Star Wars unveils its new series Forces of Destiny on July 3, and here are three things we want to see most from the new female-focused series.
Originally announced back in April at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, Star Wars and Disney will team up once again for Forces of Destiny, a new series that focuses more on the female leads of the franchise. Of course, you’ll be seeing stories involving all your favorite ladies, including Princess Leia, Rey, Sabine Wren, and yes, even Padmé Amidala, who got the shortest end of the stick when it comes to Star Wars films.
With this new video series, hopefully, the idea that Star Wars is a dude’s space saga will finally be put to rest. After all, there are plenty of awesome women in the franchise and this series aims to put the spotlight on them in a way that the movies cannot.
Instead of being part of a team or sharing their screentime with their male co-stars, Forces of Destiny will focus more on the stories that we didn’t see. For example, the first story follows Rey and BB-8 as they head to Niima Outpost. Obviously, they must go past Kelvin Ridge and stay away from the Sinking Fields in the north so they don’t drown, but Teedo is still after them, which makes their journey a lot harder.
Check out a sneak peek of the series below:
As exciting as the new series looks, it has the potential to get really cheesy really quickly. And when I say “cheesy,” I mean that it’ll be trying to put out a message before worrying about maintaining a decent narrative. That wouldn’t be good. But it’s Star Wars, so we’ll be watching and expecting it to be as awesome as anything else. Though, there are a few things in particular that we really want to see …
Star Wars Forces of Destiny Sneak Peek | Disney. Image via Disney/Lucasfilm.
Stellar voice work
Voice work is really hard. You can’t rely on your body to sell your emotions, so it’s all up to the emotional tone of your voice and the animation work. If you saw Only Yesterday, then perhaps you know that Daisy Ridley’s American accent is pretty interesting, but she’s clearly not a seasoned professional like, let’s say, Ashley Eckstein, who’s voiced Ahsoka Tano professionally for quite some time. Or even Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, who will also make an appearance or two. Hopefully, we don’t necessarily notice the disparity in their skill levels throughout this series.
According to the official Star Wars site:
"The highly-anticipated shorts, 2-3 minutes each, tell the untold stories that helped shape the destinies of Rey, Jyn Erso, Princess Leia, Sabine Wren, Padmé Amidala, Ahsoka Tano, and other Star Wars icons. Fans will also hear some familiar voices — Daisy Ridley (Rey), Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), and Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata, narrating the series) will all reprise their roles for the show."
As you can see, Carrie Fisher and Natalie Portman were left off the list, probably for obvious reasons. Which means, someone else will be stepping in to fill their shoes. I’m okay with that as long as it feels authentic to the story and I look forward to seeing how it works out.
Star Wars Forces of Destiny Sneak Peek | Disney. Image via Disney/Lucasfilm.
Great stories
When it comes to the multiple animated series that Star Wars has, great stories abound in every single property. From The Clone Wars to Rebels, there have been some really incredible arcs in the Star Wars animated series that really bridged the gap in some of the Star Wars lore.
For example, Darth Maul totally lived after Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Anakin trained a padawan and then turned against her, and Saw Gerrera was a lot more interesting in his animated form than he was in Rogue One. (Don’t @ me.) Regardless, Star Wars has 2-3 minutes to make the best of their screentime and tell a story that’s engaging and exciting without feeling too derivative of the original work.
Starting with the first episode on July 3, we should see some really interesting short stories about these ladies that hopefully feel fleshed out without feeling too abbreviated. I mean, a couple minutes isn’t a lot, but I’m going to need something substantial if Star Wars wants me to tune in.
Star Wars Forces of Destiny Sneak Peek | Disney. Image via Disney/Lucasfilm.
Some actual answers and plot holes filled
Another thing the animated series’ are really great at doing is answering some lingering questions. Really, the entirety of the Star Wars franchise happens to be important. While you can certainly watch the movies alone, to really get the whole scope of the universe, it’s better to watch each series and maybe even read the novelizations and comic books.
For example, the Darth Vader comic series answers whether Darth Vader ever recognized C-3PO, while the animated series gave us a showdown between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. Furthermore, it helped us envision what General Leia and Senator Padme did in their spare time. Well, spare time meaning not in the saga films.
From Episode II: Attack of the Clones to Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Padmé Amidala took a drastic change. She went from a total badass to a bit of a mopey housewife. Luckily, the animated series gave us a closer look into her life. And if we’re lucky, Forces of Destiny will, too.
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So those are all the things we’re looking forward to! How about you? Let us know in the comments below. And don’t forget, the first episode of Forces of Destiny premieres on YouTube on July 3 before moving to the Disney Channel.