What do you do when your show gets an order for a shorter season of episodes? It requires all kinds of planning to stick to your vision of an overarching narrative or other priorities while still operating within the restrictions placed on you. Today I’m going to talk about Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures season 3, which came out December 8, 2025, and see how the show went out for its final season. Let’s begin.
Let’s go over what the show is about. Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is a preschool show based on the Star Wars franchise produced by Wild Canary Animation and Lucasfilm that came out on Disney Junior and Disney Plus on May 4, 2023. The series is developed by Michael Olson (Puppy Dog Pals), Shellie Kvilvang-O’Brien, (The Powerpuff Girls, Puppy Dog Pals), Lamont Magee (Black Lightning), and Lucasfilm executives James Waugh and Josh Rimes. The series follows a trio of Jedi younglings from Tenoo named Kai Brightstar (voiced by Jamaal Avery Jr, Jecobi Swain, and J’asiah Young), Lys Solay (voiced by Juliet Donenfeld), and Nubs (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) as well as their mechanic friend Nash Durango (voiced by Emma Berman). The young heroes go on all sorts of missions to help others and learn lessons as they aspire to be Padawans. Of course, they still take down antagonists, such as the young pirate prince/friend Taborr Van Dorr/Cyrus Vuundir (voiced by Trey Murphy). They train under the tutelage of Master Zia (voiced by Nasim Pedrad) and Master Yoda (voiced in this series by Piotr Michael rather than Frank Oz or Tom Kane).
What are my thoughts on the show overall? I’d say it’s generally positive. I think the show is good, but it has issues. Season 1 laid the groundwork for a show that had a good mix of lighthearted stories with nice lessons and occasionally mature moments thanks to how well the characters are written. I don’t have any complaints. Season 2 does keep this up, and even surpasses it at points, but also does have some issues. The issues would be certain characters not being used as often, writing that has elements of wasted potential, and breather episodes that feel like they’re going through the motions (as opposed to regular breather episodes which maintain the identity of what makes the show good). That leaves us with season 3, which is very interesting. While season 1 has the standard 25 episodes of a typical Disney Junior show, and season 2 has a slightly shorter order of 23 episodes, season 3 has a much shorter order of just 7 episodes. That’s insane. For comparison’s sake, Firebuds season 3 has 12 episodes and Fancy Nancy season 3 has 13 episodes. One can theorize what caused this shorter episode count, but that’s discussion for another time. For now, let’s talk about season 3. I’ll be going one by one to see how each episode turns out. To give you my general thoughts upfront, it’s still a good season, but it’s also the weakest season. It has the feeling of the writing starting out like a regular season, with the huge episode count coming in much later. A major sign of this is how a number of major supporting characters from the first 2 seasons either don’t appear, or only make silent cameos. I’ll explain at the end. Let’s begin.
1. Season 3 starts out with the episode “The New Droid Friends/Batuu Bonanza”.
I’ll be blunt. It’s my least favorite season premiere. It’s not bad or anything. It works well enough since I enjoyed both segments, but it feels lacking. “The New Droid Friends” involves our Jedi trio trying to get back a stolen vocabulator for their droid friend Dotti (voiced by April Winchell) for her droid friend JN-47. As it turns out, it’s because of a young inventor named Rek Minuu (voiced by Mason Wertheimer) forcing droids named Beepers, Dozer, and Gigi (with Dozer voiced by Lucien Dodge) to steal for him even though they don’t want to. “Batuu Bonanza” involves the Jedi and the droids visiting Batuu as they try getting a package back for Master Carver Drow (voiced by Keston John).
Let’s start with “The New Droid Friends”. My main issue with it is that it tries doing too much without properly establishing the focus characters. It does want to focus on these new droid characters, who are fun, but it also takes a bit too much time to really put the focus on them given how the episode also has to introduce Dotti as well as the new character Rek. Dotti is a fine character, but she doesn’t really feel distinct enough from other adult mentors in the show, being generally supportive, but not much else. I mean, when you look at “The Young Jedi”, the first segment of the first episode, it also has a lot to establish, mainly setting up the kids, their masters, some of the general world, and a villain, but it also very clearly knows how to keep the focus on Kai as he learns to work with others. The droids don’t really get this as they mainly rely on the Jedi for help without showing much of their own contribution.
