Following in the footsteps of Tales of the Jedi and Tales of the Empire, Tales of the Underworld is the third animated anthology series to focus on two Star Wars characters. Tales of the Jedi jumped between Ahsoka and Count Dooku, then Tales of the Empire was divided into halves about Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee. Tales of the Underworld features two fan favorite villains – Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane.
While Tales of the Jedi laid out each chapter in chronological order and broke up Ahsoka’s segments to accommodate the timeline, Tales of the Empire kept Elsbeth and Offee’s narrative as a continuous collection, despite the former’s individual pieces spanning various stages throughout Star Wars history. Tales of the Underworld carries on with the concept of offering each character’s short story as an uninterrupted three episode run, but opted to showcase Ventress’s part first, even though it falls after Bane’s tale in sequence.
Both batches, served in three portions each, are relatively close together, instead of being widely spread across the galaxy. Cad Bane’s sections are split up with years passing, however that entire saga follows his younger years, while all other Cad Bane appearances in Star Wars comes later. And Ventress’ section does start with an important preamble, which kicks off her arc before setting the bulk of her chronicle in a singular time period.
“A Way Forward” depicts Quinlan Vos bringing Assaj Ventress to Dathomir to resurrect her. This opening occurs toward the end of the Clone Wars, while the remainder of her segment then jumps a few years later. Ventress did attend a Season 3 chapter of The Bad Batch, an animated series that takes place shortly after Revenge of the Sith. Save for the prologue in “A Way Forward”, Ventress’ three-episode arc likely falls after The Bad Batch, somewhere in the proximity of the Solo movie.
Since Cad Bane’s trio of episodes pre-date the height of his criminal enterprise, it clearly arrives before the Clone Wars. Viewers can spot a few characters that appear to be wearing headgear similar to what members of the Trade Federation wore during The Phantom Menace, which would place the Tales of the Underworld finale somewhere near The Phantom Menace.
The Acolyte is one of a few Star Wars media that precedes this early Cad Bane time period. The only other show that lands in between The Acolyte and The Phantom Menace are scattered chapters of Tales of the Jedi. The historical accounts of baby Ahsoka and young Count Dooku can be interweaved between some of the gaps of Bane’s individual chapters.
Currently, this is how the Star Wars chronology roughly lines up:
- The Acolyte
- Tales of the Jedi - Life and Death and Justice
- Tales of the Underworld - The Good Life
- Tales of the Jedi -Choices
- Tales of the Underworld - A Good Turn and One Good Deed
- The Phantom Menace
- Tales of the Jedi - The Sith Lord
- Attack of the Clones
- The Clone Wars - Seasons 1-4
- Tales of the Empire - The Path of Fear
- The Clone Wars - Seasons 5-7
- Tales of the Jedi - Practice Makes Perfect
- Revenge of the Sith
- Tales of the Empire - Devoted
- Tales of the Jedi - Resolve
- The Bad Batch
- Tales of the Underworld - A Way Forward, Friends, and One Warrior to Another
- Tales of the Empire - Realization
- Solo
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Tales of the Empire - The Way Out
- Andor - Season 1
- Rebels - Seasons 1-2
- Tales of the Empire - The Path of Anger
- Rebels - Seasons 3-4
- Andor - Season 2
- Rogue One
- A New Hope
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Return of the Jedi
- Skeleton Crew
- The Mandalorian - Season 1
- Tales of the Empire - The Path of Hate
- The Mandalorian - Season 2
- The Book of Boba Fett
- The Mandalorian - Season 3
- Ahsoka
- Resistance - Season 1
- The Force Awakens
- The Last Jedi
- Resistance - Season 2
- The Rise of Skywalker
An appealing aspect about Tales of the Underworld is how it portrays the early part of Cad Bane’s life and a later period for Asajj Ventress. Star Wars fans have already been captivated with all the twists and turns in Ventress’ history, from her time as a Sith, exploring her Nightsister roots, and eventually transitioning into a Jedi ally. If Tales of the Underworld doesn’t necessarily fill in some of her continuity crevices, it could serve as a nice way to cap off her narrative.
Cad Bane was formerly presented as a formidable bounty hunter throughout The Clone Wars and into The Bad Batch, eventually serving as a paid mercenary in The Book of Boba Fett. Just like in Tales of the Underworld, Cad Bane has a run-in with a Marshall in his only live-action depiction. The western genre influence on Star Wars is on full display through Cad Bane’s duels in The Book of Boba Fett and now in Tales of the Underworld.