So it is here, it has finally landed! The season 2 trailer for Star Wars: Resistance! This season promises to be a thrilling ride and to fully introduce us to the workings of The First Order. Read on to see what we spotted!

If you haven’t seen the Star Wars: Resistance trailer yet then you should do so right here before you read on:

The finale

One surprising thing, of which at least I wasn’t to aware: Season 2 is the final season of Star Wars: Resistance. So let us talk about this first! What does it mean? I very much enjoyed the first season and in terms of viewing pleasure I thought the series was off on a good start. But at the same time it was evident that Star Wars: Resistance wasn’t nearly as much the crowd-pleaser as for example Star Wars: Rebels or Star Wars: Clone Wars had been. It should be said that both of those series also needed a full season to find their footing and much of their current legacy and enduring fan-admiration is down to the later seasons of both.

Now of course both Rebels as well as Clone Wars could draw on well known characters from the Prequel Trilogy and the Original Trilogy. Resistance was in many ways a tougher sell as although it featured Poe Dameron quite frequently, and though its story-line intertwined beautifully with that of The Force Awakens, it did have less of a direct connection with the wider Star Wars universe. But then again, so did Rebels and, to a lesser extent, Clone Wars in their seasons 1.

In a way I think Star Wars: Resistance was not the series that many fans had been waiting for. Yet, instead of bitching about it online for a year those who didn’t care about the series simply ignored it. I was one of those who truly enjoyed it, especially after the characters had grown on me in the first few episodes. So I will be sad to see it go at the end of this season. But that is the way things are.

Busy Filoni

Another reason for its short run might very well be the fact that as soon as The Rise of Skywalker will have been released, about midway through season 2 of Resistance, the series in a sense loses its natural anchoring point. The main characters of the Sequel Trilogy, in particular Rey and Kylo Ren, haven’t found their way into Resistance yet and perhaps it is indeed more satisfying to round off Kazuda’s story rather than to shoe-horn the Sequel Trilogy characters further into it.

Finally, with The Mandalorian being on the list as well for a release soon, as well as the final season of The Clone Wars it could also be the case the Dave Filoni is simply going to be very busy. I would not be surprised if this foreshadows his departure from the animation side of Star Wars and move into live-action material whilst a new figure-head for animation will get a clean slate and a new series to start with.

The trailer for Season 2

The trailer for Season 2 however does not disappoint in any way! It looks gorgeous and the animation has made a quantum leap forward compared to Season 1. Although they remained true to the style of season 1 the rendering and particularly the colour-pallet and -intensity seems several notches over what was available in season 1.

The trailer also teased several extensive space battles, new planets to explore and large scale sets of action-packed adventure. So although we can be a little sad this is the last season, we are definitely not getting a cheap, low-budget and hurried finish. The imagery is crisp, the action comes across as urgent and well-executed and the overall story-line showing us the ascent of The First Order in the period between The Force Awakens‘ ending and The Rise of Skywalker‘s beginning looks very promising.

I really enjoyed how the second half of season 1 started filling in all kinds of detail that the Sequel Trilogy, especially The Force Awakens, had omitted. Seeing the destruction of Hosnian Prime in the season finale of Resistance was extremely rewarding and in many ways altered my perception of The Force Awakens for the better. I am really looking forward to seeing Resistance continue along this line and do some of the world-building that the Sequel Trilogy has lacked a little so far.

Mysteries of the Force

The Force and Jedi or Sith did not have a part in Resistance in season 1. This was refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the action adventure of the characters without force powers. Yet at the same time, given the timeframe in which this series plays out, with a view towards the conclusion of the Skywalker saga, this was always something that needed addressing at some point.

For Resistance, season 2 seems to be that point. The trailer clearly teases a number of different story arcs that revolve around myth, mystery and the Force. Although some of the sets here and there bear a strong similarity to Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge Star Wars Land, there are also new worlds there inhabited by force-sensitive or at least mystical creatures. Some of the frames depict something that strongly looks like a Sith temple and conjure up memories of the Malachor temple of Rebels Season 2’s epic finale Twilight of the Apprentice.

Looking forward

I am looking forward to the new season. The trailer looks exciting and no doubt hides many more Easter eggs and hints at what is to come. Two seasons is a short time to have been amongst us fans. But if one reason is that Kazuda’s story simply is drawing to a close, while on the other hand Resistance needs to make way for more and new Star Wars content … then so be it. If you haven’t seen season 1 yet, I recommend binging it over the summer so that when this final season starts on October 6th 2019 you will be ready to enjoy this short-lived but thoroughly enjoyable entry into the Star Wars history.

Finally, at the end of the trailer it reveals that we will be seeing Kylo in season 2. That will be interesting for many reasons, but amongst them that this is truly a busy and central antagonist of the Sequel Trilogy. Hence his appearances will have direct impact with a view towards the completion of the Skywalker Saga. I will not be surprised in the first half of season 2 will actually lead up to the events of The Rise of Skywalker while the second half explores some of the consequences of the conclusion of that saga.