By George & Josh Bate
In 2021, Disney and Lucasfilm departed from the conventions of Star Wars storytelling with Star Wars: Visions, an animated anthology series featuring eight unique, non-canon shorts from some of Japan’s finest animation studios. Out of an impressive bunch of installments, “The Ninth Jedi” stood out for many as the pinnacle and received praise for its jaw-dropping reveal, arguably one of the greatest plot twists in Star Wars history.
The acclaim for “The Ninth Jedi” led writer/director Kenji Kamiyama and Production I.G. to follow it up with another short in Volume 3 of Star Wars: Visions, titled “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope.” But that wasn’t enough for fans of the journeys of Lah Kara and Margrave Juro. At Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, Lucasfilm announced that the story of “The Ninth Jedi” would continue in the form of a full-fledged, long-form television series.
Now that series has arrived in the form of Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi, eight new episodes that interestingly reconceptualize core components of the Skywalker Saga, intrigue with a mysterious origin story for a key character, and find a point of novelty by expanding on the original short’s concept of lightsabers changing color based on the wielder’s alignment with the Force.
Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi takes place after “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope” and continues to take place roughly 1,000 years after The Rise of Skywalker (albeit serving as a non-canon story). Lah Kara continues to train under Jedi Master Margrave Juro, who is slowly attempting to reassemble the Jedi Order. Meanwhile, the warlord Nawaam, who has kidnapped Kara’s father Zhima, is determined to stop the rise of a new Jedi Order and take over the galaxy with his fledgling empire.
If the plot description for the new series sounds somewhat familiar, that’s because Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi, despite taking place around 1035 ABY, harbors a multitude of narrative and thematic similarities to established Star Wars stories. The barebones of the plot harken back to the Skywalker Saga, in particular the original and sequel trilogies, which saw a small collective of heroes band together against a tyrannical empire. Kenji Kamiyama certainly embraces George Lucas’ iconic, “It’s like poetry, it rhymes” line by demonstrating that, indeed, the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat themselves. That is to say – Star Wars will seemingly always revisit the David and Goliath clash between the Rebels and the Empire.
The parallels to other the original and sequel trilogies continue in that Nawaam, the series’ de facto Darth Vader or Kylo Ren, is overseeing the development of a planet destroying weapon. The Empire did it with the Death Star and Death Star II, the First Order did it with Starkiller Base, and now Nawaam does it with a powerful kyber crystal cannon.
Such striking similarities made the new series feel like a pseudo-remake of the original trilogy, albeit one that takes great liberties with its characters. It retains the general narrative structure of Episodes IV-VI and, as such, plays a little too familiar, at least for its initial episodes.
Thankfully, the series eventually forges an identity of its own, especially in its latter four episodes. The point of uniqueness that set “The Ninth Jedi” apart from all other Star Wars stories to date was the concept of lightsabers changing color to reflect a wielder’s alignment with the Force. It takes a bit of time before the new series embraces and furthers this concept, but, when it does, it makes for fascinating viewing.
Immediately, one is made to question the moral standing of the series’ antagonist Nawaam given he wields a blue lightsaber. Adding further intrigue to the mix are flashbacks is a key character who wields a silver lightsaber, a color that taps into memories of gray Jedi from Legends but remains unexplored in Disney era Star Wars stories. The new episodes don’t entirely deliver on giving the silver lightsaber the explanation and attention such an interesting concept deserves, although its inclusion certainly toys with conventions of the Force and Star Wars lore in a fascinating manner.
Intrigue continues to define much of The Ninth Jedi as questions surround the origins of Lah Zhima, easily the series’ most engrossing character. Zhima is the father of the protagonist Lah Kara and has been missing ever since the first short in Volume 1. Kara’s attempt to reunite with Zhima parallels Jyn Erso’s desire to be reunited with her father Galen Erso, especially as both Zhima and Galen Erso are reluctantly made to create a weapon of massive destruction. The new series introduces unexpected layers to Zhima’s character, which poses about his moral standing and relationship with Nawaam. These questions are eventually answered in largely satisfying fashion, although, like the aforementioned color-changing lightsabers concept, there is untapped potential left on the table come the series’ conclusion.
For as quintessentially Star Wars the new series feels, from sound design, music, and more consistent with the visual language of the feature films, The Ninth Jedi surprises in how much it draws upon The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Margrave Juro’s attempted recruitment of forces to stand against Nawaam evokes memories of Gandalf’s assembly of heroes in J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic novel and Peter Jackson’s adaptation. A character resembling Gimili, albeit with elven ears, joins the fray. And the planet from which this new character Kwana comes from feels like it’s taken straight out of a Lord of the Rings movie. Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings are two of the biggest franchises of all time, but their stories and aesthetics are so discrepant that they hardly ever overlap in a meaningful way. The Ninth Jedi arguably marks the most glaring attempt to weave Tolkien visuals and tropes into a galaxy far, far away.
The eight episodes of The Ninth Jedi are bifurcated at the halfway mark in that the first four episodes feel like a distinct story from the latter four episodes. These latter episodes are easily the stronger of the bunch, largely due to the fact that they break free of the narrative structure of the original trilogy to tell a more unique story. These episodes also culminate in a tantalizing cliffhanger, which sets the stage nicely for continued development of these characters in a future season (should one be commissioned by Disney and Lucasfilm).
VERDICT: 7/10
After three inventive and acclaimed volumes of the anthology series Star Wars: Visions, one of the show’s most beloved shorts – “The Ninth Jedi” – receives a full-fledged, long-form series that eventually overcomes overfamiliarity to the narrative structure of the original trilogy with an intriguing story and fascinating expansion of the short’s core concept of lightsabers changing color based on the wielder’s alignment with the Force. From Production I.G. and writer/director Kenji Kamiyama, Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi embraces George Lucas’ iconic phrase, “It’s like poetry. It rhymes” perhaps a bit too much by too rigidly adhering to the barebones of the original and sequel trilogies. Thankfully, the series eventually forges an identity of its own by posing fascinating questions about the skilled sabersmith Lah Zhima’s moral standing and making the most of its status as a non-canon Star Wars story by toying with conventions of the Force and broader lore in novel ways.
Quintessentially Star Wars in its themes, sound design, music, and more, the new series surprises in how much it borrows from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and serves as a beautiful fusion of the visual languages of George Lucas and J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional worlds. With a latter four episodes far stronger than the first four, Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi culminates in a tantalizing cliffhanger and, despite hiccups with its overly familiar story and challenges giving intriguing new concepts the full depth and attention they deserve, confirms that Lucasfilm was spot on in choosing Production I.G.’s acclaimed short from Visions Volume 1 as the basis for a full series.