Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi Shows the Franchise Still Has Room to Grow

Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi Shows the Franchise Still Has Room to Grow

Star Wars will approach its 50th anniversary next spring with plenty of activity around it. New Skywalker-era books are planned, Star Wars: Unlimited is continuing to expand, and an official crossover with Dungeons & Dragons is also in development. Books and comics are filling in parts of the sequel-trilogy timeline, while Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth, Amy Adams and Matt Smith, is scheduled to return the series to cinemas next year with a new story.

The film side of the franchise has been less certain. The Mandalorian and Grogu was the first Star Wars theatrical release in seven years, but it received mixed reviews and quickly faded at the box office, ending the long run of Star Wars films dominating cinemas.

Against that backdrop, a smaller animated project has made a much stronger impression. Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi arrived on Disney Plus on 5 August and quickly attracted enthusiastic reviews. Its reception suggests that the franchise may find fresh energy by giving creators more freedom to question its established ideas.

A new chapter for The Ninth Jedi

Produced by Production I.G., The Ninth Jedi is an eight-episode anime series expanding one of the most acclaimed stories from the first season of Star Wars: Visions. The original 2021 short introduced Lah Kara, the daughter of a lightsaber maker living in a distant future where the Jedi have almost vanished. A follow-up, The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope, appeared in Visions Volume 3 before Lucasfilm commissioned a full series featuring the characters.

The series follows Kara and Jedi Master Margrave Juro as they try to restore the Jedi Order and locate Kara’s missing father, Lah Zhima. Their journey takes them across different worlds as they seek possible Jedi recruits and confront General Nawaam, a masked warlord building an army capable of threatening the galaxy.

Although it features Jedi, Sith and lightsabers, the series is not part of the main Star Wars continuity. Like the other Visions projects, it sits outside the films and live-action Disney Plus shows. That separate setting allows the creative team to reshape familiar concepts without being bound by established canon.

One of the series’ most distinctive ideas is its approach to lightsabers: their colours change according to the person using them. The story also asks whether a person needs a powerful connection to the Force to qualify as a Jedi.

Supervising director Kenji Kamiyama said he wanted to move beyond the strict Light Side-versus-Dark Side division that has shaped much of Star Wars. He described the Jedi Order as restrictive and positioned Kara as an example of what a new generation of Jedi might become.

That creative direction stands apart from Lucasfilm’s anniversary publishing plans, which are set to revisit Luke, Leia, Han, Darth Vader and Kylo Ren. Rather than returning to those familiar figures, The Ninth Jedi begins again with new characters in a distant era, using its non-canon status to reconsider some of the franchise’s oldest rules.

Why the reviews matter

Early critical reaction has been especially positive. The series launched with a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes before settling at 95% in the following days. Reviewers have highlighted its animation, lightsaber action, new cast of characters and independence from the Skywalker storyline. You can see the current Rotten Tomatoes score for the latest rating.

The response is notably stronger than that for The Mandalorian and Grogu, which currently holds 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. While the consensus praises its action, it criticises the film’s thin story and episodic structure. Its listed Rotten Tomatoes rating provides a clear contrast with the animated series.

The Ninth Jedi is not a sign that Lucasfilm will abandon continuity or rewrite five decades of lore. Its success does, however, make a strong case for exploring more original eras, characters and interpretations. For fans who enjoy seeing established ideas reworked, the series offers the kind of creative experimentation that can keep a long-running franchise relevant.

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