Star Wars Forces of Destiny is a canon animated micro-series. This series unfolds across all time periods within the Star Wars saga. The show, which includes sixteen episodes, initially premiered online via the Disney YouTube channel on July 3, 2017. Following the debut of the first eight episodes, it then began broadcasting on television on July 9, 2017. A toy line and a collection of related books complement the series. Furthermore, a 5-issue weekly comic book miniseries was put out by IDW Publishing in January, 2018.
Ben Sherwood, the president of Disney Television, mentioned in September 2016 that he was collaborating with Lucasfilm on a fresh animated series. Concurrent with the launch of the third season of Star Wars Rebels, it was revealed that Dave Filoni had relinquished his role as Supervising Director to concentrate on "future animation development." Around this time, Jennifer Muro announced on her Twitter that she was contributing to a new Lucasfilm endeavor.
The existence of the project was initially disclosed in an Entertainment Weekly article released on April 13, 2017. The article unveiled the series' title, the cast and crew involved, and the plan to release the initial eight episodes on Disney's YouTube channel. It also stated that an additional eight episodes would be broadcast on Disney Channel in the fall. The subsequent day, at Celebration Orlando during the "Heroines of Star Wars" panel, the episode "BB-8 Bandits," which ultimately became the second episode available online, was shown for the first time.
The initial eight shorts were made available on YouTube daily from July 3 to July 9, as announced on June 27, 2017. On July 9, they were then also broadcast on Disney Channel. Eight more episodes were released in October. A line of Hasbro toys, along with a series of comics and books intended for young readers, accompanied the show's release.
During the Forces of Destiny panel at HasCon on September 9, it was revealed that further shorts were planned for release during 2018. On March 16, 2018, it was announced that eight more episodes would premiere on March 19 on Disney's YouTube channel, and seven additional episodes were released on May 4.
As of November 12, 2019, the series can be streamed on the Disney+ service.
The episodes that comprise Volume 1 were initially distributed on home video as a DVD. This disc was bundled with other Star Wars releases, exclusively at Walmart, during Christmas 2017. "Ewok Escape" was featured among the "sneak peeks" on the Coco Blu-ray.
- STAR WARS FORCES OF DESTINY on Lucasfilm.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: Forces of Destiny on Disney.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: Forces of Destiny YouTube playlist
- Star Wars Forces of Destiny at the Internet Movie Database
- The Origins and Ideals of 'Star Wars: Forces of Destiny' by Graeme McMillan on www.hollywoodreporter.com ( August 21 , 2017 ) (archived from the original on November 16, 2017)
- Star Wars Forces of Destiny on Wikipedia