A little over a year ago, young fans of A Galaxy Far, Far Away were treated to the debut of a new series aimed directly at them on Disney+ and Disney Junior– it’s called Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, and 25 episodes were released in its first season through February of this year. Now it’s back for a second go-round, and it’s bringing with it an improved production value, more regular characters, and the same sense of high-flying derring-do for little ones.
Most of the main voice cast returns from the previous batches of episodes, including Juliet Donenfeld (Better Call Saul) as Lys Solay, Emma Berman (Pixar’s Luca) as Nash Durango, Dee Bradley Baker (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) as the adorably tenacious Nubs, Nasim Pedrad (Disney’s live-action Aladdin) as the adult Jedi in the room Master Zia Zanna, and Taran Killam (Saturday Night Live) as the affable chef Hap. But it saddens me to note that young actor Jamaal Avery Jr.– who I got to interview last year on Laughing Place’s Star Wars podcast “Who’s the Bossk?”– has evidently been replaced as the lead character Kai Brightstar by Jecobi Swain from Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obviously I have no idea what happened there or why (perhaps Avery aged out of the role) but he was very kind to me and fun to chat with, so I hope he finds future success in his career. Regardless, it’s still a whole lot of fun to see these familiar animated faces back in action on the planet Tenoo and around other parts of the Star Wars galaxy.
But Young Jedi Adventures season two also broadens out the regular cast by including Padawan Wes Vinik (Gunnar Sizemore from Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny) as a recurring companion and role model for the younglings, plus guest appearances by Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) as Bell Zettifar from Star Wars: The High Republic, David Tennant (Doctor Who) as Professor Huyang, the lightsaber-building droid from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Ahsoka, Piotr Michael (Grimsburg) as Master Yoda, John DiMaggio (Futurama) as returning bounty hunter Ansen Strung, Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) as the sniveling thief Draiven Bosh, and even Grey DeLisle from The Simpsons filling in for Lupita Nyong’o as Pirate Queen Maz Kanata herself. But I was especially enamored hearing the voices of Corey Burton (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi) as the very fun new villain Captain Blackbolt and Jason Mantzoukas from the “How Did This Get Made?” podcast as the newly introduced Bulcha the Hutt. Those two roles epitomize how the protagonists of this series have graduated on to face ever-so-slightly more dangerous enemies, but their old nemesis Taborr (Trey Murphy) is still around as well.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Taborr has developed into one of the more interesting and compelling characters on the show, now that his alter-ego Prince Cyrus Vuundir has befriended Kai Brightstar and his companions. Cyrus now finds himself torn between his loyal new Jedi pals and his desire to continue his life as a dastardly, pillaging space pirate, and that’s also emblematic of Young Jedi Adventures’ incrementally more mature themes this season– it’s still definitely a show for kids, but I can also see its very young fans aging up with it nicely year-by-year as Kai and company face more sophisticated obstacles and adversaries in their travails. Speaking of which, some of the standout segments among the ten episodes I saw in season two include a wild-west-inspired cattle-rustling caper, a quest to rescue a kidnapped musical band from the above-mentioned Hutt, a trip to the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk for Life Day, and a return to Black Spire Outpost from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, where the Jedi Younglings make a new friend.
All told, I would say that the second season of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures retains the same playful, family-friendly tone as last year’s episodes while upping the ante just enough to keep the audience on its toes. There are still no Sith around at this point in the timeline, so most of the enemies are pirates, as I mentioned above, or the titular Young Jedi simply learn lessons about conservation, doing the right thing in a variety of social situations, and other morals you would expect from a show aimed at ages three to seven. The other thing I would note is that the animation and overall look of the show feels improved over season one, with more detail to each image and more dynamic range to the characters’ movements and facial expressions. That’s not something I went back and compared side-by-side, but just a general feel I got from having seen a number of the previous episodes. So for those reasons this series is nothing but better this time around, and while I still don’t fall into its target demographic, I can definitely picture parents enjoying it along with their kids– as long as there’s a mutual appreciation for the swashbuckling spirit of the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures returns for its second season on Wednesday, August 14th via Disney+ and Disney Junior.