Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American computer-animated children's and young adult's television show created by George Lucas. It is part of the Star Wars multimedia franchise, and is set during the time period of its prequel trilogy, with seasons 1-6 set during the three years between the prequel films Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), whilst the first eight episodes of the final season take place during the same time period and the last 4 episodes of season 7 takes place concurrently with Revenge of the Sith. Lucas, who closely collaborated with supervising director Dave Filoni on the series, called it a continuation of the previous Genndy Tartakovsky-produced 2003 Clone Wars series. The series began with a theatrical feature film that was released on August 15, 2008, and debuted on Cartoon Network two months later on October 3, 2008. Episodes had a running time of approximately 22 minutes to fill a half-hour time slot (compared to the 3–15 minute episodes of the previous series). The seventh season was released exclusively on Disney+, where it no longer needed to fit specific time slots, and run times were approximately 24 to 26 minutes.
In early 2013, Lucasfilm announced that The Clone Wars would be "winding down". Thirteen episodes comprising a new sixth season were made available in the U.S. for streaming on Netflix, along with the entirety of the series, beginning March 7, 2014. A project known as The Clone Wars Legacy adapted unproduced story arcs into other formats, such as comics and novels. The series was revived for a seventh and final season of 12 new episodes, which premiered on Disney+ on February 21, 2020.
The Clone Wars received at first mostly positive reception and later acclaim from critics and became a significant ratings success, becoming the Cartoon Network's highest-rated show during its initial run. The series was also nominated for numerous industry awards, including the Daytime Emmy Awards and the Annie Awards.
Some characters created for The Clone Wars have gone on to appear in other works, including the animated series Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018) and Tales of the Jedi (2022–present), and the live-action series The Mandalorian (2019–present), The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022), and a spin-off of the former focused on one of The Clone Wars''' main characters, Ahsoka Tano.
A spin-off sequel series, titled Star Wars: The Bad Batch, premiered on Disney+ on May 4, 2021.
Series overview
Setting The Clone Wars is set during the Star Wars prequel trilogy era, taking place over a span of three years in between the films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The protagonists comprise returning characters from the films, including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Yoda, and Mace Windu, as well as new characters created specifically for the series, such as Anakin's Padawan Ahsoka Tano and clone Captain Rex of the 501st Legion.
The series is centered on the eponymous conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a separatist movement organized by the Sith Lord Count Dooku. The Jedi Knights of the Republic lead their legions of clone troopers against the Separatist droid armies headed by the cyborg commander General Grievous. Unbeknownst to the galaxy, the mysterious Darth Sidious controls and manipulates both sides of the war as part of his master plan to eliminate the Jedi and create a new governing state under his rule. To that end, the series depicts the gradual deterioration of the Republic into the beginnings of the Empire that Palpatine would make official in Revenge of the Sith. Other antagonists include Dooku's apprentice and assassin Asajj Ventress, infamous bounty hunter Cad Bane, and rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul.
The series was initially conceived as an anthology, with episodes sharing few narrative connections, but later seasons would feature longer story arcs that span several episodes.
Synopsis
Season 1
Season one focuses on various battles fought between the Republic and the Separatists. The Jedi compete with Count Dooku, and General Grievous in an effort to convince different planetary systems to join their cause. There are also several episodes that do not focus on the conflict with the Separatists, but rather other aspects of the Clone Wars.