The Bounty Hunters

Last season, we met Cad Bane, the blue-skinned bounty hunter working for Ziro the Hutt. And this season, the bounty hunters will take on a more central role, with Cad Bane and his fellows joining forces with the Separatists (for a price, of course) against the Jedi. Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni says the bounty hunters have given them an opportunity to get away from the clones vs. droids formula, and give Anakin, Ahsoka, and the rest of the Jedi a more colorful set of foes.

In tonight's two-part episode, Rise of the Bounty Hunters, we'll see plenty of Cad Bane when the bounty hunter infiltrates the Jedi Temple to steal a Holocron. You can also check out the concept art of Bane and the other bounty hunters we posted last week.

A New Padawan

Ahsoka isn't the only padawan fighting the Clone Wars, and this season we'll meet Luminara Unduli's padawan, Barriss Offee (who also appeared briefly in Attack of the Clones and featured in the 2003 Clone Wars series). With Barriss, Ahsoka gets a peer, and we will sometimes see how the two fare on missions together without their masters. Barriss' relationship with Luminara also provides a stark contrast to Ahsoka's relationship with Anakin. We'll get to consider the pros and cons of Anakin and Ahsoka's somewhat unorthodox relationship, and the consequences of Anakin's fierce attachment to his padawan.

Shades of Gray

Although many members of the Clone Wars team said young fans appreciate the show because the heroes are the good that triumphs over evil, Filoni says we'll see more shades of gray this season. We'll be breaking out of the clones good, droids bad mold, and exploring instances where our heroes do questionable things for what they believe is the greater good. Anakin, notably, will do something that horrifies his fellow Jedi because he fears Ahsoka's life is in danger, and we will start to see that slide that brought a once-committed Jedi to the Dark Side.

The Specter of Death

No, Ahsoka doesn't die this season, and Ashley Eckstein, who voices Ahsoka, doesn't know if her character's fate is sealed. But death is a very present force in the new season. Ahsoka and Barriss will be confronted with the reality that being a Jedi may mean a short life for both of them. And even as she's accustomed to death as a part of war, Ahsoka will be forced to consider killing an innocent person to prevent an even greater tragedy.

Zombies

As we get closer to Halloween, expect a fun horror episode, one with shades of Night of the Living Dead and the Alien movies. And, though zombified aliens are good for some gentle scares, there's a monster in this episode far more frightening than the walking dead.

The one-hour Clone Wars second season premiere airs tonight at 8pm on Cartoon Network.

Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni emphasized that the bounty hunters will add some color to the second season, breaking up the usual clone-versus-drone plotlines. Cad Bane, who will serve as one of the season's major antagonists, appeared at the end of last season, and this season we will see bounty hunters from other Star Wars media, including The Empire Strike Back's fearsome, carnivorous Bossk:

The Clone Wars second season premieres on October 2nd.

I also asked Filoni about what kinds of super-powers the Jedi might have — and if you're a fan of the Expanded Universe, his answer might surprise you.

Finally, I asked what war movies inspired the crew making Clone Wars, which is at its heart basically a war film. Here's what Filoni had to say.

1. Dooku vs. Palpatine
In the movies, the Sithy Separatist leader Count Dooku is in league with Palpatine (Darth Sidious), and there are very few hints that he's much more than a very competent henchman. But in fact, he has his own agenda and has a whole future planned for the Separatists, a group that includes most of the galaxy's free traders and techie types. Clone Wars will focus on how Dooku's Separatists push for their agenda against Palpatine's power-grabbing imperialists. I like the idea of free traders vs. fascists. It's an interesting clash, with our Jedi heroes right in the middle.

2. Female ninjas
No offense to Leia and Padme, but on the scale of princess to ninja they were pretty far to the princess end of things. In Clone Wars, we're going to get some seriously kickass female ninjas mixing it up with the Jedi Knights. Anakin's padawan Ahsoka is fearless and strong, and Obi Wan Kenobi will meet his nemesis, the powerful assassin Asajj Ventress.

3. Clone rights
At the heart of this series will be a biology vs. technology theme, with the Jedi-led clone army fighting the Separatist-led droid armies. Will biotech soldiers prove better than techtech ones? More important, though, is that we'll watch as the clones begin to overcome their programming and become individuals. Will there be clone rights? Clone romance? These are the kinds of weird questions that make me excited about this series.

4. Clone Wars is new-school YA fiction
Perhaps influenced by a new generation of YA fiction with more adult themes, Clone Wars will be aimed at young people but will shed the kiddie comic relief of the Star Wars movies. Instead of identifying with Jar Jar or C3P0, kids watching Clone Wars can put themselves in the boots of the brave, wisecracking Ahsoka.

5. The Jedi come in shades of grey
We've seen a few Jedi in the movies, and we know they can be either good Knights or evil Sith. But we haven't seen the full range of Jedi powers (many Jedi have unique powers that go beyond telekinesis), nor have we seen them when they stop being polite and start going badass on the battlefield. I'm excited to find out about Luminara's powers, and what Kit Fisto can do with all those tentacles. The point is, it's not just Sith vs. Jedi — it's the many shades of Jedi.

6. War dramas are instant win
While every episode of the Star Wars movies has dealt with a decisive battle or coup, none of the movies could be classified as a "war film" proper. They are epics, character studies, political melodramas, and space operas — but none has focused on the lives of soldiers and officers waging a several-year campaign. It's about time we learned about the lives of grunts in the army of the Republic, and got some good soldier banter going.

7. More droids
The Separatist forces are packed with trade associations and tech guilds, so they have the latest droids with all the most up-to-date service packs installed. Expect serious coolness in the droid department: Those rolling shielded guys from Attack of the Clones are just the beginning. The fact that the series is animated will only add to the awesomeness of these droids, who look best in a stylized, CGI environment anyway.

8. Dooku backstory
He was once a Jedi, and he semi-trained his assassin Ventress in the ways of the Dark Side even though she was never Jedi material. What other weirdness lurks in Dooku's past? Why did he turn to the Dark Side? Why did he start the Separatist rebellion in the first place? We've got 100 episodes to find out.

9. Anakin as ironic hero
Knowing what we do about how Anakin turns out, it's a strange and intriguing irony that he's going to be our hero in this series. Even as we see him being a good mentor to a sympathetic young woman (Ahsoka), we know he has a dark side — and we know that he's lying to the Jedi every day since his secret marriage to Padme. Anakin has acquired a lot of creepy depth during the Star Wars series, and the Clone Wars were probably the time in his life when he could have turned it all around and told the Dark Side to stick it. And yet we know he won't: That each act of kindness and bravery is going to go sour one day soon. That makes for a pretty dark war tale, and I'm down with it.

10. Second-generation Star Wars sensibility
Filoni and Winder have both been associated with contemporary game-changing animated series: Filoni with Avatar and Winder with Powerpuff Girls. If they can successfully infuse the sweep of the Star Wars universe with a contemporary burst of anime sensibility and good humor, Star Wars will reach a new generation. And reawaken the first generation's love for a franchise that once felt like the most amazing new thing any of us had ever seen.