Everyone Forgot That 2026's Best Star Wars Series Is Still Coming
Missing what really makes Star Wars great? There's still hope.
Now that the dust seems to be settling on The Mandalorian and Grogu, hopefully Star Wars fans can also leave something else behind: The discourse about The Mandalorian and Grogu and what makes fun Star Wars movies fun, and whether or not this movie was good because it was fun or bad because we’ve seen it all before. Because there’s one thing we can all agree on about Mando and Grogu: It didn’t have any lightsabers or Jedi. And if that’s part of the reason you like Star Wars, you won’t have to wait for Ahsoka Season 2 or the 2027 film Starfighter to experience the full power of the Force. In fact, what will almost certainly be the best Star Wars event of 2026, and possibly, the best Star Wars series since 2019, is coming very, very soon.
On July 2, 2026, at Anime Expo in LA, the first episode of the new series Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi will debut the first episode of the new series for lucky convention attendees. And if you’ve been stuck in carbonite, sleeping on this series, here’s a gentle reminder: the first Ninth Jedi short, which debuted in Visions Season 1, is easily one of the best Star Wars stories of the 21st century, and totally represents the next hope for what the franchise could become.
What is Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi?
Kara in the original Ninth Jedi short.
For those who don’t know, here’s the quick download on The Ninth Jedi. Originally, this was a one-off short, a part of the animated anthology showcase, Visions. In the first episode, “The Ninth Jedi,” we were introduced to a far-future version of Star Wars in which the Jedi were rebuilding, but dogged by numerous Sith intent on destroying the work of a lightsaber-smith who was forging new blades in the hopes of giving the weapons to a Jedi Master called Margrave Juro. The lightsaber-smith, Zhima, is soon attacked by mercenaries, and it’s up to his young daughter, Kara, to try and deliver the new lightsabers to the Margrave and the hopeful Jedi. Without spoiling the story’s biggest twist, Kara ends up being part of a new group of fledgling Jedi, and hopes to rescue her father from the Sith.
Upon release, The Ninth Jedi — written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama — was incredibly well-reviewed and it was clear that the story could continue with additional installments. Visions Season 3 included a standalone adventure, “Child of Hope,” involving Kara being separated from the new Jedi, and finding a new ally. But now, The Ninth Jedi is set to become a full-blown show, exploring this version of Star Wars in an all-new way.
Why The Ninth Jedi has so much potential
Believe it or not, this is one of the good guys.
The number one reason why The Ninth Jedi series feels like the second coming for classic Star Wars is the way that the first installment looks and feels. Much has been said about how anime fits well with a Star Wars sensibility, but the true triumph of The Ninth Jedi is that the music, characters, and sweep of the story echo the call-to-adventure moments of Luke Skywalker, without outright ripping off the plot beats. Like Luke, Kara is pulled into events larger than she imagined, but, unlike Luke, the Jedi are not a secret, and her connection to the Force is explored in an organic and natural way. Also, some well-known Star Wars iconography is subverted smartly in The Ninth Jedi: When the Magrave first appears, the Darth Vader-esque helmet suggests that he’s actually the villain, but what happens with the people you assume are Jedi is part of what makes the storytelling so fantastic.
Kamiyama fully understands that the reason why Star Wars is appealing is that you can combine the large and the small at the same time: The stakes can be big and the villains powerful, but there have to be rules, limitations, and a view of the larger world that feels tactile and lived-in. The first Ninth Jedi short had all of this, and so much more. The score is perfect, the imagery is as beautiful as any Studio Ghibli film, and the story zips along like a vintage speeder bike.
Kamiyama is also extremely reliable when it comes to managing mythology within established universes. He directed the excellent anime, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in 2024, and also worked on the underrated series Blade Runner: Black Lotus. If there is a great new hope for animated Star Wars that captures everything we’ve been missing, that hope might be Kenji Kamiyama’s Ninth Jedi show.
