Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) follows Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan Ahsoka Tano as the Jedi try to rescue Jabba the Hutt's kidnapped son during the war between the Republic and the Separatists. The story opens in the middle of that war, with the Jedi stretched thin across the galaxy.

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are fighting droid armies on the planet Christophsis when a young, headstrong Padawan named Ahsoka Tano arrives and is assigned to Anakin as his apprentice. Soon afterward, Jabba the Hutt's infant son, Rotta the Huttlet, is kidnapped, and the Jedi are asked to bring the child home in order to win the cooperation of the Hutts. That request drives everything that follows. The full story is covered in the full plot summary below.

The film was directed by Dave Filoni, runs 98 minutes and carries a PG certification in the US, the UK and Australia. If you are working out where to begin, the Star Wars movies in order page shows where this spinoff slots in beside the main saga films.

In Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), the Jedi rescue Jabba the Hutt's kidnapped son Rotta to win Hutt trade-route access for the Republic, while Count Dooku and Ziro the Hutt frame them for the kidnapping. The Republic needs safe passage through space controlled by the Hutt crime lords, so the Jedi are sent to find the child.

Anakin and his new apprentice Ahsoka track Rotta to a hidden base on the planet Teth. They fight through droids, with Clone Troopers beside them, and they find the baby. The mission is complicated by the Separatist assassin Asajj Ventress, who is guarding the prize. The Jedi escape with Rotta, but the child falls ill, and the journey to Tatooine becomes a race against time.

Meanwhile, Padmé Amidala investigates and learns that Jabba's uncle, Ziro the Hutt, is secretly working with Count Dooku. The plan is to make it look as if the Jedi stole the baby, so that the Hutts will join the Separatists instead of the Republic.

Anakin and Ahsoka make a forced landing near Jabba's palace, and Anakin faces Dooku in a duel while Ahsoka carries Rotta onward. Jabba at first wants the Jedi punished, since he believes they are behind the kidnapping. Padmé then exposes Ziro's betrayal, and Jabba sees the truth. The Hutts agree to a treaty that lets Republic forces use their trade routes, and Ahsoka earns Anakin's respect and stays on as his partner.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) was released in US theaters on August 15, 2008, and opened with $14.6 million. Box Office Mojo confirms the date, and Screen Daily reports a wide opening for the same day.

It opened in the UK on August 15, 2008 and in Australia on August 14, 2008, both dates taken from TMDB. No premiere event is recorded for this film.

On the numbers, the production budget was $8.5 million (USD). The film grossed $35.2 million domestically and $33.1 million internationally, for $68.3 million worldwide (USD). Those figures come from The Numbers and Box Office Mojo.

Analysis: the release order is the oddest thing about this film. It is third in chronological order, between Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, yet it was released seventh, after both of them (release order 5 and 6). Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, released fourth, comes first in chronological order. This film therefore reached theaters as a look back into a war period the two numbered films had already covered. The domestic and international grosses are close to even, with the US share slightly larger.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) ends with Ziro the Hutt exposed and arrested, Jabba the Hutt signing a treaty that gives the Republic passage through Hutt space, and Ahsoka Tano staying on as Anakin Skywalker's partner. Jabba recognizes that the Jedi saved his son rather than stole him, and the treaty is a major strategic win in a war fought over trade routes and space lanes.

Why does that matter? Because the whole kidnapping was built to push the Hutts toward the Separatists. Count Dooku's scheme fails, though the Separatists remain a threat, so the film closes the Rotta plot without ending the war.

The structure of the final stretch is worth reading closely. After the forced landing near Jabba's palace, the two leads are split: Anakin faces Dooku in a duel while Ahsoka carries the sick Rotta onward. Jabba first wants the Jedi punished because he believes they are behind the kidnapping. Padmé Amidala then exposes Ziro's betrayal. In that order of events, the Jedi are cleared by an investigation and not by winning a fight, and the duel with Dooku only buys time for the delivery.

The personal ending is quieter. Ahsoka earns Anakin's respect, and the two become an established team. That pairing is what sets up the continuing Clone Wars television series.

Comparison with the neighboring films: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is Episode II and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is Episode III, and this spinoff sits between them in chronological order. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace is first in that order, so by the time of this film two main saga films have already set the war up. Where a numbered episode closes on a turning point for the whole galaxy, this film closes on a treaty and a partnership, and it says plainly that the Separatists remain a threat.

Opinion: writer Priya Nair argues the film works better as a setup for Anakin and Ahsoka than as a standalone story, because the Rotta chase is simple and the treaty is the real payoff.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) was not filmed on location because it is an animated film, and it has no filming locations on record.

The story does move across several named worlds. Christophsis is the opening battlefield, Teth holds the hidden base where Rotta is found, and Tatooine is the destination of the race against time, with Jabba's palace as the final setting. These are fictional settings, not real-world sites.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) is the seventh Star Wars feature film in release order and third in chronological order. It is classed as a spinoff, not a main saga film, so it does not carry an episode number.

Several actors voice multiple roles. Dee Bradley Baker is credited for Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Commander Fox and the Clone Troopers, Tom Kane for the narrator, Yoda and Admiral Yularen, and Corey Burton for Ziro the Hutt, General Loathsom and Kronos-327. James Arnold Taylor voices Obi-Wan Kenobi, 4A-7 and a medical droid.

The voice cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku. The credits list no post-credit scenes. For the full list of films, see Star Wars movies.