Dotti is fine, but pales to Master Zia in her first scene as she’s introduced when she talks to Yoda about her students. The slightly sly, but otherwise warm voice she has when she immediately sees that Kai isn’t here helps show how she’s motherly towards the kids, but also knows about them that she doesn’t take much issue with this. “Heroes And Hotshots”, the first segment of the season 2 premiere, likewise does quite a lot, such as showing how far the kids have come, and establishing the Ganguls as the new big threat, but keeps the focus on integrating the padawan Wes Vinnik (voiced by Gunnar Sizemore) into the recurring cast. I will at least say that Rek is a highlight of the episode. He’s basically an inventor who’s all about “upgrading” his droids to make them better so they can steal for him. His smug and narcissistic personality makes him pretty fun to watch. There’s some fun action to be had, as per usual with the franchise, and a nice ending where the droids befriend the jedi. It’s still decent.
When it comes to “Batuu Bonanza”, I have less to say about it compared to the premiere. It’s basically just a fun chase episode with some decent comedy and fun action. The highlight would definitely be the climax that involves chasing the runaway package to the dump. I don’t rate this as fondly since it’s just meant to be a fun, simple episode, but doesn’t say much about the characters like in other episodes. It’s basically just one of the shorts, but given a longer runtime.
2. Our second episode is “Music Mayhem/The Night Lights of Tenoo”.
The first segment involves the return of Nash’s favorite band The Ku-Bops, who are performing on Andraven. However, things go wrong when the robot DJ Kit is tricked by Rek into following him. The latter involves our Jedi trio going on a camping trip in the Tenoo forest with one of their Padawan friends, Celesta Kami (voiced by Julia Rehwald), in order to see the night lights shooting stars. However, she’s a bit too gung ho in getting a picture of them, especially when some meeka creatures take her camera. Both of these segments were pretty solid.
If I could describe “Music Mayhem”, it would basically be a better version of “Chop Shop Calamity”. The latter episode involved Wes’ droid ROMI wanting to be seen as more useful for her friends when taking down an antagonist. While that episode wasn’t bad, I felt the problem was that ROMI kind of felt dragged into this situation. It didn’t feel like a story tailor made for her since she came across more overly naive rather than overly enthusiastic. The situation in “Music Mayhem” is of a similar idea done better due to showing a bit more of Kit thinking he’s not good to be in the band. Plus, since he’s never met Rek before, the more naive behavior feels better integrated. We also get some nice moments showing how the Ku-Bops do care for him, which is nice.
When describing my feelings towards “Night Lights Of Tenoo”, I feel that it’s a good showcase of Celesta’s character. Padawans in the show are generally depicted as older sibling-like mentors to the young Jedi, and that’s true of Celesta, who first debuted in the episode “The Tale Of The Short Spire”. She was established there to have a strong desire to protect nature, and thus would naturally bond with Lys. This episode leans into a more impulsive and stubborn side of her that’s unexpected, yet also fitting. I think what makes it work for me is the highlighting of her desire to preserve the memory of important events like this for others to enjoy. It’s just that she’s so focused on getting the perfect shot that she keeps wanting to move camp whenever the creatures come by, and sees them as an inconvenience.=
I do like how the roles are reversed, and we focus more on Lys trying to reassure her that just being able to see the lights is fine. Since she’s generally the most level headed member of the team, it’s fitting. At least this episode ends on a nice note with everyone seeing the stars, and Celesta bonding with the creatures. The only complaint I have is that this is the closest to a Lys focused episode this season since she otherwise doesn’t have one. That’s sad. On a more positive note, the night lights themselves look beautiful. Icon Creative Studio animates the series, and they never disappoint. They’re my favorite Disney Junior animation studio.
3. Journey to the Bottom of Naboo/Speeder Surprise
After this, we have “Journey to the Bottom of Naboo/Speeder Surprise”. The former episode involves the Jedi helping Kluurt (voiced by Shelby Young) get a special Jedi compass from the bottom of a lake for their historian droid friend OG-LC (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas). Things get complicated when an old enemy, Tooba Jinx (voiced by Eric Bauza) tries taking the compass for himself. The latter segment involves Kai trying to get a cub back to his family when he’s lost, but his need for speed involving a new speeder from Nash complicates things. So it’s back to back Kai centric episodes that tackle a different aspect of his personality. The former shows more of his stubbornness as he tries really hard to get the compass despite the underwater dangers. The latter shows more of his impulse as he leans harder on the idea of using speed, which results in unintentional consequences. In both cases, they work since they highlight the importance behind the artifacts/creatures, and show how he’s just overly eager.
