''Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures'' is an American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

series created for the streaming service

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and the television network Disney Jr. It is part of the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' franchise and follows a group of younglings as they learn to become Jedi Knights during the High Republic era, centuries before the main ''Star Wars'' films. The series is produced by

Lucasfilm Animation Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. LLC is an American animation studio and subsidiary of Lucasfilm, originally established in 2005. Its first major productions were the feature film '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' and its associated television series, both ...

and

Wild Canary Animation Wild Canary Animation is an American animation studio located in Burbank, California. It was founded in 2007 by industry veterans Richard Marlis and Carmen Italia, and is responsible for producing the Disney Jr. animated series '' Miles from Tom ...

, with Michael Olson as

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

and Elliot Bour as

supervising director An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated or television film, or an animated segment for a live-action film or television show. Alternatively, the animation directo ...

. It is the first full-length animated ''Star Wars'' television series targeted at young audiences. The series stars Jamaal Avery Jr.,

Emma Berman Emma J. Berman (born ) is an American voice actress. She is best known for voicing Giulia Marcovaldo in Pixar's animated feature film ''Luca''. She also voiced Ginny in the Disney Junior television series '' SuperKitties'' and Nash Durango in the ...

, Juliet Donenfeld,

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

, Jonathan Lipow, and

Piotr Michael Piotr Michael Walczuk (born March 27, 1988), known professionally as Piotr Michael, is an American voice actor and comedian. He is known for his role as Yoda in various ''Star Wars'' media, primarily the television series '' Star Wars: Young Jedi ...

. It was announced in May 2022, with Olson and Bour already attached to the project. Casting was revealed in February 2023. Six shorts were released on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

ahead of the series premiere, before also becoming available on Disney+. ''Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures'' premiered on May 4, 2023, and was positively received, with critics praising the show for being an engaging first ''Star Wars'' experience for young viewers. The second season premiered on August 14, 2024. The series has been renewed for a third season, which is set to premiere in late 2025.

Premise

Set during the High Republic era, centuries before the events of the main ''Star Wars'' films, ''Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures'' follows a group of younglings as they learn the ways of

the Force The Force is a Metaphysics, metaphysical, mysterious, and Energy (esotericism), ubiquitous power in the ''Star Wars'' Universe of Star Wars, fictional universe. Characters refer to the Force as an energy that interconnects all things in the univer ...

, including compassion, self-discipline, teamwork and patience, to become Jedi Knights.

Episodes

Cast and characters

* Jamaal Avery Jr. and Jecobi Swain as Kai Brightstar: a Jedi youngling who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Jedi Master Yoda and become a Jedi Knight *

as Nash Durango: a pilot who is friends with Kai and the other younglings, and teams up with them to go on adventures * Juliet Donenfeld as Lys Solay, a Pantoran Jedi youngling who is Kai's best friend *

as Nubs, a Pooba Jedi youngling who is Kai's other best friend * Jonathan Lipow as RJ-83, a droid friend of the younglings *

Yoda Yoda () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force. He first appeared in the 1980 film '' The Empire Strikes Back'', in which he is voiced and puppeteered by F ...

, a Jedi Master *

Nasim Pedrad Nasim Pedrad (; born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy and variety series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2009 to 2014. She later went on to star in the Fox sitcoms '' Mulaney'' ( ...

as Zia Zanna, a human female Jedi Master who serves as a teacher to the Jedi younglings studying on planet Tenoo * Trey Diaz Murphy as Cyrus Vuundir / Taborr Val Dorn, a prince of Vuundalla and a pirate *

Marcus Scribner Marcus Scribner (born January 7, 2000) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Andre "Junior" Johnson Jr. in all eight seasons of the ABC sitcom ''Black-ish'', before starring as Junior in its spin-off ''Grown-ish'' from the fift ...

as Bell Zettifar * Justine Lee as Lina Soh, Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic *

Liam O'Brien Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series '' Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. ...

as Estala Maru, a Jedi Master * Gunnar Sizemore as Wes Vinik, Jedi Master Zia's new Padawan

Production

Development

''Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures'', the first full-length animated ''

'' series targeted at young audiences and their families, was announced at ''Star Wars'' Celebration in May 2022. It is set during the High Republic era, centuries before the events of the main ''Star Wars'' films, which was already being explored through a series of books and comics at the time. The series was announced by executive producer James Waugh, executive producer and

Michael Olson, supervising director Elliot Bour, and consulting producer Lamont Magee.

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...

's Jacqui Lopez and Josh Rimes are also executive producers. Waugh said the creative team were aware that the series could be the first introduction to ''Star Wars'' for some children. Though they wanted the "characters, tone, and the life lessons" in each episode to be aimed at the younger audience, they also wanted to stay true to the expectations of people familiar with ''Star Wars''. The series' second season was produced by Lucasfilm in collaboration with Wild Canary while Icon Creative provided production services. Lamont McGee also joined as consulting producer for the series.

