Tales of the Underworld (animated series) - a general discussion thread - SPOILERS

‘Two Favorite Star Wars Bounty Hunters are Back for Tales of the Underworld’ - article at the official Star Wars website.

In the newly revealed trailer and poster, catch up with Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane before the third season of original shorts debuts May 4, 2025 on Disney+.
 

'Lady Asajj Ventress and her yellow lightsaber are back alongside the infamous quick-draw Cad Bane in a new anthology of animated shorts.

Today, Lucasfilm and Disney+ announced Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, the third installment in the Tales anthology series following Tales of the Jedi and Tales of the Empire, revisiting beloved characters to explore previously untold yet pivotal stories. Streaming on Disney+ this Star Wars Day, May the 4th, Tales of the Underworld is a six-episode journey following two notorious bounty hunters: former dark side assassin Asajj Ventress as she’s given a new chance at life and must go on the run with an unexpected new ally, and outlaw Cad Bane as he faces his past when he confronts an old friend, now a marshal on the other side of the law.

In the new trailer for the series, fans get a glimpse at how Ventress and Bane are surviving in the shadow of the Empire. In a tattered cloak, Ventress — last seen in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 — ignites her saber to face a mysterious enemy with a red blade while a young Padawan grapples with life after Order 66. And donning his iconic hat, Bane finds himself in another tense blaster fight as steelpeckers circle overhead, a standoff that reminds us of his live-action appearance in The Book of Boba Fett.’

The new key art for the series gives us a closer look at a host of new characters and one other familiar face: Latts Razzi, the Theelin bounty hunter we first met in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Ventress, Bane, and the rest hover over a credit symbol, the third in a trilogy of posters that previously showcased the Jedi Order symbol and the Imperial cog emblem.

Tales of the Underworld stars returning voice actors Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress and Corey Burton as Cad Bane, as well as Artt Butler, Lane Factor, AJ LoCascio, Clare Grant, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Eric Lopez.

Dave Filoni created the series and is the supervising director. He is also an executive producer along with Athena Yvette Portillo and Carrie Beck. Josh Rimes serves as co-executive producer, Alex Spotswood is the senior producer, and Matt Michnovetz is the writer. It arrives on Disney+ May 4, 2025.’

Tales of the Underworld | Official Trailer | Available May 4 on Disney+

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkywNANueew - a 2+ minute trailer at the official Star Wars youtube channel.

 
The blurb: ‘On May 4, return to a galaxy outside the law. See the trailer for Tales of the Underworld, arriving with six all-new Star Wars Original shorts only on Disney+’

Tales of the Underworld - official website portal (for news, info, & ep guides): www.starwars.com/series/tales-of-the-underworld

While I love the animation style and want to see more stories in this format, this feels a bit underwhelming again. Most of Tales of the Jedi was very good, Tales of the Empire I thought was almost complete garbage, and this just has me extremely neutral. Not sure how they’re landing on what characters/eras to focus on… But it seems very random and not in touch with what people want to see.

That said, if we get the Cad v Boba scene finished here, or they (somehow) provide a convincing reason Ventress is even alive right now, Ill take it.

tales of the empire was soo disappointing that i could not be less hyped about this and they menage to not do the obvious thing like a animated star wars 1313 focused on boba fett and u know original characters ?

Omni said:

Criteria seems to be “Filoni’s favs”, which is a problem.

yeah that was a problem wayyyy back in 2008

Vestress Episodes:
another story about a jedi in the run from the empire between ROTS and ANH, just like tales of the empire where the empire aspect was insignificant, the underworld aspect is just micro in the 3 episodes arc, its fels more like a pilot of a ventress show and u could use other characters in this kind of premisse like if u dont want to use a new character (btw they should a some point) u could use boba fett and do like 1313 arc for him. Outside of that the episodes are just ok
6/10
Cad Bane Episodes:
this arc fits the title more, even if it shifts this story to be a revenge one, is a fine backstory for cad bane but i felt that for the first time in this style of show that the story would be better if where longer runtime and episodes, it is kinda rushed manly because a lot happens of screen and outside of the 4 ep, it doesn’t tell much that we already know about cad bane
6,5/10

Skybatman said:

Vestress Episodes:
another story about a jedi in the run from the empire between ROTS and ANH, just like tales of the empire where the empire aspect was insignificant, the underworld aspect is just micro in the 3 episodes arc, its fels more like a pilot of a ventress show and u could use other characters in this kind of premisse like if u dont want to use a new character (btw they should a some point) u could use boba fett and do like 1313 arc for him. Outside of that the episodes are just ok
6/10

Yeah, that sums it up quite nicely for me.

The animation was a plus, the voice acting not so much. There was nothing new here, or of note, and it simply didn’t entertain - nor did it have any depth or substance. The story was a little meh - and served little else other than to say (or hand-wave away):-
 

 
Despite the whole reasoning for her choosing to ‘come back to life’ was her love for Quinlan… she just then chose not to find and join him after a short adventure with the young Jedi on the run. Quite the kick in the teeth for fans of the ‘Darth Disciple’ canon book (although EU & literature fans - and those fans still hopeful for the one consistent narrative across all forms of storytelling as promised in 2014 - should be used to that from Filoni). For me, overall, the Ventress episodes felt hollow and underwhelming… I hope others found them significantly more engaging, entertaining, and worthwhile.

I guess Ventress will turn up in the recently announced Maul series?

A Cad Bane origin trilogy! These were more engaging and intriguing than the first 3 episodes of ToTU - yet still a little cliche and predictable; offering little new. Like Skybatman, I do wonder how much better the story could have been in a longer run-time (and also handled by someone with a fresh view and approach… than Filoni’s all-too-familiar trademarks and limitations).

For me, the ToTE and ToTU seem long way from the quality of the original ToTJ Dooku installments. I hope they don’t drag this ToTX series out further - unless they do give control to fresh eyes with a different approach.