Both episodes also show some interesting sides to the other characters, even if not much is shown. I mean, Tooba is basically the same, being a petty thief who’s mainly doing this to get paid, which has some humorous moments. When Kai saves him from drowning, he’s actually somewhat touched by this. I mean, he still runs off to be a thief, and doesn’t even thank him, but at least he didnt steal anything this time. That’s something. As for the latter, it’s interesting to see Beepers take on a bit of a mentor like role as he tries to advise Kai to not go too fast. Given how he’s calm when showing this emotion, it’s believable.
4. Scrapping for a Song/Bell and the Band
Next we talk about “Scrapping For A Song/Bell and the Band”. The first segment involves the Jedi and the scrapper Eren Kitt (voiced by Zira Gorecki) looking around the planet Bracca to help Nash. Why is that? It’s so she can get a birthday gift, a vioharp, for one of her mothers, Kryss Durango (voiced by Chris Nee). Things don’t go well though with how she’s obsessed over getting the exact gift. The second segment involves Kai going with his padawan friend Bell Zettifar (voiced by Marcus Scribner) to get his instrument fixed on Bocachi by Jasa Plynn (voiced by Nika Futterman). Things then turn bad when Newf Grayson (voiced by James Austen Johnson) uses music to mind control the animals to do his bidding.
“Scrapping For A Song” is a good showcase for how you can take a story with a typical, but still good message about giving from the heart, and making it fun. Putting the focus on Nash makes plenty of sense given the strong desire she has to please others, especially her mothers. It’s also established that Kryss has been a huge fan of the instrument for years, thus adding more urgency to find it. Even with the episode leaning more into her stubborn and impulsive side, it works here. I think what helps is that, even if she’s really insistent on getting the musical instrument, she at least does most of the hard work in finding it while letting her friends do the relatively easier task of finding other instruments. Things then take an unexpected but fun turn when a giant creature wants the vioharp, and takes it. Again, even if Nash is overly reckless in trying to get it, at least she’s not dragging them into this. While the creature does make off with the instrument, at least she follows her friends’ advice in giving the other instruments instead. It’s pretty good.
“Bell And The Band” is less focused on story, and more just about giving off a fun vibe, which works well here. The first few minutes show Bell uses music as a way to be more calm with himself. I didn’t really think much of him like this, but I can buy it since music does involve elements of discipline and creativity, which can help someone out in other areas of life if properly nurtured. We then get into a bit of a creepy atmosphere as the mind controlled basically act like zombies. Bell’s charhound Ember even acts uncharacteristically aggressive towards him. Then when it gets to showing off Newf, he’s a pretty fun character with how he acts like an entitled jerk who doesn’t mind using others to get what he wants. This then leads to a fun music duel as Kai secretly turns off his device.
If I had to criticize anything, it would be the ending, even if it’s more a nitpick. After all is said and done, Newf basically admits how he mainly did this so he could get others to listen to his music. I feel like this should have been set up, and emphasized more in his debut scene. Everyone immediately forgiving him afterwards feels too sudden. I ultimately only see this as a minor issue since he at least has to clean up his act. It’s otherwise a good episode.
5. To Do Good/Nubs and the Bumbling Bandits
So “To Do Good/Nubs and the Bumbling Bandits” is a very interesting episode to say the least. I’m going to switch things up here, and talk about the second segment first, as well as vice versa.
“Nubs And The Bumbling Bandits” has Nubs and Wes make a pit stop on their way to Depanni to refuel their ship when they come across a trio of bandits robbing everyone. It’s a simple little episode with a simple and nice message about being able to calmly think things through. It works well with Nubs. He has the admirable nobility of a Jedi in wanting to help others, but he’s just really focused on the here and now without thinking things through due to relying more on impulsive strength. It works here since he’s at least trying to help, and feels bad for messing up. The main thieves are Claro, Daro, and Flip (with the former two voiced by Pete Holmes, and the third voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), and they’re pretty funny. I mean, Flip is just kind of there, but Claro and Daro make for a funny duo with their respective smug, no nonsense and lovable dopey behavior. There’s a fun climax of Nubs calmly, but confidently getting back at them during a high speed chase. It’s pretty cool.
Now we talk about “To Do Good”. This episode is about the Jedi trying to rescue Prince Cyrus/Taborr when he gets captured by Rek. So let me give some context. The show establishes Taborr as a pirate who likes stealing from others, but has some moments of decency. Then “Aftershock” introduced Princess Cyrus Vuundir, a somewhat rough around the edges, but well meaning prince. Then the season 1 finale showed how they’re both the same character, with season 2 continually having Cyrus showing a love for being a pirate, yet also caring about Kai. The way everyone finds about them being the same is appropriately intense. Now we get to this episode, which redeems him after he learns to not take advantage of other people trying to help him.
