Familiar Star Wars characters and species appear in Young Jedi Adventures

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is an animated series suitable for very young audiences. You may have seen Yoda’s delightful green smirk on posters or in other advertisements, however he is actually not one of the main characters in the television series that airs on both Disney Jr. and Disney Plus. Younglings Kai, Lys, and Nubs are the primary protagonists.

The showrunner wisely took advantage of Yoda’s “star power”, which, in terms of drawing in viewers, is certainly an important factor with the success of the pre-schooler appropriate Disney/Lucasfilm collaboration. There was a similar design when Star Wars: The Clone Wars was produced 20 years ago (although other famous Jedi are also in that series), while Yoda’s ratio of actual appearances throughout the Clone Wars seasons are comparable to Young Jedi Adventures.

Just like his absence for large chunks of The Clone Wars chronicles, the Master Jedi is following that route in the second season of Young Jedi. After sporadically guiding the Jedi in training in their rookie year, Yoda only showed up in one of the first batch of the sophomore season episodes that were released so far. Which brings us to the second of three named legacy characters in the series.

In Yoda’s singular Season 2 showing, he accompanies Nubs to Coruscant to deliver an antique lightsaber to the Jedi archives. After hitting a few bumps in the galactic road, Yoda and Nubs hand the saber over to Huyang. The droid helps emerging Jedi to craft their lightsabers. He was first revealed in the Clone Wars animated series, working with Ahsoka while she trained younglings during one of the show's later arcs. Huyang survived the war and is still by Ahsoka’s side in her titular live-action show.

Whereas Huyang cameoed in a Young Jedi chapter, a third established Star Wars character has more of a special guest starring role in the final episode currently available. The younglings learn that the woman who runs the junkyard on their planet used to travel the galaxy alongside her companion, Maz Kanata. She re-connects with her friend in this tale, after previously being introduced in live-action movies that take place hundreds of years later.

Lupita Nyong’o plays Maz Kanata (using motion capture) in the sequel trilogy, largely in The Force Awakens. She is a small but wise figure who works with the heroes of the Resistance. Han Solo mentions that Maz has been around for a thousand years, which makes it possible for her to be the only named character to appear in both the earliest and latest TV/movie content in Star Wars continuity.

Along with The Acolyte, Young Jedi Adventures is one of the few Star Wars narratives that takes place prior to the prequel trilogies. Being set in the High Republic era means both feature Jedi before the Empire wiped many of them out. They also contain a supporting character that hides their true identity behind a mask, although the antagonist is a Sith in Acolyte, while Taborr is a pirate in Young Jedi. Fans can also spot a friendly Wookie in both, but again, the character is a force-wielder in The Acolyte, while the Wookie in Young Jedi is not.

There are other familiar species in the cartoon who date back to the beginning of Star Wars, such as a Hutt, and a Gamorrean baddie, who is in Taborr’s gang. The Hutt in Young Jedi is only in one chapter, and he is the leader of a crime syndicate, as most of the oversized species tend to be; Jabba the Hutt is the most notorious of Hutts, a famous foe of Han Solo’s in the original trilogy. Jabba also employed big green Gamorreans, as they are a handy henchman for pivotal villains.

One episode follows the kidnapping of a Rodian guitarist from a musical group. Rodians look even more alien than most races with their large dark eyes. Greedo, from the very first Star Wars film, still remains the most note-worthy Rodian, almost 50 years later. Han Solo famously crossed paths with him at a cantina on Tatooine.

There are also creatures that were introduced in the most recent Star Wars films who are represented in the kid-friendly show. One of the Gangul’s members is a diminutive Anzellan, a type of species that was first spotted in The Rise of Skywalker, which is on the opposite end of the timeline as Young Jedi. The preceding film in the sequel trilogy, The Last Jedi, featured a scene centered around fathiers, a horse-like animal. While they are hard to find in Star Wars content, Young Jedi focuses on the graceful beasts in one of its chapters.

In Young Jedi Adventures, the Gangul boss, Sellac, is a red Trandoshan gang leader. Bossk was of similar reptilian kin, only green-skinned, and is among Vader's bounty hunter roster in The Empire Stikes Back. Bossk is also memorable in Star Wars: The Clone Wars for training a young Boba Fett.

With only half of the second season released so far, and with the potential to run for years to come, Young Jedi Adventures may bring even more recognizable races or legacy characters into this specific corner of the Star Wars Universe.