‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Technically Had 3 Series Finales
It seems the Star Wars franchise is sometimes sabotaged as much as the MCU, particularly when another media offshoot clashes with what the suits consider canon. As much disappointment as MCU fans had in Marvel canceling all their TV and streaming shows, Star Wars once did the same thing with an important series.
Fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will remember the original animated series (on The Cartoon Network) as one of the best shows done about the galaxy far, far away. Well, maybe The Mandalorian moved into first place in that department.
Regardless, The Clone Wars expanded the universe even further, despite having an abrupt cancellation. The show then resumed in very unconventional ways.
When was ‘The Clone Wars’ officially canceled?
One has to go back seven years to when The Clone Wars officially received a pink slip from The Cartoon Network and Lucasfilm after five seasons. Reason being is this is when the new Star Wars trilogy was announced out of the blue, surprising everyone at the time.
Really, it was the equivalent to Marvel announcing their intention to shift their shows over to Disney+, hence dooming all other shows quickly branded non-canon. This is similar to what happened to The Clone Wars after fans assumed it was a definitive prequel about the events happening in-between Episodes II and III.
No doubt it was frustrating for many to realize these stories of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano (plus many side characters) became shoved to the side as potential alternative universe tales.
Then again, there was never any official word of Lucasfilm deeming the stories non-canon. Placing all focus on the new trilogy, though, seemed to shift some things in the storyline, if still giving The Clone Wars life.
How ‘The Clone Wars’ managed to have three series finales
When the show was canceled, fans began to complain there were episodes still unaired. Lucasfilm apparently realized they had to use them somehow after all the money spent thanks to a quality budget.
Sure enough, some remaining “director cut” episodes showed up on Netflix in 2014 under the title The Lost Missions. These were 13 episodes produced well in advance, giving some points to Lucasfilm for catering to the true fans.
Since this was more than a year before The Force Awakens released, one has to assume this meant the stories being told were still considered relative canon. Whether they really are or not is debatable, albeit Lucasfilm giving the nod for more.
Once the show resumed on Disney+ for a final season this last February, it seemed the show Lucasfilm tried to squelch kept having more legs.
Did ‘The Clone Wars’ have a proper finale on Disney+?
With the final episode of The Clone Wars airing on Disney+ back on May 4 (Star Wars Day, appropriately), it did give the show a proper send-off. Essentially, it was a third series finale, making it perhaps the only series in history to resume two more times before an end.
Yet, is it really the end for the series? Based on how the final episode (Victory and Death) was put together, it apparently was. At the beginning of the episode, the Lucasfilm logo is seen in red. Also seen is the scroll “Followed by Episode IV”, meaning this was the assumed narrative bridge to A New Hope.
Since StarWars.com did release an official timeline of the series, fans should assume these stories are part of the same universe, unless The Mandalorian throws everything into a tizzy with Ahsoka Tano appearances. One thing the Star Wars franchise apparently will not do is have a series still airing not deemed directly connected to the current stories. The MCU will have that haunt them forever by retconning their TV shows.