Does it work here? I’d say yes, and it’s because he has some noble intentions despite his questionable methods of going about them. We the audience know that his rash actions are to help get his farming droids back for his people. His fatal flaw comes from how he’s thinks he can do it all. This ultimately comes back to him as karma when he falls for a trick by Rek that sends him launched out via an escape pod. It’s kind of like his situation in “The Talon Takeover”, where he was also imprisoned, but it’s worse here since he doesn’t even have his friends Pord and EB-3 to help him out. He blames himself for making things worse by mainly disregarding the help of others. Fortunately, things turn around for him as he turns down an offer from Rek to get his droids since he wants to help the Jedi, and be the person they see him as. That’s pretty noble.
This episode is also interesting in how it shows more of how Kai handles betrayal. He feels conflicted. For as often as he says he wants to help Cyrus, he also seems pretty dead set on not giving him another chance, yet also simultaneously does. You can see this in the scene where Cyrus frees them when they’re tied up, and Kai seems to want to thank him before later showing more reluctance. It shows how, regardless of what he thinks, he does see the good in others even if he can’t process his feelings.
Probably the last thing to talk about is the scene of Rek talking to Cyrus before ejecting him. He smugly says how the Jedi are his friends because of how they went back to rescue him. Cyrus as Taborr asks what he knows about friendship since all he has are droids that are programmed to do what he does. It’s interesting to see how they differ when it comes to their twisted views on friendship. Rek thinks it’s about unconditionally following others no matter what while Cyrus thinks that it’s about being open with your intentions while still having some level of independence. You can see it ring true for him since, although he often treats his own friends poorly, he’s at least come to see that everyone sees things differently. He may not fully understand, but it’s still something.
6. Apexx Awakens/Harvester Madness
Now we’re going to talk about “Apexx Awakens/Harvester Madness”. The first segment involves Rek using his droids to steal a battery from Marlaa the junkyard owner (voiced by Cree Summer) to power his own droid Apexx (voiced by Christopher Swindle). The second segment has the kids return to Andraven to help Raxlo (voiced by Haley Joel Osment) get his new harvester back from Bulcha The Hutt (voiced by Jason Mantzoukas).
Similar to the previous entry, I’m going to talk about the second segment first. “Harvester Madness” is an interesting episode for Raxlo. When he debuted in season 1, he was shown to be a guy who was mainly all about profits, and didn’t really care much for how his harvester drill affected others. Of course, he wasn’t exactly evil. He was just greedy and ignorant, making his heel face turn more believable since he at least didn’t intend to hurt anyone. Season 2 would continue this as his episodes showed how he became a better person while still having moments of selfishness and cowardice. This episode shows this given how he sold his old harvester to Bulcha in order to fund his new harvester, but also because he didn’t want to make him upset since he’s afraid of him. Given how he’s tougher and more physically imposing than him, even during his antagonistic days, it makes sense. This does fit episodes like “Raxlo To The Rescue” and “The Helpful Harvester”, where he doesn’t really think straight when he’s either greedy or stubborn with how he feels. At least he does want to help the wellagrins when thinking of the possible effects this could have on them. It at least makes the ending satisfying when he stands up to him.
“Apexx Awakens” is an episode that has quite the tone to it. The episode starts innocently enough with the kids helping Marlaa in the junkyard when her droid JG-81 walks much more slowly due to a stolen power cell. Then it gets more intense as Apexx is slowly introduced as this menacing figure who loves fighting Jedi. Even if he’s mainly doing this since he’s programmed to do so, the sadistic glee he has in wanting to take them down is quite the shock to say the least. Of course, we see how he’s someone who wants a “real challenge” since he keeps calling the Jedi weak for not being able to immediately defeat him.
The way Rek keeps calling him “friend” with a gentle, but also slightly eerie tone shows how there’s an element of sincerity in treating droids properly, but more as a means to an end. It’s particularly shown during a moment where Lys says how they could’ve just given him a new battery if he just asked for it, but he rejects the offer of being decent by saying how he wouldn’t do it. Things do at least end on a good note with the Jedi using their smarts and out of the box thinking to outwit Apexx. For all the brute strength he has, he’s not good with strategy. It’s a solid.
7. Making Friends
Now we come to “Making Friends”, the final episode of not only the season, but also the whole series. It’s at least appropriate to end with a half hour episode. The special involves Apexx using an army of droids to attack The Welcome Festival at Kublop Springs, and the Jedi have to team up with Rek to stop him. So, I will admit upfront that this episode is good. It’s a good way to end the show, and is a good episode overall. I want to get my two big criticisms out of the way first even if they don’t seem big.
