Commentary: ‘Star Wars: Tales From The Underworld’ Was Made For Characters Like Cad Bane

It should come as a surprise to no one that Star Wars is overloaded with characters. Of course, main characters like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (various actors) take up a lot of the spotlight. But even side characters like Rogue One’s Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) get their own series to put them in the spotlight. Others feel as if they are always relegated to supporting character positions. This is fine since they are mainly used as adversaries to the heroes, but they should also have fleshed out backstories. This is where a series like Star Wars: Tales from the Underworld comes in.

Cad Bane (Corey Burton) is a bounty hunter and mercenary who was very active during the Clone Wars and the reign of the Empire. He served as a notable adversary against Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. He even acted as something of a mentor to a young Boba Fett. But there wasn’t much space to expand upon his history. It wasn’t until Tales of the Underworld that his backstory was revealed. His original name was Colby, and he lived as a street kid alongside his friend Niro (Artt Butler). During a job gone wrong, his friend was arrested. Years later, Colby returns to the planet only to discover that his friend had become an officer of the law.

As a minor character, there’s no reason to give Cad Bane his own series. He’s liked, but nowhere near as popular as Boba Fett or Ahsoka. Still, he’s an interesting character who deserves to have a proper origin story. Normally, characters like this get to expand their history through novels or comic books, but the Tales of… series offers a completely new opportunity for minor characters to be expanded upon. They are short snippets into their lives, so hopefully the trend of this series will continue so that other minor characters can be explored.

Star Wars: Tales From The Underworld is now streaming on Disney+.