The anthology series Star Wars: Visions announced its second season run—streaming exclusively on Disney+ for this year’s Star Wars Day.
If you are a Star Wars fan, you may have already heard one of the biggest news coming for Star Wars Day in 2023. Disney+ and Lucasfilm announced on Thursday, February 2, that the second season of the anthology series Star Wars: Visions will be dropping for the iconic day. The first season was critically-acclaimed, plus Emmy Award-nominated for pushing the animated boundaries and bringing the talents of various animation studios. They have already provided a breakdown of the nine new studios, getting their own individual episodes to highlight their talents.
Star Wars: Visions executive producer and Senior Vice President of Franchise Content & Strategy at Lucasfilm, James Waugh, shared on the announcement, “The reaction to the first volume of ‘Star Wars: Visions’ blew us away. We were delighted that this project inspired and resonated with so many people. We always saw ‘Star Wars: Visions’ as a framework for celebratory expressions of the franchise from some of the best creators working today. Animation is in a global renaissance, and we’re constantly staggered by the amount of creativity pushing the medium forward.”
The titles of the nine new shorts, along with the director, enlisted studios, their country of origin and an example of their previous work where available, were revealed:
- “Screecher’s Reach” by Paul Young at Cartoon Saloon (Ireland, Wolfwalkers)
- “In the Stars” by Gabriel Osorio at PunkRobot Studio (Chile, Bear Story)
- “Journey to the Dark Head” by Hyeong Geun Park at Studio Mir (South Korea, The Legend of Korra)
- “I Am Your Mother” by Magdalena Osinska at Aardman Animations (United Kingdom, Wallace and Gromit)
- “Aau’s Song” by Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke at Triggerfish Animation Studios (South Africa, Revolting Rhymes)
- “The Pit” by LeAndre Thomas at D’ART Shtajio (Japan, Snowchild music video) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (United States)
- “The Spy Dancer” by Julien Chheng at Studio La Cachette (France, “Sucker of Souls” in Love, Death and Robots)
- “The Bandits of Golak” by Ishan Shukla at 88 Pictures (India)
- “Sith” by Rodrigo Blaas at El Guiri Studios (Spain)
Based on season one’s wide range of celebrity voices, season two should see an even more diverse cast as the release date gets nearer. The same could be said with the studio choices for season two. Season one had a clear focus on various Japanese-based animation studios, but this new season appears to bring in studios at the global level. Trigger and MAPPA were probably the two biggest names involved in the collection, especially with their hit anime shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man and more.
Waugh continued, “With Volume 1, the imaginative minds of Japan’s anime industry were on full display. With Volume 2, we expanded our canvas to take audiences on a global tour of some of the most talented creators from around the world. We’re so proud to be able to reveal the line-up of studios we’ve assembled. Every short is incredible, full of heart, scope, imagination, and the values that make stories distinctly ‘Star Wars’ — all while opening up bold new ways of seeing what a ‘Star Wars’ story can be.”
Our review at CGM had Star Wars: Visions at an 8 out of 10, which stated, “There is plenty of variation in art style, tone, and messaging across Star Wars: Visions’ nine chapters…I must admit that I didn’t love the animation style in every short.” And this is what makes the anthology style great—not every episode has to resonate with its viewers. The most recent take on this could be with Marvel Studios and Disney+’s What If…? series.
While not much is known about the stories or cast yet, be sure to check out season one of Star Wars: Visions to see a spectacular collection of some of the best anime and animation styles out there. All episodes are exclusively streaming on Disney+ now.