Let’s start out with Rek’s motivation for being a villain. He was seen as strange because of how he would often be alone when building inventions. He would invent these droids to become his friends that couldn’t turn on him. The present day adds to this since he makes bug bots that take over droids so that they can be his friends. I think this is a believable enough motivation, especially with how he brought up this idea of what he thinks true friends are. I think the problem is that there should be a bit more elaboration on why he’s doing this. I mean, given the show’s target audience despite the Star Wars branding, I don’t expect anything too heavy. Maybe showing a quick flashback of him getting picked on could have helped his case more.
He’s basically like Dinah Rex from another preschool show, Action Pack, who also showed antagonistic behavior since she also wanted friends. I think she works better since we more obviously see why she’s antagonistic even if there’s no flashback. She’s a human girl who’s half dino, and wanted to turn everyone into dinosaurs so she can have friends. Maybe if Rek had a more obvious visual cue that’s strange, like a banged up hand, I’d take less issue with lack of a proper explanation. At the very least, I do buy his attempts to help the Jedi since, for all his troubling behavior, he never really attempted to seriously hurt anyone.
Another complaint I have relates more to an overarching issue with the season, but is more pronounced here. There’s a lack of mentoring/looking after younglings/other younger kid characters. There’s a scene at the beginning where Kai and Lys are talking to Dotti about how they can’t wait to look forward to meeting the younglings that Master Zia, Master Drow, and Wes are bringing over. This makes you realize that there weren’t any episodes in season 3 that involved them trying to help other younglings, or at least regular kids, out. It’s a bit of a shame. Seasons 1 and 2 had a good deal of episodes showing our heroes helping out other young kids by acting as mentors of sorts. I really liked that, and wished that season 3 also showed this since they’re mainly shown helping adults.
I mean it’s a good way to show how they can be taken more seriously at this point, but showing more variety to who they help out would’ve been great. Maybe that was the case with whatever the original plans for season 3 are, but we’ll never know. There’s also a scene at the end where Kai uses his old lightsaber from the pilot again since he apparently found it offscreen and he wants to give his newer lightsaber for another youngling. It’s a good showcase of his maturity to pass wisdom and support to the next generation, but I again feel the season should’ve shown more of the mentor-like side in order to give the scene more impact.
Like I said, despite the issues, I still think this is a good episode because of how it shows off a good sense of stakes and community. Since the bug bots affect any droid, this means it can affect characters we care about, like RJ-83. Seeing normally friendly droids act unintentionally aggressive is quite the turn of events when it comes to typical stories for the show. We do at least get the sense of community with how the Jedi don’t hesitate to help others. One moment I do like is when Cyrus comes by, and apologizes to JG-1 for treating him poorly. This is in reference to the season 1 episode “The Junk Giant”, where he, as Taborr, treated him more as a disposable object rather than someone with his own thoughts and feelings. It’s a nice moment to show he’s more willing to both help others and work with them.
For as much as I do criticize how things were executed, I at least think the ending is solid. We see Rek trying to appeal to Apexx’s better side by saying how he doesn’t have to separate droids and Jedi from each other since they can live in harmony. This sense of sensitivity actually gets to him, which I can buy since he at least was willing to own up to what he did. Plus, at least they get tp be with Dotti, who can get their help for her workshop. At least they’ll put their skills to better use.
Of course, the final thing of note is the epilogue, with the characters as teenagers/young adults. They’re at least visibly older. We get a mostly silent montage showing what the characters are like as padawans. We see Kai (voiced by his original voice actor Jamaal Avery Jr) hanging out with Bell, which is fitting given how they’re basically like brothers. We see Lys training with Celesta, which is also fitting since they have a sister like relationship. Nubs being with Wes did confused me at first since they aren’t usually known for interacting, but with what season 3 showed, it makes sense since he can help him better control his strength. We then see them gather at Tenoo, where they meet up with Nash and Cyrus. I’m guessing this pairing is meant to build off of “The Jellyfruit Pursuit”, where she actually made him feel somewhat nice when she was nice to him by giving him some jelyfruit. At least we see that the charaters are still friends despite being apart, which is definitely heartwarming.
And that’s all I have when it comes to my thoughts on season 3. I’m not sure if anything in this show could be used in non-preschool projects, mainly since the few times in which a non-preschool franchise builds off a preschool show are just as cameos or light references at best. Nonetheless, I can at least be grateful for what Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures had to offer for audiences young and old. Thanks for making a great show everyone.
What do you think of the final season?
