Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld review (2025)
Star Wars Tales of the Underworld felt like another Tales saga that covered already very well-worn terrain with characters who didn’t lack for time in the spotlight.
It’s a good thing then that these characters are compelling enough to carry this year’s annual Tales event.
The first Disney+ Star Wars micro series, Tales of the Jedi, was excellent. It featured Count Dooku from his time with the Jedi to his eventual seduction to the Dark Side. Conversely, Ahsoka Tano’s three-episode spotlight covered various aspects of her time as a Jedi and beyond.
Tales of the Empire was not as thrilling as it looked at two characters, Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee, whose stories didn’t benefit from the shorter episode run time.
Tales of the Underworld looks at two characters Star Wars Clone Wars architect, Dave Filoni, covered fairly extensively in the series (and beyond) with Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane.
Given the title, it somewhat felt like a missed opportunity for the six Tales of the Underworld episodes of less than 20 minutes to spotlight other players in the Star Wars universe. Those that didn’t receive numerous spotlight episodes in Clone Wars. Presuming Assaj is as popular as Filoni believes, there’s no reason she couldn’t headline her own series.
Tales of the Underworld is an even split between the characters with Asajj getting the first three episodes and Cad Bane the second half.
Asajj’s episodes — A Way Forward, Friends and One Warrior to Another — don’t offer any new insight on the character.
It’s basically a ‘pilot’ for An Adventures With Asajj” show. Her Tales of the Underworld chapter picks up on the heels of the novel Dark Disciple (available on Amazon), which is based on unproduced episodes of Clone Wars. This was an interesting choice since there could be some fans unfamiliar with the novel confused about what happened with a cartoon regular since her last appearance.
Asajj’s lover, Quinlan Vos, and Obi-Wan Kenobi take the fallen former assassin’s body to her home world for a proper burial. Asajj is resurrected and sometime later is working security for a transit worker.
Asajj (Nika Futterman), encounters a young padawan Lyco Strata who survived Order 66 and is looking for The Path. That’s essentially the Jedi’s Underground Railroad that Vos established to aid Jedi in escaping the clutches of The Empire.
The first episode features a fun encounter with an Inquisitor, who gives Asajj and Lyco some nervous moments before Lyco kills him. With her laid-back gig ruined, Asajjaccompanies Lyco on his quest. This takes them to an informant who needs help pulling off a job — nabbing an Imperial Shield Relay Unit for “an insurgent group” (hmmn) — before passing along what she knows about The Path.
Naturally, Asajj’s acquaintance tries to abandon her after learning Lyco is a Jedi. The reward for Jedi is much greater than any other job. Since her pal failed at ditching her, Asajj lets her live after getting the details on The Path.
The third installment, One Warrior to Another, sees Asajj and Lyco encountering an old Separatist soldier and his granddaughter. She needs water as they’re trying to avoid raiders after their water. These Raiders are of the cutesy Ewok variety and in a twist, they’re the ones whose water is being stolen. Lyco is the rare Jedi that doesn’t need a protocol droid to communicate with other species.
With Lyco smoothing things out with the “raiders,” Asajj convinces the soldier to lay down his weapons as well. The raiders take Lyco and Asajj to the ship that’s ferrying Jedi to The Path. Lyco decides against going since he’d rather stay with his friend, Asajj.
Again, this chapter didn’t offer much new info on Asajj. If Filoni and the animation crew are (hopefully) working on an Asajj & Lyco series, this was a decent primer, but otherwise it wasn’t an essential Tales of the Underworld story.
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Cad Bane’s segments of Tales of the Underworld starts with The Good Life, a look at a young Cad called Coby struggling to survive on the streets with his best friend, Niro. They’re approached by a mysterious stranger Lazlo wearing a familiar outfit offering them a gig and more money than they’ve ever seen.
While successful in doing their part on the score, Niro gets nabbed by robot authority officers. Coby watches as his pal gets dragged off to custody, but Lazlo offers the positive — he doesn’t have to split his share with Niro now.
A Good Turn focuses on a slightly older Cad who’s been in the gang for a while now. When Lazlo gets killed, Cad vows revenge on those who took out his mentor. This leads to a reunion with Niro, who’s now a deputy. For old times sake, Niro warns Cad to stay away, but that’s not the life of an outlaw. Cad kills the Marshall while his partner, Erin, gets shot while Niro arrests him.
The final episode, One Good Deed, finds a now released Cad Bane seeking payback against Niro. Chad’s singleminded quest for revenge won’t allow him to see some obvious truths until it’s far too late.
Cad Bane’s Tales of the Underworld story thankfully is not some backtracking of the cool outlaw to make him a more sympathetic character. Cad is a villain and the show doesn’t apologize for it.
The animation throughout Tales of the Underground is solid with sensational action sequences and dramatic perspectives. The brief runtime works better for Cad’s story while Tales of the Underworld certainly suggests there’s plenty of story left to tell with Ventress.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney
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