Wicked's Cynthia Erivo Had A Forgotten Role In The Star Wars Universe

Continuity has its place in franchise storytelling, but so do projects that say to hell with canon and take a property where it's never gone before. Such is the case with "Star Wars: Visions," a series that, along with diametrically opposed shows like "Andor" and "Skeleton Crew," proves there's no one right way to make a Star War. But because "Visions" is a non-canonical TV anthology composed of shorts rendered by animation studios from across the globe, it doesn't just look different from the rest of a galaxy far, far away; it also has the freedom to do virtually anything its creatives might imagine.

Indeed, have you ever wanted to watch a stop-motion "Star Wars" short about mothers, daughters, and spaceship racing infused with the gentle style, warm heart, and cheeky humor of "Wallace and Gromit" production house Aardman Animations? Or what about a tale of a loner, lightsaber-wielding swordsman dueling bandits in a dusty town realized in gritty black-and-white 2D animation that recalls the tone and visuals of an actual Akira Kurosawa samurai epic? If the answer is "yes," then you'll want to check out the "Visions" episodes I just described pronto. If not, that's fine! Again, the whole thing is non-canon, so you can ignore it if you're only interested in the property's central narrative.

In keeping with that, working on "Visions" shouldn't prevent actors from also appearing in canonical "Star Wars" projects. It's a good thing, too, because this franchise desperately needs to rehire Cynthia Erivo, who lent her vocal gravitas to the Jedi Kratu in the "Visions" season 2 episode "Aau's Song." I've seen those viral photos of her protecting her co-star Ariana Grande-Butera from a buffoon at a "Wicked: For Good" red carpet event. Someone put a live-action lightsaber in that woman's hands already!

Among the darker and most poignant episodes of "Star Wars: Visions" is season 2's "Screecher's Reach," which sees Cartoon Saloon (the Irish studio behind dazzling animated fantasy films like "Wolfwalkers" and "The Secret of Kells") spinning a Sith-centric yarn that alludes to mythological Irish concepts like banshees and, more troublingly, the real-life history of Irish workhouses. The whole thing culminates in a heartbreaking moment where a character is separated from those closest to them upon agreeing to leave their home world behind and journey with a powerful Force user in pursuit of a mysterious and almost certainly sinister destiny.

Where there's darkness, of course, there's also light, and in this case, "Aau's Song" is the lighter, but still emotional, mirror to "Screecher's Reacher" in more ways than one. Hailing from Triggerfish (an animation studio that originated in South Africa and has worked on projects like the Netflix show "Supa Team 4" and the well-received Disney+ anthology series "Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire"), the episode follows Aau (Mpilo Jantjie), a native of the planet Korba, as she tries to help her father Abat (Tumisho Masha) and Cynthia Erivo's visiting Jedi, Kratu, heal their world's Kyber crystals after years of them being "bled" for Sith lightsabers. (Yes, this is, canonically, why dark side lightsabers are red.)

As I mentioned earlier, though, "Aau's Song" is a kinder foil to "Screecher's Reach," down to its beautiful African aesthetics, pleasantly bright colors, playful character designs, and similar albeit bittersweet and hopeful ending. And while Erivo does fittingly portray a Jedi here, that's no reason for her not to pick up a lightsaber in a live-action "Star Wars" project or even a canonical animated title next time.

"Star Wars: Visions" is streaming on Disney+.