Star Wars: Visions Season 2 Trailer: Nine New Shorts Arrive On May 4

Here's a little secret that many "Star Wars" fans have clued into by now: This franchise is oftentimes at its best in animated form. "Rebels" and "The Clone Wars" have received the bulk of the attention in recent years (and for good reason), but a whole new contender has entered the ring. The first season of "Star Wars: Visions" definitively brought the fantasy space opera back to its roots, having been produced by seven Japanese animation studios that were allowed the freedom to reinterpret George Lucas' classic stories as they saw fit. The final results, needless to say, were as creative, breathtaking, and just plain entertaining as "Star Wars" has been in years.

Now, over a year and a half since its debut, we've finally received our first look at the next season. Dubbed "Volume 2," the next batch of episodes in this anthology series looks even more exciting than the last. As reported previously, we'll get to see nine new shorts from nine studios sprinkled across the globe. The much more universal flavor this time around is readily apparent from the newest trailer, which Lucasfilm just released this morning during "Star Wars" Celebration. Check it out below!

Animation is a medium, not a genre, as filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is fond of saying. Nothing about it ought to be considered inherently "less-than" in comparison to live-action. As passionate fans know, this tool allows innovative storytellers the ability to flex their muscles and come up with some of the most visually spectacular and tone-hopping tales that we could ever even dream of, freed from the sometimes suffocating constraints of more traditional movies or shows.

So for anyone who's felt a little burned out by recent "Star Wars" projects (raises hand), boy do we have the perfect cure for you. We knew that the second season of "Star Wars: Visions" would debut on Disney+ streaming on the heralded Star Wars Day, annually held on May 4. What we didn't know was just how mind-blowing the footage would be or how well certain established studios would adapt to the incredibly familiar world of "Star Wars." As it turns out, we needn't have doubted for a second.

Volume 2 of the critically acclaimed series looks to be just as distinctive and exciting as the first, led by Aardman Animations (aka the studio behind the beloved "Wallace & Gromit" stop-motion animated shorts) and a colorful bunch of other studios from around the world. Writers and directors on season 2 of "Star Wars: Visions" include Rodrigo Blaas (El Guiri Studios), Paul Young (Cartoon Saloon), Gabriel Osorio (Punkrobot), Magdalena Osinska (Aardman), Hyeong Geun Park (Studio Mir), Julien Chheng (Studio La Cachette), Ishan Shukla (88 Pictures), LeAndre Thomas (D'art Shtajio) and Justin Ridge (Lucasfilm), and Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke (Triggerfish).

"Star Wars: Visions" will debut on Disney+ May 4, 2023.