Of the various roundtable interviews Anime Trending attended at Anime NYC 2025, the one for Star Wars: Visions was definitely one of the lengthiest. The session allowed us to get a great sense of executive producer James Waugh’s passion for the anthology series and slip in a question about his thoughts on legendary animator Shinya Ohira’s “BLACK” short for the upcoming third season, which is due to premiere on Disney+ on October 29.
Below is a collection of the replies from the roundtable (lightly edited for clarity) that caught our interest the most.
Star Wars: Visions’ Canonicity and Vision
James Waugh: It is definitely not canon. But there haven’t been any restrictions, aside from the fact that when we’re approaching stories and looking for creators, we want them to actually have something to say and then pitch us their vision. We’re not really looking for stories about known Star Wars characters. Not to say that’s impossible. Obviously, we’ve had Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett in Visions shorts, but it’s not about them. Usually, we’re looking for original, fresh perspectives so that Visions doesn’t become a sort of “What If” of Star Wars, but a unique expression and celebration of Star Wars elements people love.
Each Volume is like a mixtape (and that’s why they’re not called “seasons”)
James Waugh: Oh God, this is a super nerdy answer, but we ultimately wanted it to connote the idea that these are sort of like mixtapes. These are anthological expressions, not evergoing seasons that are serialized and have a continuing storyline. Volume 2 is the mixtape that’s sort of like a global tour with different sounds and notes from around the world. Volume 1 and Volume 3 are anime-focused. Whatever else Visions could evolve into, we want to make it clear that we can still have different, unique voices, and you don’t feel like you have to be bound to what you’ve seen before.
Image source: StarWars.com
On the Shinya Ohira-directed “BLACK” Short
James Waugh: He’s such a master craftsman, an incredible artist, and just a unique auteur in general. I don’t know if I would say that this is his definitive statement on Star Wars. It’s a story he felt compelled to tell. I think he wanted to say something about humanity and war, and it’s really more of a piece of modern art in a way.
For me, what’s special about Visions is that you’re not confined to traditional storytelling. You really can have someone who’s just an incredible animator express the medium and do their unique experience of what Star Wars could be. When you see it later today, you’ll notice there are jazz elements in it. So I don’t know if I would say this is his definitive take on Star Wars. What I would say is he loves Star Wars, and [by] using all these elements, you get a distinctly Ohira-san story.
Culture in Star Wars: Visions
James Waugh: Seeing Star Wars expressed through a specific Japanese creator’s lens [in Volume 1] suddenly made us realize how interesting this could be through different cultures. That’s really what drove it. I think what’s foundational about Star Wars is these universal mythic elements — very Campbellian. The hero’s journey does manifest differently across cultures in truth, but there are certain archetypes that matter. There are certain universal human themes that Star Wars articulates in a mythic way really well.
You look at something like “Screecher’s Reach,” and it is very much a Star Wars story, but the banshee elements, which are so inherent to Irish culture, are what made that unique take. And I think that you see the same thing with Punkrobot. Each one of those stories can only come from their culture. At the end of the day, the beauty of Star Wars is that, I think, at its best, the themes are universal. The themes are culturally agnostic.
Image source: StarWars.com
Exploring the non-Jedi parts of Star Wars in Volume 3
James Waugh: What is a little different, I think, about this volume than Volume 1, because Volume 1 was very Jedi-heavy — steeped in kyber crystals and lightsabers, and clearly that’s like the most iconic aspect of the Star Wars franchise — but it’s a galaxy that’s so much richer than that. What I found with this volume is that a lot of the stories that sort of bubbled up to the top ended up being more sort of Resistance stories or Rebel stories, or bounty hunter stories. Not to say that there are no lightsabers throughout it. There most certainly are. But in comparison to the first volume, I think we get a broader picture of what the galaxy can be.
“I Am Your Mother,” and Finding the Personal in Star Wars
James Waugh: With Aardman, they brought in a bunch of their top directors to just pitch us different stories. And some of them, I mean they’re all great — it’s Aardman, you’re gonna get good stuff — but a lot of them felt like big scope Star Wars stories with those elements that feel like that’s what you want to see for Star Wars.
The reason we loved Magdalena’s story was not that we knew we would find the Star Wars in it, but she pitched a story that was personal. She is a Polish immigrant to the UK and always felt slightly different growing up within that context. She had this sort of love-hate teen embarrassment of her mom and her mom’s culture, only to find later in life that that’s the thing that made her special and a unique creator. So she wanted to find a Star Wars story to reflect that personal journey.
To me, that’s what I’m looking for. I want something that is deeply personal. We’re really good at helping people find the Star Wars in [them]. I always look for the personal story. The scope of it all — the Star Wars stuff — will come. So that’s always the way we approach things, and I think you’ll see the same thing in Volume 3.
On Remaking the Original and Prequel Films in Animation
James Waugh: What I love about George Lucas’s filmmaking is that it is pure filmmaking for the big screen. If you watch Star Wars on the big screen as opposed to — I was the VHS generation. I caught Return of the Jedi in theaters, but most of my experience as a kid was watching on VHS with the 90s re-release. It blew my mind seeing how much the construction was about the broader scope and actually using what cinema can do on a big screen. So it’s kind of hard for me to think, “Oh, animation would do better.”
I think what I would personally like to see is animation continuing the stories of those characters or exploring nooks and crannies. But I don’t know if I’d ever want to redo the original trilogy in animation. I mean, I’m sure it would look amazing and be a unique experience on its own. Those films are sort of my Bible — I don’t know if I’d want to redo them personally. [That] doesn’t mean that shouldn’t happen.
How Animation Studios Are Considered for Selection
James Waugh: We have a list. I mean, we’re fans too, right? Some of it has come from [us going], “Wow, we really loved that work. We should meet with these people.” I remember seeing Promare, and I went, “Man, we need a meeting with TRIGGER.” That was unlike anything I had seen before. Production I.G obviously is just legendary, so some came from [us as fans saying], “Let’s meet with them.”
We also work very closely with Qubic Pictures, which has been a good partner within our Japanese production. They have great relationships and have made recommendations as well. So, between our own fandom and our own interests, and with good partners, we had brokering conversations with the studios.
The Importance of Story
James Waugh: The things that probably were rejected are things that are just more spectacle, like we just want to have a crazy action sequence, which, by the way, no medium does better than anime, right? But I hope to find ways to have the Venn diagram of that crazy action sequence mixed in with some deep character revelation that makes it mean more.
On Whether Volume 2 Episodes Will Get Follow-Ups Like Some of Volume 1’s
James Waugh: I want to know more about what happens with the Cartoon Saloon stuff. I want to know what happens with the Punkrobot stuff, and Aardman. I want to see Star Wars in that style all day long. There’s so much cool stuff in that volume that I would love to keep going, and we’d be very excited to go back to that well.
Why “The Ninth Jedi” is getting a spin-off series
James Waugh: Really, it was [Kenji] Kamiyama-san’s vision of what he wanted to do with carrying that story forward. It was a tough decision. It’s like picking your favorite child — it’s very challenging. But I think that one had the inherent structure: we need to go put together the Jedi Order, [and] we need to find these nine Jedi to help rebuild the Jedi Order to fight the darkness in the galaxy. That just felt like the perfect kickoff for a series. And Kamiyama-san had a very clear idea.
Image source: StarWars.com
Cosplay
James Waugh: That is hands down my favorite thing. We just did Celebration in Japan. Seeing those characters that were once pencil sketches that came through, we were like, “Oh, that looks cool, here are some thoughts [on] how to adjust,” Just seeing original ideas coming in. And then you get to that place years down the line where their stories took shape, and they resonated and it mattered. That’s the greatest gift [for] anybody who’s a producer or creator — seeing that hard work finding purchase in the place of people’s hearts and people really being inspired by that, so much so that they want to do their own cosplay as those characters. It’s incredibly rewarding and gratifying.
So at Celebration, it was incredible just seeing all the fans in cosplay. So I hope this begets more cosplay. I’ll be at the cons looking for it.
Anime Trending’s questions by Melvyn Tan. Press junket attended by Isabelle Lee.
