Disney+ to debut surprise Star Wars series on May the Fourth

Star Wars Day (May the 4th of course) is a great opportunity for those of us who love a certain galaxy far, far away to come together and enjoy everything about the franchise (even Jar Jar Binks, if possible). It looks like Disney is going to make that easier this year. 

Coming to Disney+ on May the 4th is the newly announced Tales of the Empire. This show has appeared out of nowhere with just a month till release on the streaming service. We didn't even get a 'Hello there'. 

The show, which will take the form of a series (six in total) of animated shorts, will give us a closer look at some of the more mysterious villains in the Star Wars universe. Serving as a counter to the 2022 series Tales of the Jedi, I'm immediately more invested, the bad guys of Star Wars have always been the standouts right?

Just as Tales of the Jedi focused on bringing the previous unexplored adventures of Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano to the screen, Empire will also centre around two characters. Morgan Elspeth (from Ahsoka and briefly The Mandalorian) and Barris Offee, a Jedi captured during the Clone Wars and made to undergo training to become an inquisitor - one who hunts down Jedi that survived Order 66. 

There are very few franchises as fleshed out and in-depth as Star Wars where relatively minor characters could be given their own show. Expect plenty of familiar faces to appear including (my favourite) General Grievous and a certain Mr D. Vader. The live-action actors are also set to return with Diana Lee Inosanto voicing Elspeth and Meredith Salenger as Offee and supporting characters also having their original voices.

Of course, if you're after some serious science fiction and can't wait until Star Wars Day, Amazon Prime Video's Fallout series launches next week and looks amazing. Unless you've been stuck in the swamps of Dagobah, then you'll know that a live-action Star Wars series - The Acolyte - is coming this summer.