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Star Wars: Visions executive producer James Waugh discussed how Season 2 of the beloved series would change its animation style to reflect the different studios invited to be part of the anthology project. Speaking with Deadline about Star Wars: Visions, Waugh underlined how each episode of Season 2 will look very different from one another as studios from all around the world become part of the Star Wars family.
Star Wars: Visions’ first season invited Japanese anime studios to tell self-contained stories set in a galaxy far, far away. Each episode dealt with concepts such as the Jedi, the Force, and the Empire, expanding the Star Wars universe into new and exciting directions. While each one of the episodes had a unique tone and animation style, they were all inspired by classic Japanese anime and used elements of Japanese culture to create spectacular Star Wars stories. Of course, we all wanted more, so Lucasfilm announced a second season developed by studios based on almost every continent.
With Season 2, Waugh hopes to deliver an even more spectacular season of Star Wars: Visions by inviting different creative teams to work with the franchise. That’s because, instead of sticking to the anime-Star Wars formula, each episode of Season 2 will draw inspiration from the local culture of each studio. As Waugh explains it:
“The first anthology is anime because we all loved the style of it, but personally my intention for ‘Visions’ was to always let it be a more broad palette, because there’s so much great animation work going on in the world. There’s so many interesting voices in all sorts of other mediums that are really focused on animation right now. And we really wanted it to be, in a way, a “sub-brand” that allowed for different creators to come celebrate ‘Star Wars’ from their own unique cultural perspective. And so Visions volume two is sort of a global tour of some of the most interesting animation studios on a global level. We have studios from South Africa, Chile, England, Ireland, France, India… and the guiding light there was that we wanted their storytelling to be a reflection of what ‘Star Wars’ meant in their culture, but also a reflection of the myths and stories that could only come out of their cultural context.”
While Lucasfilm has not yet confirmed the name of the animation studios involved with season 2, we know we’ll have episodes coming from the United States, the UK, South Africa, Chile, Spain, France, and India. We are also hopeful to see at least a couple of episodes coming from Japan, as the first season was astonishing. Season 1 of Star Wars: Visions feature nine episodes, but it’s unknown if Season 2 will keep the same length or change the structure.
Season 1 of Star Wars: Visions is available right now at Disney+. There’s no release date for Season 2 yet, but Waugh confirmed they're aiming at a Spring 2023 release. Check out the trailer for the first season below: