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Credit: LucasfilmLucasfilm has confirmed the return of multiple fan-favorite characters in a new Star Wars series coming on May 4, AKA May the Fourth, AKA Star Wars Day.
The Star Wars franchise will soon gain the second season of Tony Gilroy’s critically acclaimed Andor. The series follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he sabotages the Galactic Empire leading up to the tragic events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Star Wars: Episode IV–A New Hope (1977). With an April 22 debut, Star Wars fans don’t have long to wait until the next chapter in the franchise’s streaming catalog.
Andor Season 2 will come after a rocky year for Disney and Lucasfilm, with shows like The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew failing to impress across the board. The former was review-bombed, harshly critiqued and later canceled by the House of Mouse, while the latter failed to acquire strong viewer numbers.
Andor, while one of the lesser watched entries when compared to something like The Mandalorian, was universally acclaimed so the quality of the show speaks for itself.
However, in a surprise announcement, Lucasfilm has confirmed another new Disney+ show will arrive in early May. On May 4, AKA Star Wars Day, Disney+ will release the new Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld animated series, the third entry in the Tales of anthology, following 2022’s Tales of the Jedi and last year’s Tales of the Sith.
It has been created by Dave Filoni, the celebrated creative officer of Lucasfilm and mind behind other animated hits like Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
Tales of the Underworld will center on two beloved bounty hunter characters from the galaxy far, far away: Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman) and Cad Bane (Corey Burton). This pair is well-known in the franchise, mostly due to their storylines in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, with Ventress last appearing in the third season of The Bad Batch.
As for Burton’s Cad Bane, the iconic animated character was also in The Bad Batch but got the live-action treatment in 2022’s The Book of Boba Fett. However, fans were left disappointed with his quick exit.
Like Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze, Cad Bane made the jump to live-action in the Mando-Verse shows set in the New Republic era of the franchise. While the former two characters debuted in The Mandalorian, Cad Bane made his live-action entrance in The Book of Boba Fett‘s sixth episode, “Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger.” Bane’s time in the show was limited, though, with his apparent death taking place in the following episode.
There has been discourse surrounding his so-called death in The Book of Boba Fett, with many presuming he is not dead after all. In fact, the “Star Wars: Timelines” book published in 2023 states that the impaling Fett executed merely rendered the character “out of action.”
It is likely that such a prominent bounty hunter character is not completely gone, especially as the upcoming movies, The Mandalorian and Grogu and Dave Filoni’s Mando-Verse crossover, may want to bring the character back to the live-action world.
As for now, audiences will have to make do with Bane’s return to the animated world of the Star Wars franchise in Tales of the Underworld, which is set before the New Republic era.
“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,” the official Walt Disney Company press release reads.
“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.”
Watch the trailer here:
Filoni serves as supervising director and executive producer along with Athena Yvette Portillo and Carrie Beck. Josh Rimes is the co-executive producer, Alex Spotswood is the senior producer, and Matt Michnovetz is the writer, Disney has confirmed.
The cast includes Nika Futterman (Asajj Ventress), Corey Burton (Cad Bane), Artt Butler, Lane Factor, AJ LoCascio, Clare Grant, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Eric Lopez.
Looking ahead, from rumors of The Acolyte Season 2 to the big return of Star Wars at the cinema in 2026, the leading Lucasfilm franchise is navigating choppy hyperspace. That said, the movie slate seems more concrete than ever–even with the December 2026 release getting cut–and audiences should expect movies from Shawn Levy, Simon Kinberg, James Mangold, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy over the next decade.
How do you feel about these characters coming back to the Star Wars franchise? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!