Not that long ago, Frank Underwood from “House of Cards” could boast that he was the most diabolical villain to appear on Netflix. But now he’s facing some stiff competition from the Sith Lords of “Star Wars.” On Thursday, Netflix said that it had struck a deal with Lucasfilm and the Disney/ABC Television Group (as well as the Galactic Republic) to show the sixth and final season of the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” on its streaming video service.
Previous seasons of this Emmy Award-winning series, which chronicles young Anakin Skywalker, before he becomes the evil Darth Vader, and his Jedi apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, had been shown on Cartoon Network. That left “The Clone Wars” in a Hoth-like freeze when Lucasfilm was bought by Disney, a corporate rival to Time Warner, which operates Cartoon Network.
Netflix said in a news release that the new 13-epsiode season of “The Clone Wars,” would be released on March 7 and would chronicle “a rift in the Force caused by Ahsoka Tano’s departure from the Jedi Order and the growing menace of various Sith Lords and apprentices,” all with “the future of an entire galaxy hanging in the balance.”
Netflix will also begin streaming the five previous seasons of “The Clone Wars,” as well as the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated feature film that began this franchise. This is the first official “Star Wars” content to appear on Netflix’s streaming service. The company is also preparing original content for 2015 featuring superheroes and villains from Marvel Studios, another part of the Disney empire.