Series Review: Star Wars — Tales of the Underworld (2025)

At the time I am writing this, there are only three Star Wars Tales installments: Jedi, Empire, and Underworld. Like all installments, Tales of the Underworld focuses on two characters — the former Sith Assassin Asajj Ventress, and the fearsome bounty hunter Cad Bane. These stories take place at varying points in the Star Wars Franchise, but the overall order places this installment after Revenge of the Sith. If you’ve read my other reviews, you know the drill. I will leave a brief plot summary of the series, followed by my thoughts. If you haven’t read my other reviews, I would recommend doing so before starting this one. Be Warned: Spoilers lay ahead.

Official Promotional Image for “Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld.” — via ebay.com

SUMMARY

To preface the beginning of this series, you will need to have read the 2015 novel Dark Disciple, written by Christie Golden. The novel, which takes place during the Clone War, follows the bounty hunter Asajj Ventress and the Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, who appeared in the episode of The Clone Wars entitled The Hunt for Ziro. The two team up to assassinate Count Dooku, and it ends with Asajj Ventress’ death at the hands of her former master. It is directly after this that this series begins. Quinlan Vos, accompanied by Obi-Wan Kenobi, takes Ventress’ body to a wellspring on the planet Dathomir, where she was raised by the Nightsister witch coven. Vos, who had fallen in love with Ventress, laments as he drops her body in the wellspring. The wellspring, which contains a plethora of magical power, brings Ventress back to life, and Mother Talzin, who was killed by General Grievous during the war, tells Ventress (Nika Futterman) she can return to life due to her love for Quinlan. If she accepts, however, she will never be able to take him as her love. Feeling that her journey is not yet complete, Ventress returns to the land of the living and resumes living her life trying to stay hidden.

During the reign of the Empire, Ventress works as a bouncer on a public transit system, when she encounters a young Padawan (Lane Factor) searching for a network called “The Path,”. The Padawan is trailed by Imperial stormtroopers. Ventress protects the child and escapes with him. Before they can board a ship off world, they are confronted by one of Darth Vader’s inquistors. Ventress and the Inquisitor (Daniel Ross) engage in a brief duel, and Ventress emerges victorious. She and the child — Lyco Stratta — escape.

The second episode sees Ventress and Lyco teaming up with one of her old associates from her days as a bounty hunter, Latts Razzi (Clare Grant). Latts recruits the two to help steal a shield generator unit from an Imperial shipyard on Corellia, where many of the new Imperial ships are being built. After the heist fails, Razzi realizes there is a bounty out for Lyco, and she attempts to apprehend him. Ventress, eager to protect the child and get him to the Path, overpowers Razzi and demands she give her the coordinates to the Path.

The third episode follows Ventress and Lyco to a desert planet. There, they encounter an ex-Separatist military official (Tony Amendola) who now lives a humble life on this planet, and his granddaughter (Ellie Araiza). The grandfather requests that Ventress and Lyco collect his daily ration of water from the nearby spring. During their collection journey, Ventress, Lyko, and the daughter are confronted by the planet’s natives. A fight ensues over the water, which the natives swear belongs to them. The grandfather attempts to get the water using brute force, but Ventress is able to talk them down and work out a deal between the two factions. In exchange, the grandfather gives them coordinates to The Path. Ventress and Lyco follow these coordinates to a ship docked in a nearby canyon. Ventress refuses to go with Lyco, and she makes her way back to the desert. Soon after, Lyko reappears, having never left with the rest of the Path. The two share some playful banter as they ride off into the desert together, and Ventress’ arc in the series ends here.

The fourth episode takes us to a time before the Clone War, where two young orphans on the planet Duro named Colby (A.J. LoCascio) and Niro (Eric Lopez) are walking the streets picking through garbage cans looking for food. The two meet a bounty hunter named Lazlo (Philip Anthony-Rodriguez), who gives them money to go buy something they’ll actually like eating. After the boys enjoy a lavish meal, Lazlo offers them more money if they promise to do a job for him. Niro is not to keen on doing the task, but he goes with Colby, who quickly accepts. The two cause a distraction while Lazlo and his gang rob a business. Colby is taken by the gang to live his life with them, but Niro is arrested by the police.

