancement to its flagship High Republic television series, marking a milestone in the quality of this corner of the franchise. Set centuries before the Skywalker Saga, the High Republic era has largely been explored through books and comics, with only a handful of screen-based projects expanding its lore.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures returned to Disney+ for its third and final season, and with that comes a technical milestone: Season 3 is now available in 4K, whereas the first two seasons are still offered only in HD.
This makes Season 3 the first Star Wars series on Disney+ to receive a format upgrade between seasons, a distinction not achieved by The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, Andor, Visions, or any other franchise title on the service.
The decision gives the series a genuinely historic distinction within the Star Wars streaming era, especially as Season 3 becomes the final installment of the show and the last Star Wars release of 2025.
Audiences can clearly see how the first two seasons were under the "HD" format on the streamer:
Season 3 officially leveled up with 4K streaming and Dolby Vision, something that some fans may appreciate.
Having debuted on December 8, the seven-episode season brought back Master Yoda and continued the adventures of Kai, Lys, and Nubs, who were joined by new droid companions and faced off against mischief-maker Rek Minuu.
While the season was dramatically shorter than its predecessors (Seasons 1 and 2 had 25 and 23 episodes, respectively), it still capitalized on the franchise's investment in the High Republic timeline, which took a major hit with The Acolyte.
As the series is intended for children, with a TV rating of 6+, this may be the only thing parents or diehard Star Wars fans will notice.
In 2026, Ahsoka Season 2 is expected to be released, but Season 1 was already available in 4K format, so there's no anticipated enhancement to be made. Also in 2026, Disney+ will expand its animated slate with the debut of Maul – Shadow Lord and the new anime series Star Wars: Visions Presents: The Ninth Jedi. Both projects will likely arrive in 4K, continuing Disney+'s push toward higher-quality formats for its animated Star Wars titles. The Ninth Jedi serves as a direct spinoff of Star Wars: Visions, which was previously released on the platform in enhanced 4K, making the upgraded format a natural fit for its continuation.
What's Next for The High Republic?
The conclusion of Young Jedi Adventures seems to reflect a broader shift in how Lucasfilm plans to use the High Republic era. With the publishing initiative officially coming to a close in 2025 after a five-year run, the franchise wrapped up its latest cross-media experiment.
Although the comic book The High Republic: The Finale closed the interconnected narrative, Lucasfilm made it clear that the era itself will continue to appear in select projects. The High Republic could return in smaller, standalone efforts, like Young Jedi Adventures, rather than another multi-phase overarching narrative.
Lucasfilm often adapts successful eras into animation, so an animated series inspired by The Clone Wars or Rebels could be a practical way to revisit the era's characters and major conflicts.
Given the strong reception and creative potential of the era, it is almost certain the High Republic will reappear, but The Acolyte seriously hurt its chances. The one live-action project that was connected to this era on the timeline is viewed as one of the worst Star Wars projects ever.
In terms of Lucasfilm's major plans, expect more from the timeline around The Mandalorian and Ashoka while also pushing the narrative past The Rise of Skywalker with films like Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter and Daisy Ridley's Rey movie.
