A Peek at Chewbacca on the Clone Wars Season 3 Finale

The secret’s been out for awhile (and it’s not an April Fool’s joke), but it doesn’t hurt to say it again: CHEWIE is coming to the Clone Wars! The season 3 finale airs this Friday, April 1st, on the Cartoon Network (check your local listings for time).

I was fortunate to get an invite to screen the two part finale at a private event this past Friday night at the Lucasfilm theater at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. (SORRY NO SPOILERS!) Our gracious hosts at Lucasfilm greeted the room of excited friends and family (fans of all ages) with Lego Clone Wars t-shirts and Chewbacca Lego pens along with demo kiosks where they could play the brand new Lego Star Wars III: the Clone Wars video game. The local 501st regimen was represented in full force, albeit without their trademark stormtrooper armor. And Starkiller himself, Vader’s apprentice from the Force Unleashed video game series (also Doomsday on Smallville and Aidan on Being Human), Sam Witwer, took some time to catch the screening and hang out with fans afterwards. People always have a great time when they visit Lucasfilm, but this night was really something special.

When it came time for the screening, dozens of the crew members that worked on the Clone Wars joined the audience to experience their work on probably one of the greatest screens in the world. Perfect picture. Perfect sound. Perfect seats (no sticky floors since no food and drink were allowed inside). As always, it’s fun watching anything Star Wars with a room full of diehard fans, because they give their love back to the screen with each hero’s triumph and gasp with each surprising turn of the story.

To those who might dismiss The Clone Wars because it’s a kids’ show, well, you’re right, it IS a kids’ show, but you’re also missing out on some thrilling, fun television set in a universe we all know and love. The show is masterfully executed by supervising director Dave Filoni and his extremely talented crew, who bring excellently crafted cinematic animated adventure to our televisions on a weekly basis. Even if you’re an adult, you must watch it with a child’s wonder or you’re missing the whole point. And seeing it on the big screen in such astounding detail is how this show really should be seen. But since not all of us get to hang out at Lucasfilm every Friday night, I’m going to admit that the Clone Wars makes the case for upgrading your home entertainment system to the highest of high definition systems just to bask in the depth of color and textures that, along with smart, briskly paced storytelling, bring the Star Wars galaxy to life in ways we’ve never seen before. The show just gets better with each season, in fact, each episode!

So even if you haven’t watched much of the series before or ever, take the time to watch (or record for later) the season 3 finale of Star Wars the Clone Wars on Friday night, April 1st. If nothing else, watch it for everybody’s favorite walking carpet. Just try not to get goosebumps when the John Williams score rises upon first glimpse of our furry hero. I dare you.

Here’s a quick sneak peek at what went into bringing Chewbacca to the Clone Wars…

Star Wars the Clone Wars will host a panel at WonderCon this weekend in Room 104 at 5pm on Saturday. In addition to talking about what we’ve seen so far, Dave Filoni mentioned giving attendees the first sneak peek at season 4! Don’t miss it!