Why Star Wars Resistance Is Ending Before The Rise Of Skywalker

When it was announced that the upcoming second season of Star Wars Resistance would also be the last, it took many fans by surprise. However, according to the show's producers, that was always the plan--and it's one they're happy about.

The reason Resistance is coming to a close after Season 2 is that it will directly link to the next Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, which hits theaters in December. That's due almost entirely to how the Star Wars universe is plotted out, via the Lucasfilm story group.

"The Lucasfilm story group is always involved in our writers conferences from the very beginning, so when we're listing out the roadmap is what these stories would be and the character development," executive producer Athena Portillo said during a roundtable interview.

"We always make sure we're within continuity [and] make sure that we're not compromising what [The Rise of Skywalker director] JJ [Abram]'s vision is, what [executive producer Dave] Filoni's vision is, the vision of what games they're talking about, what other live-action series they're talking about. We always make sure that we're on point with that."

Working within the movie's timeline--and working their way up to The Rise of Skywalker--allowed producers to not only plot out the arc of the show from beginning to end but give the two seasons distinctly different settings. "We were using the movies as a guideline," executive producer Brandon Auman explained. "We felt that Season 1 is like, you know, it all takes place on a planet then Season 2, it now takes place in space. And now it's going to lead, boom, right into the last movie."

And while there will be fans left dying for more Resistance, it's always better to leave audiences wanting than to overstay your welcome, something Auman is familiar with.

"I used to work on [Nickelodeon's 2012 version of] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And we were planning to wrap it up at Season 4. And then [Nickelodeon was] like, 'No, no, you're getting Season 5.' We're like, 'No!" So we had to do these like Tales of the TMNT," he recalled. "We were [hoping] we don't have to keep going [on Resistance]. Because it's really nice to have the opportunity to say this is the story to tell."

That all said, the end of Season 2 doesn't necessarily mean the end of the character you've been introduced to through Resistance. "We love these characters," Auman said. "We want to see them in different media, you know, if it's comic books, novels, video games, another animated series in the future, who knows? I mean, you know, we just love these characters."

Star Wars Resistance Season 2 premieres Sunday, October 6, on Disney Channel and Disney XD.