Star Wars Might Finally Explain Its Weirdest Character Resurrection
One incredible character is back. But how?
Before there was Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, there was Asajj Ventress. Way back in the year 2001, one Lucasfilm concept artist, Dermot Power, created an incredible design for a terrifying female Sith warrior for what would become Episode II. She never made it into the film, but thanks to the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars micro-series, and then later, the longer series The Clone Wars, the Sith assassin and former apprentice of Darth Tyrannas became fully integrated into the larger Star Wars canon. And now, after a surprise appearance in The Bad Batch Season 3, Asajj Ventress is back again.
But, because this character supposedly perished in Christine Golden’s canon novel Dark Disciple, Ventress’ appearance in The Bad Batch at that point in the timeline was confusing. And now, with a new animated Star Wars miniseries, it seems that the resurrection of this fan-favorite badass will finally be explained.
Lucasfilm has just announced that a new six-episode miniseries called Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld will hit Disney+ on May 4, 2025. The announcement came along with a brand-new trailer, which confirmed this batch of stories will focus two bounty hunters: Cad Bane and Ventress. Previously, the miniseries Tales of Jedi and Tales of the Empire also alternated between different characters.
In the Tales of the Underworld trailer, we see Asajj Ventress, which, based on her appearance, is somewhat contemporaneous with the events of The Bad Batch. However, as hardcore fans know, the novel Dark Disciple (set just before Revenge of the Sith) depicted Ventress perishing in a Republic attack, after having turned back toward the light side of the Force and getting zapped by Count Dooku’s Force lightning. Basically, when Ventress passes away in the book, Order 66 hasn’t happened yet.
But in Tales of the Underworld, Ventress is alive in the Imperial era, and seemingly has taken on a new apprentice of sorts. We don’t know who that character is, or who Ventress is battling in this trailer, but its a good bet she’s squaring off with an early version of one of the Inquisitors. (We saw Ahsoka fight an unknown Inquisitor in Tales of the Jedi.)
More broadly though, it seems very likely that Tales of the Underworld will have to deliver on a promise from Bad Batch showrunner Brad Rau, who said, in 2024, that, “We don't want to spoil anything, but want fans to know that any new storytelling with Ventress will align with the events of Star Wars: Dark Disciple.”
Skywalker versus Ventress in Clone Wars (2003).
The Bad Batch Season 3 didn’t really do much to explain how and why Ventress survived the events of that book, partly because the most the characters in the series have no idea who she is. This means that The Bad Batch seemed to tease a canon contradiction, one that would only really be noticed by the most hardcore of fans.
And yet, built into the basic existence of Asajj Ventress is the notion of retcon. She was a concept art painting for Attack of the Clones who went unused and replaced by Count Dooku. Then she dueled with Anakin Skywalker on Yavin 4 in the non-canon Clone Wars, and then ended-up on The Clone Wars proper, where most of her contemporary backstory comes from. So, for fans of this character, a bit of canonical jiggery-pokery is nothing new. Perhaps, in terms of the real story of Asajj Ventress, we’re only getting started.
