Growing Up Skywalker

The Last Jedi (Episode VIII) has a message for Star Wars fans: Let go of the past. There’s a new Star Wars in town. That unwavering theme carries the film to an elegant, if desperate, conclusion—with the Resistance in tatters, Supreme Leader Snoke dead on a floor, and Kylo Ren falling deeper to the Dark Side even as Rey rises toward the light. In our recap of the second half of the movie, we cover...

The Last Jedi has a message, and it’s louder in 2026 than it ever could have been in 2017. This week, in our loving and nontoxic recap, we cover the first half of this extremely long (and exquisite) film—covering themes of loss, wars of attrition, sunk cost fallacies, and the idea that failure is permanent. We parse character arcs for Finn, Rose, Poe, Kylo, Rey, and Luke, and discuss whether Snoke...

Hot on the heels of sinking the Colossus, our heroes learn a lot about rebellion in the Season 1 finale of Resistance—and accidentally form their very own rebel cell. In our episode this week, which covers “No Escape, Parts 1 and 2,” we reflect on how The Force Awakens, A New Hope, and other pioneering installments in the Star Wars canon have rippled out into the Resistance show. We also talk thro...

The Star Wars: Resistance episodes “The Disappeared” and “Descent” take place right at the beginning of The Force Awakens, so we’re detouring back into animated territory to cover the lead-up to the destruction of Hosnian Prime. In our coverage this week, we talk about the fascistic tendency of “disappearing” people and how it lines up (or doesn’t) with the social contract on the Colossus. We also...

With the balance of power in the galaxy deeply shifted towards the Dark, what is next for our heroes—and our villains? It’s time for us to find out in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. We focus our discussion on the second half of the film on the Pyrrhic victory that is the end of Starkiller Base and the passing of the torch from the Original Trilogy trio (Luke, Leia and Han) to the new er...

Our non-toxic, loving, and chronological coverage of Star Wars has wound its way through five years to bring us to this point: Episode VII, The Force Awakens. In the first half of the most expensive movie of all time, themes of baptism and rebirth, found family and lost family, and the subtle manipulation of the Dark Side are all strongly apparent. We do a deep dive into our leading characters, di...

How much power does the First Order actually have, and how much is projection? (And does it even matter?) These are the central questions of our recap of the final Star Wars: Resistance episodes before Episode VII, The Force Awakens: “The New Trooper” and “The Core Problem” (Season 1, Episodes 16–17). We try to understand the shape of the First Order, the scope of their power, and how much influen...

Slowly at first, then all at once, the First Order is taking over the Colossus. In our first and only triple-header of Season 1 of Resistance, we cover "Dangerous Business," “The Doza Dilemma” and "The First Order Occupation” (Episodes 13–15) so we can parse the speed of the First Order occupation. But do they want the Colossus as a toehold into the wider Republic, or as a weapons m...

Poe Dameron is a big dang hero and has been since he was about 18 months old. That’s all. In this week’s episode, “Station Theta Black” and “Bipo” (Resistance Season 1, Episodes 11–12), we dig into Poe Dameron’s past as a swashbuckling Rebel-style hero of old, and how he represents the Rebellion within the Resistance. We also sing the praises of General Leia Organa and parse the nefarious thornine...

How far will you go to forgive someone? What if they’re family? What if they’re also your former enemy? In "The Platform Classic" and "Secrets and Holograms” (Resistance Season 1, Episodes 9–10), we talk about the limits of love and loyalty when it comes to family: for Jarek Yeager and his brother, Marcus Speedstar, but also for Captain Doza and his daughter, Ace pilot Torra. We dis...

The sibilances are strong in this week’s episodes. And so are Synara’s pirating powers. In “Signal From Sector Six” and “Synara’s Score” (Resistance Season 1, Episodes 5–6), we dive deep into Doza’s dilemma on the Colossus: Invite the First Order into the fold, or let them take over his colony by proxy? We tackle this question, and the question of the Resistance’s role in the galaxy, through the l...

Well, the madcap adventures of Team Fireball were delightful while they lasted. But there’s a new sheriff in town, and their name is the First Order. The Star Wars: Resistance episodes of the week—"The High Tower" and "Children of Tehar” (Season 1, Episodes 5–6)—introduce Kylo Ren and Captain Doza, and give Captain Phasma and Major Vonreg time in the spotlight. And they pull no punc...

The madcap adventures of the Team Fireball continue!  In the third and fourth episodes of Star Wars: Resistance (The Triple Dark + Fuel for the Fire), Kaz is struggling with double duty and managing to fail forward—and sometimes backwards—on everything.  In this week’s episode, we talk about how fitting in is hard for Kaz, but being a good person seems to come easy. We speculate on Yeager’s backst...