The fifth episode follows an adult Colby, who has taken on the name Cad Bane (voiced once again by Corey Burton). After Lazlo is killed by the Marshal on Duro, Bane and his partner/lover, Arin (Dawn Lyen-Gardner), go to back to Duro to seek revenge. He finds Niro (now voiced by Artt Butler) working as a police officer, and he warns Niro to stay out of the way while he duels with the Marshal. Niro is present at the duel despite Bane’s instructions, and Arin is injured in the crossfire between Bane and the Marshal. Bane kills the Marshal, but Arin disarms him so the police can arrest him rather than kill him.

Some years after Bane’s arrest, he is released on a technicality. When he goes back to Duro to find Niro, it is revealed that Niro is now the marshal, and that he fathered a child with Arin while Bane was in prison. When Bane is told of this, he aims to kill his old friend. The two meet, and Niro tells him that he had no child with Arin, as she died some years ago. He wants to tell Bane the truth, but Bane will not accept it. The child, Isaac (Idris Keith), rushes to his father’s aid before Niro is quickly killed by Bane in a duel. Staring down at Niro’s dead body, Bane realizes that the child Niro had been taking care of was his own. The mayor steps in to protect Isaac and tells Bane to stay away from him. Bane, filled with shame, turns and leaves his son behind to continue his life as a bounty hunter.

**REVIEW

*I am going to kick this off with something I said in my last review, as well as my review for Tales of the Jedi. This is a huge pain for chronological watchers who want to view everything in order. It wasn’t as bad as Tales of the Empire, *which spoiled the defeat of the Empire and the establishment of the New Republic, but still, it’s hard to determine where exactly in the story these things take place.

I was also a little annoyed that our story began with something we had to read an entire book for. I am not against reading in the slightest. In fact, it is one of my favorite pastimes. However, I don’t see the use of putting lore from a novel to the screen when the novel itself was not adapted for television or film. I intend to read Dark Disciple someday, but my thoughts on that will stand until that book gets a movie or series of its own.

I am also not a fan of the fact that this show brought back Ventress. At this point, I believe Dave Filoni refuses to let characters die, especially ones that he creates or takes ownership of. Technically, Asajj Ventress was designed to be one of the antagonists for Attack of the Clones before she was replaced by the character of Count Dooku, but Filoni revived the character and basically turned her into an original creation as he developed her across the The Clone Wars film and series. Her character in the series was nothing short of great, but she did not need to be present after supposedly dying at the hands of Count Dooku. In my opinion, a character only becomes less meaningful the more we expose them to the audience, and Ventress is a character who had a a lot of exposure during The Clone Wars. However, I liked the decision to slowly turn her into a good person over the course of that exposure. Her relationship with Lyco was hilarious, as it was abundantly clear she had no interest in him at the beginning, but it became extremely heartfelt at the end whenever she thought he was gone and she ended up missing him. It is a stark contrast to who she was as a character all the way back in 2008.

Although Ventress’ arc had some good moments, Cad Bane’s arc is really what sold me on this series. At first I said to myself. “Oh great, this is probably going to be more retired dreck from Filoni coming back to the forefront.” And while it indeed was that, it was a huge departure from everything we’ve seen in Star Wars thus far. In a story dedicated to showcasing a large-scale conflict between the two most powerful factions in that universe (The separatists and the Republic), Bane’s arc was an incredibly emotional ballad, reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti western films. I remember almost shedding a tear when I learned that Isaac was Bane’s son, and I actually found myself respecting the character as he walked away from Isaac as to not cause him anymore pain. Bane’s arc was one of the most interesting I’ve seen in this entire franchise, and a part of me hopes Filoni creates a story around a grown-up Isaac who seeks to track down his father.

Overall, I would give Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld a 6/10. Although Filoni cannot seem to let characters stay dead, what he does with them still manages to amaze me, and I would recommend this series to anyone wanting to get into Star Wars. It’s far from amazing, but it is a somewhat rewarding watch.

At the time I am writing this, I have just started season 2 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Another Dave Filoni project taking place after Revenge of the Sith. I still intend to write reviews for each project in the Star Wars film and television timeline, but for now, I will be taking a break to focus on watching these series and getting some good notes. I am still an avid film and book enjoyer, and I am an even more obsessive writer, so don’t be surprised if you see me post some reviews on things I’ve been enjoying outside of my Star Wars journey.