The original post: /r/television by /u/whitepangolin on 2026-05-29 00:57:09+00:00.

Lifelong Star Wars fan here - never got into the Clone Wars show, have tried time and time again but have neither the nostalgia or the patience to sit through it. From what I’ve seen, it’s not bad but it’s simply not for me and too long.

However, recently I have been feeling mostly confused and unable to follow pretty much all new Star Wars media with the exception of like, Andor. Everything has felt like a callback or tieback to Clone Wars. Characters show up and it’s a big deal and I’m left looking at the screen completely clueless. No idea who Cad Bane is or why the entire Boba Fett show led up to him. No idea who Ezra is and why Ahsoka Tano has this big important line about him in the Mandalorian series. Everyone is excited about this purple cat guy in the Mandalorian film. I thought these were just like follow-ups to the movies? Guess not.

Since it seems to be getting worse, I decided to do some statistics and found that 65% of all new Star Wars media is some kind of follow-up to Clone Wars. Material that requires absolutely no viewing of that show is now the minority.

Here’s every project post-The Rise of Skywalker:

  1. The Mandalorian (2020–23) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  2. The Bad Batch (2021) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  3. Star Wars: Visions (2021–25) — no
  4. The Book of Boba Fett (2021) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  5. Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) — no
  6. Andor (2022–25) — no
  7. Tales of the Jedi (2022) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  8. Ahsoka (2023) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  9. Tales of the Empire (2024) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  10. The Acolyte (2024) — no
  11. Skeleton Crew (2024) — no
  12. Tales of the Underworld (2025) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  13. The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026) — follow-up to Clone Wars
  14. Maul: Shadow Lord (2026) — follow-up to Clone Wars

Only 5 out of 14 Star Wars projects of the last 6 years has no call back or tie-in to Clone Wars.

Does anyone else find this odd? It’d be as if every Marvel MCU project depended on watching Agents of Shield back in 2009.

EDIT: I am once again asking you die-hard Clone Wars fans to wonder why the Mandalorian and Grogu is bombing in theaters and think that maybe leaning on a show from 2008 is going to scare off casual viewers.