The biggest time jump in Growing Up Skywalker history! This week, we flash forward to ABY 34. Everyone we know and love is 20 years older, and a new story is rising in the Outer Rim…the story of the First Order and the Resistance.  We dive into galaxy-spanning politics like how, exactly, the New Republic came to need a Resistance wing and which Imperial remnants we think became part of the First O...

All good things must come to an end—including our Mandalorian and Grogu coverage. This week, we’re picking up the second half of The Mandalorian and Grogu with Embo’s assault on the Nevarro cabin. Along the way, we listen for echoes of Star Wars past, from callbacks to Yoda on Dagobah to memories of Boba Fett’s takeover on Tatooine. We discuss the Hutt succession plan (or lack thereof?!) and wonde...

Movie tickets? Bought. Notebooks? Out. Butts? In seats. The Mandalorian and Grogu was the first theatrical release we had the opportunity to see during Growing Up Skywalker’s run—and what a joy it was to see Star Wars on the big screen! This week, we’re covering the first half of the movie, from opening credits to Embo’s first appearance, and parsing themes of fatherhood, masculinity, and bread-an...

The thrilling conclusion to Maul - Shadow Lord is at hand—and it raises many questions about the Dark. In the Maul Season 1 finale (Chapters 9–10, Strange Allies + The Dark Lord), our heroes are greatly diminished, and facing an impeccable foe. The shifting alliances we’ve tracked all season finally solidify, just as the sands in favorite characters’ hourglasses finally run out. We discuss what it...

For the first time, we get to look through Maul’s eyes. He sees the galaxy darkly. In “Call to Oblivion” and “The Creeping Fear” (Maul – Shadow Lord, Chapters 7–8) we dive into thorny thoughts on brothers, Inquisitors, and Maul’s deep-seated pain. We parse Devon and Daki’s ties, and why they were paired together as Master and Padawan. And we talk through the mechanics of Mandalorian betrayal. This...

Alliances are shifting like sand by the midpoint of Maul – Shadow Lord. Who will end up on top? In this week’s episode, we recap "Inquisition" and “Night of the Hunted” (Season 1, Chapters 5–6). These episodes mark the first time—in chronological order—that we see an Inquisitor onscreen, and we talk through the formation of these Jedi hunters.  We also play a little game of alliances, do...

Maul is the king of rhetoric, the master gaslighter, and the sensei of spin. He’s also, like, usually right? In this week’s episodes, “Whispers in the Unknown” and “Pride and Vengeance” (Maul – Shadow Lord: Chapters 2–3) we talk through Maul’s masterful messaging and how his most seductive ideas are also closest to the truth. We also discuss Master Daki’s unshakable faith in his Jedi training, Dev...

He’s out for revenge, and he doesn’t care who he takes down with him. The Maul – Shadow Lord Season 1 premiere plunges us into the gritty, abstracted cityscape of Janix, where Maul is unraveling at the edges. In our recap of “Chapter 1: The Dark Revenge” and “Chapter 2: Sinister Schemes,” we talk through the differences between Janix and Coruscant, and how the moody, macabre styling of this show r...

Darth Maul. The Shadow. Shadow Lord. And after a while…just Maul. He’s got names for days and a story that spans galactic history. Who is he? What does he want? And what’s his story? In preparation for Maul: Shadow Lord, we watched every single movie and TV show Maul appears in, in chronological order, and bring you our thoughts on his arc. Themes of revenge and rebirth sweep across his epic journ...

It’s Thrawn versus the New Republic. Who will triumph? We don’t find out in Ahsoka’s Season 1 Finale, that’s for sure. “The Jedi, The Witch, and The Warlord” is more concerned with rematches, sacrifices, callbacks, and deep lore—not hard and fast answers. Instead, we discuss the Mortis gods, ronin Jedi, and Morgan Elsbeth’s great tragedy. Next week, we’re departing from our usual programming to br...

Hera’s in the hotseat and the wolves are closing in during Ahsoka’s seventh episode, “Dreams and Madness.” But who has the upper hand, really? This week, we talk through the opposing forces on Peridea and how they are represented by Nature vs. Industrialism. Tragically, Thrawn appears capable of straddling both sides. We also cover the conflicts at the heart of “Ahsoka.” From the Baylan-Shin relat...

Well, we have arrived. Peridea, perdition, madness, dreams. Nightsisters. And blue guys. And the prodigal son himself, Ezra Bridger. In a galaxy "Far Far Away" (coincidentally, this is also the title of Ahsoka’s sixth episode), we have an opportunity to parse the cultishness of Thrawn’s remaining forces, who have wound themselves with Nightsister ribbons and become reborn as Night Troope...