Genndy Tartakovsky: I Never Got a Call for Star Wars: Visions — George Lucas Still Wants My Story
Genndy Tartakovsky says he never got a call to work on the new season of Star Wars: Visions, but he’s fine with that — and he still has a clear connection to the franchise through his earlier Clone Wars shorts. The new Visions installment arrives on Disney+ on Oct. 29, and Tartakovsky recently spoke about his place in the Star Wars animation legacy and a request from George Lucas tied to an upcoming book.
Tartakovsky and Visions
Genndy Tartakovsky, known for Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Primal, confirmed he was not contacted to contribute to the latest Star Wars: Visions. He said plainly, “I never got a call, and I’m totally fine with it.” He added, “I’ve done my Star Wars vision, or whatever. But I know, George historically looks at it really nicely now.”
Star Wars: Visions is an anthology that brings together studios from around the world to tell short, non-canon Star Wars stories in a variety of styles. The new season lands on Disney+ on Oct. 29, and Tartakovsky was not among the contributors this time.
Legacy on The Clone Wars and what followed
Tartakovsky’s earlier micro-series for Cartoon Network (2003–2005) is widely credited with showing that 2D animation could work well for Star Wars. When Disney later added those episodes to Disney+, many fans and animators saw their influence on the CG The Clone Wars series.
Moreover, The Clone Wars helped bring Dave Filoni into Lucasfilm and led to spinoffs and related projects such as Rebels, The Bad Batch, the Tales miniseries, and even live-action shows like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. The Clone Wars CG supervisor Joel Aron has said over the years that even the style of Star Wars — how it was lit, how characters moved — changed in the wake of Tartakovsky’s contributions.
Why he might not be needed for Visions
In short, some producers may feel Tartakovsky’s influence is already visible across modern Star Wars animation. Therefore, they could be choosing fresh voices for Visions while acknowledging the earlier groundwork he laid.
George Lucas, the interview and the book
Tartakovsky also revealed that George Lucas remains a fan of his early Clone Wars shorts. As a result, Lucas recommended that a new book project interview Tartakovsky about his contributions.
He said, “I don’t know the details, but I did an interview and the interview was really good and positive, and George asked them to talk to me,” and added, “Considering at one point [Lucasfilm] was canceling the canon and all that stuff, and not even airing it, it feels like there’s been a turnaround.”
Takeaway
To sum up: Tartakovsky wasn’t invited to work on Star Wars: Visions, but he’s okay with that and remains connected to the franchise through his early Clone Wars work. Meanwhile, George Lucas still appears to respect his contributions and asked a new book project to include his perspective.
