Disney will launch a new series, ‘Star Wars: Resistance,’ later this year

Disney clearly knows what it’s doing when it comes to making announcements: Waiting until the hype builds for Star Wars Day — not to mention the forthcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story — and reveals a new animated series set in the Star Wars universe. Smart move, Disney.

Star Wars: Resistance will premiere on the Disney Channel this fall, then air regularly on Disney XD — presumably to fill the void left by the recently concluded Star Wars Rebels, which aired on Disney XD for four seasons. According to Disney, the “anime-inspired” show will be set before the events of 2015’s Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, focusing on a young Resistance pilot/spy named Kazuda Xiono, who is tasked to keep tabs on the progress of the villainous First Order.

The series’ voice cast features a lengthy list of recognizable names, including Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live), Donald Faison (Scrubs), Jim Rash (Community), and more. Disney promises cameo appearances from main-series characters like Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), and it looks like popular droid BB-8 will factor in as a major character.

The series was created by Lucasfilm Animation’s Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels), who ideated the plot with inspiration from the story of his own grandfather, who was a World War II fighter pilot and a plane mechanic. “That [was] a big influence on me,” he told Disney. “There’s a long history of high-speed racing in Star Wars, and I think we’ve captured that sense of excitement in an anime-inspired style, which is something the entire team has been wanting to do for a long time.” Every executive producer on the series (save one) and the art director worked on both Clone Wars and Rebels, so if you enjoyed those series, chances are good that Resistance will be right up your alley.

Resistance isn’t the only Star Wars series on the way, either. In March, Disney and Lucasfilm revealed a live-action show in the works from Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book), who provided voice work for Clone Wars and directed the first two Iron Man films. That series will be headed directly for Disney’s streaming video platform, which is expected to launch in 2019.