The Ninth Jedi, Episode 1: A New Threat
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SSW266: A new threat is rising, and a fledgling Jedi Order has to decide whether to fight or hide. Patrick Mason, Kathryn Laffrey, and Jeff Haecker open a new series covering “The Ninth Jedi, Episode 1: A New Threat,” the third installment in the Ninth Jedi corner of the Star Wars: Visions universe, following Kara, Homan, and the Margrave Juro as they try to rebuild a Jedi Order against the forces of the mysterious Nawam.
The panel is split on the visuals: the hand-drawn lightsaber duel between Kara and the one-eyed hunter Geno is singled out as the best sequence of the episode, but Kathryn flags a jarring redesign of Kara’s eyes, and the group agrees the mix of hand-drawn and CG animation during the droid-army city assault pulls them out of the story. They dig into whether Nawam — who never claims the title of Sith and wields a blue lightsaber — is actually a Jedi gone wrong, drawing comparisons to the morally ambiguous “stranger” from The Acolyte and tracing how Sith philosophy has varied across canon and Legends, from Plagueis’s subtlety to Palpatine’s raw hunger for control.
A detour into whether a Jedi could ethically hold public office turns into a real-world tangent on Catholic priests being barred from elected office, before the panel returns to praise “Gramps,” the droid’s surly, unhurried pilot who draws immediate comparisons to Robots (2005).
The episode closes with the panel’s reaction to the newly released Ahsoka Season 2 teaser: Grand Admiral Thrawn shown commanding a full fleet for the first time, Rory McCann stepping into the role of Baylan Skoll following the death of Ray Stevenson, Hayden Christensen Clone Wars flashbacks, and speculation about Nightsister lore and Abeloth ahead of the January 20, 2027 premiere.
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