The Last ‘The Clone Wars’ Hit Disney+ and Your Older Kids Are Gonna Love It

Unlike some aspects of Star Wars, the animated series The Clone Wars has really grown up since its inception in 2008. Part of this is because its main character — the Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano — a bratty tween in Season 1, and now, by the final episode, she’s literally a young person, taking her first real steps toward adulthood. It’s a great journey to watch, and even if you’re just catching the tail end of this epic series, the last four episodes that comprise The Clone Wars finale are super-satisfying. Little kids will be weirded-out, but older kids are gonna love it.

The various animated adventures in a galaxy far, far away can be very confusing. If you’ve got an older kid — in the 8 to 15 range — and they’re really into Star Wars, it’s tempting to start watching the two most prominent Star Wars cartoons on Disney+; The Clone Wars and Rebels from the very beginning. But, that’s a lot of animated Star Wars stuff to deal with, and if you’re worried about getting trapped in all the muck, like Luke in the trash compactor on the Death Star, there’s an easy solution. You can just start watching The Clone Wars finale right now.

As of now, Disney+ has aired all four parts in the series finale of The Clone Wars; and they’re streaming on Disney+. Since 2008, The Clone Wars has been running on various different networks. The entire show is set during the three years in-between the prequel movies Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Basically, it’s the biggest war in Star Wars, and it’s explained in great detail, in a variety of those episodes. Most famously, The Clone Wars introduced Anakin Skywalker’s hitherto unknown secret apprentice, the heroic Ahsoka Tano, a brave young female Jedi, who is effortlessly an analog for the kiddos who watch the show, but also, becomes a knowledgeable and trusted adult in the sequel series Rebels. (There’s also talk of a forty-something Ahsoka appearing in the flesh in season 2 of The Mandalorian, played by Rosario Dawson.)

The point is, The Clone Wars is Ahsoka’s show, and perhaps more than any Star Wars character (including Rey and Luke!) the target audience for Star Wars can see themselves more clearly in Ahsoka. She’s loyal to the Jedi, but the Jedi disappoint her. She respects and loves her teacher, but as we all know, Anakin is headed to the Dark Side of the Force. If you watch even a little bit of The Clone Wars, your own younglings can literally grow-up with Ahsoka. Her journey isn’t as clear-cut as Luke or Rey’s, but it’s a little more layered and much smarter than you might think.

But, let’s say you want to skip the literally 100+ episodes that have already aired and just jump into the good stuff. Here’s what you do.

On Disney+, you’ve probably seen very prominent ads for The Clone Wars: The Final Season. That’s season 7 of The Clone Wars. The four-part finale will be episodes 9, 10, 11, and 12. Soo, if you want to jump right into The Clone Wars finale (with or without your kids) here’s how you do it.

• Find The Clone Wars on Disney+. (Easy.)
• Go to season 7. (The final season.)
• Start watching at episode 9, which is called “Old Friends Not Forgotten,” then continue with episode 10, “The Phantom Apprentice,” episode 11 “Shattered,” and episode 12, “Victory and Death.” (Yeah the last episode is a little heavy, but it’s not near as rough as Revenge of the Sith.)

After that, you’re good to go. This finale brings the series up-to-date with the events of Revenge of the Sith. But, as you’ll see in the final moments, it’s slightly more poignant than that.

If you have warm feelings about the dodgy, but wonderfully melodramatic Revenge of the Sith, you’ll love The Clone Wars finale. And if your kids are trying to figure out who their new favorite Star Wars character is, Ahsoka Tano is a pretty good bet.

You can watch The Clone Wars on Disney+ right here.