Star Wars: Forces of Destiny

"Star Wars: Forces of Destiny is for anyone who has been inspired by Leia's heroism, Rey's courage, or Ahsoka's tenacity....We're thrilled that so many of the original actors are reprising their roles in these shorts which capture the small moments and everyday decisions that shape who these characters are. It is a fun new way for people to experience Star Wars."

- Kathleen Kennedy

Star Wars: Forces of Destiny is a canon animated micro-series that takes place around all eras of the Star Wars universe. Consisting of sixteen episodes, it began airing online on the Disney YouTube channel on July 3, 2017, and aired on television on July 9, 2017, after the release of the first eight episodes. It is accompanied by its own toy line and a series of tie-in books. A 5-issue weekly comic book miniseries will begin being released in January, 2018 by IDW Publishing.

Development
With the debut of the third season of Star Wars Rebels, it was announced that Dave Filoni had stepped down as Supervising Director, in favor of working on "future animation development." Around this time, Jennifer Muro announced on her Twitter page that she was writing for a new Lucasfilm project.

The project was first announced in an Entertainment Weekly article on April 13, 2017. It revealed the name of the series, the cast and crew, and that the first eight episodes would be released on Disney's YouTube channel and another eight episodes would air on Disney Channel during the fall. The next day at Celebration Orlando (during the "Heroines of Star Wars" panel) the episode "BB-8 Bandits," which ended up being the second episode released online, was premiered.

Release
As announced on June 27, 2017, the first eight shorts were released on YouTube one a day from July 3 to July 9, when they were released on Disney Channel. In October, eight more episodes were released.

On September 9 during the Forces of Destiny panel on HasCon it was announced that more shorts were planned to be released during 2018.

In order to suit the new Disney Identity Narrative, more than 80% of the episodes represent strong female leads.