Tales of the Underworld debuts on Disney+ in full with six episodes on May 4, 2025.
Theoretically, Lucasfilm Animation’s Tales anthology is an interesting method of expanding the stories of characters introduced in the Star Wars prequels, their animated spin-offs, and live-action Disney+ follow-ups – figures like Ahsoka Tano, Count Dooku, or Asajj Ventress, who’ve become as essential to this fictional universe as any Skywalker. In practice, though, Tales of the Jedi, Tales of the Empire, and now Tales of the Underworld have proven uneven and inconsistent. Tales of the Underworld exemplifies this more than either of its predecessors, with one storyline that mostly succeeds and one that mostly fails to bring new, meaningful dimensions to its protagonist.
This round of Tales once again focuses three of its bite-sized, approximately 15-minute-long episodes on one character, and three on another: First former Separatist assassin Asajj Ventress, then infamous bounty hunter Cad Bane. Both arcs offer bountiful treasures for your eyes and ears; Lucasfilm Animation is showing off at this point, having perfected their painterly art style. Tales of the Underworld looks even better than The Bad Batch and the other Tales series, with absolutely stunning textures, lighting, and water physics. The music also stands out: It’s not conventionally Star Wars, but it’s a welcome shift that makes Tales of the Underworld feel fresh and distinct.
It may also set a new standard for Tales voice acting, too. Corey Burton and Nika Futterman have two of the most iconic voices in the business, and they continue to make the most of their depictions of Bane and Ventress. (To the degree that it almost makes Bane’s storyline a bit confusing – more on that below.) As a fan of FX’s Reservation Dogs – and specifically Lane Factor’s performance in it – I was surprised and pleased to hear Factor making his voice-acting debut in Tales of the Underworld, bringing his endearing and honest energy to Ventress’ new friend Lyco.
Beyond its presentation, though, Tales of the Underworld under-delivers on the promise of its title. In the first three episodes centered around Ventress, we get none of that sense of seedy underbelly that’s been a quintessential component of Star Wars since Obi-Wan, Luke, C-3PO, and R2-D2 first took a walk on Mos Eisley’s wild side. Instead of plunging into the dark corners of the galaxy, Tales of the Underworld takes Ventress on a mostly lighthearted romp that teaches her an age-old lesson about the value of friendship. There is some good stuff: Inquisitorial action, a fun heist, and some heavy material involving veterans who are unable to let go of their wars. It’s not an unimportant story to tell, but it’s also one that’s already been told by The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch. There’s little reason to bring Ventress back from the dead just to tell it again.
That’s the other disappointment with her story: It already ended once. A canon book called Dark Disciple sees Ventress and the Jedi Quinlan Vos on a path to revenge against Count Dooku. The story was conceived for The Clone Wars, but was turned into a book after the show’s first cancellation. At the end of Dark Disciple, Ventress dies, sacrificing herself to save Vos, whom she (spoiler alert for a 10-year-old book) falls in love with. Tales of the Underworld teases that story, giving us a glimpse of its ending – but it’s in a way that explains how Ventress was almost immediately resurrected, clearing the path for her appearances here and on The Bad Batch. Ultimately it just feels like an unnecessary epilogue in a journey that already felt complete, a long-winded way to keep her on the roster of active Star Wars players without adding all that much to the character.
Bane’s episodes definitely live up to the Underworld name, though, with the scum and villainy on full display. His story is a classic western in three acts set at three successive points in his life. It’s a story of diverging paths and what comes down to a friend breakup, and all the drama that entails. Its melodrama is reminiscent of a telenovela, and it’s honestly better for it. Bane has always been about the drama and theatrics, so it fits his character well.
It’s also a story of class and poverty and the impressions they can leave on a young mind. It’s relatively unexplored territory for Star Wars, and it’s interesting to see a story like that through the franchise’s lens. I bet George Lucas would love these episodes, given the way they rhyme with Anakin’s journey in the prequels. Anakin turned to the Dark Side, but Bane was born in it, and this compelling origin story shows us how he embraced it from the start.
But it too feels a bit underdeveloped. Tales of the Underworld simply doesn’t have the time to fully flesh out the story it’s trying to tell. Bane’s growth into the child-stealing bounty hunter we’ve come to know and love (well, maybe “love” isn’t the right word, but you get the point) is generally well paced, but some of the nuances and details have to be left out.
Maybe a little more breathing room in the running time would have better explained what’s going on with Bane’s accent and voice. He goes from sounding like a normal kid in his first episode to Corey Burton doing an aged-down Bane in the second. For all of Burton’s strengths as an actor, it’s still a jarring transition, especially when none of his peers or fellow Duros share Bane’s accent or way of speaking. It made me wonder why he speaks like that at all. There’s technically a good reason for altering his voice in the first episode, which I won’t go into here. I just don’t think it’s a good enough reason, nor does it explain his unique way of speaking.