Casting and voice recording

At the

D23 Expo D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, also known as Disney D23 or simply D23, is the official fan club for The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 2009, the organization is known mainly for its biennial exposition event, D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Eve ...

in September 2022, Jamaal Avery Jr. and

were announced as cast in the series' lead roles of Kai Brightstar and Nash Durango, respectively. In February 2023, it was announced that Juliet Donenfeld was cast as Lys Solay,

as Nubs, Jonathan Lipow as RJ-83, and Piotr Michael as

. In January 2024,

, Justine Lee and

were announced as new cast members for the roles of Bell Zettifar, Republic Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh and Jedi Master Maru for the final batch of the first season episodes released on February 14, 2024. In addition, JeCo Swain was announced to be playing Kai Brightstar alongside Avery Jr. The actors recorded their lines remotely with the screenwriters and showrunners bringing together their voice performances at the studio. Baker, who voiced a non-English speaking character Nubs, said his fellow protagonists Kai and Lys reinforced what their friend was saying in the series in a similar way to the relationship between

Han Solo Han Solo () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', and later appeared in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''Star Wars: The F ...

and

Chewbacca Chewbacca ( ), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a Wookiee—a tall, hairy, highly intelligent species originating from the planet Kashyyyk. He is tall, and typically wears only a bandolier an ...

. Baker also recorded multiple options for Nubs' lines for the showrunners to select for each scene. Since the series was aimed at the preschooler demographic, the showrunners ruled out the use of subtitles for Nubs' vocalizations. In June 2024, Gunnar Sizemore was cast as Wes Vinik, Jedi Master Zia's new Padawan for the second season.

Music

Matthew Margeson Matthew Margeson (born June 9, 1980) is an American composer, musician, and arranger of film, television, and video game scores. He is a member of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, and has been a frequent collaborator of fellow composer ...

was hired to compose the score for the series by late July 2022.

Release

''Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures'' premiered on the streaming service

and the television network Disney Jr. on May 4, 2023, ''Star Wars'' Day. The first two episodes premiered at ''Star Wars'' Celebration Europe on April 8, 2023. Three animated shorts introducing the characters of the series premiered on the Disney Jr.

channel on March 27, 2023, with an additional three releasing by April 24, before all six were released on Disney+ on April 26. Six more episodes were released on Disney+ and Disney Jr. on August 2, 2023; further episodes were released on November 8, with the final six episodes being released on February 14, 2024. The first season consisted of 25 episodes. An additional set of shorts were released on August 2, 2024, while the second season premiered with its first half on August 14. On January 31, 2025, Lucasfilm confirmed that the second half of the second season would be released on March 19. In addition, further ''Fun with Nubs'' digital shorts were released, commencing February 1. On April 18, 2025, during the ''Star Wars'' Celebration Japan, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a third season, set to be released in late 2025.

Reception

Viewership

According to market research company Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, ''Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures'' ranked as the fifth most in-demand series on Disney+ during the week of January 16-22, 2023. It ranked second among the most in-demand breakout shows, achieving 23.1 times the average series demand during the week of April 29-May 5, 2023. This represented a 69% increase in demand from an earlier period.

Critical response

Arezou Amin of ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

'' gave the series an "A" rating, stating that it "captured the ''Star Wars'' spirit for younglings of all ages". She described the main cast members as being relatable to children and praised the series for relying on a character-focused approach, which explored new characters as opposed to depending on long-established characters to advance the story. Brett White at ''

Decider Decider is both a real word and a "Bushism". It may refer to: * ''Decider'' (website), a pop culture website operated by the ''New York Post'' * '' Bill Maher: The Decider'', a stand-up comedy special * Decider (Turing machine), a Turing machin ...

'' gave the series a positive review, describing it as a "fun show and a fine introduction to ''Star Wars''" for the preschooler demographic. While noting its low stakes plots, White praised the series for emphasizing life lessons and described the action sequences as "feeling like ''Star Wars''" rather than a "preschool approximation" of the franchise.

Accolades

''Fun with Nubs''

An accompanying digital series, titled ''Fun with Nubs'', was released from June 14, 2024. Further episodes began releasing on February 1, 2025.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Lucasfilm 2020s American animated television series 2020s American children's television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2020s preschool education television series 2023 American television series debuts 2023 animated television series debuts American animated television spinoffs American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated science fiction television series American computer-animated television series American preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series Animated television series about children Animated television series about extraterrestrial life Animated television shows based on films Disney Jr. original programming Disney+ original programming Prequel television series Young Jedi Adventures Star Wars: The High Republic Television series by Lucasfilm