Star Wars Finally Explains Revenge of the Sith’s Outer Rim Sieges Reference

Star Wars: The Clone Wars has finally elaborated on a throwaway line from Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith about the Outer Rim Sieges. With only so much political and military turmoil to cover, it was a matter of time before The Clone Wars series made its way to the end of the war itself. Now in its third year, the clone war has ravaged all corners of the Star Wars galaxy, even its furthest reaches. In its final stage, the Outer Rim Sieges are well underway, a campaign that is finally getting some much needed fleshing out.

In regards to the larger Star Wars timeline, the sieges took place at the tail end of the war in 19 years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. The Confederacy of Independent Systems had been pushed back to the very edges of Republic jurisdiction, and were pursued to the bitter end. Notable conflicts took place on Anaxes, Mygeeto, and Felucia, to name but a few, some of which were even highlighted in Revenge of the Sith momentarily. Despite their importance to the war, they never got a whole lot of substantial attention in any form, only being briefly mentioned in the one previously mentioned prequel film.

During Revenge of the Sith, the Outer Rim Sieges were noted a handful of times. Though never amounting to more than a few passing references, it was noted that they had been in progress for some time. When Anakin greets Padme at the start of the movie (right before he finds out she’s pregnant), he tells her he thought they were never going to end, hence why he was thankful in a sense to have received the transmission that Chancellor Palpatine had been kidnapped, just to get him out of the war zone. They were a background presence at best, and overall held no real meaning until The Clone Wars season 7 began. Later on, Obi-Wan tells Anakin he missed a briefing on the outer rim sieges.

The first two episodes of The Clone Wars season 7, “The Bad Batch” and “A Distant Echo” both expanded on these battles in greater detail than before. Though they were not directly spoken of by name in the former, Anakin made mention of them during his secret conversation with Padme in the latter. He told her no one expected them to last this long, tying into the narrative of both episodes about the Republic struggling to overtake the Separatists in battle on Anaxes while also addressing his comments in the film. After all, this was one of the major worlds included in the Outer Rim Sieges, so it would only make sense to name drop them at some capacity.

It only took 15 years, but some of the most integral battles of the clone war finally got some moderate expansion. The Outer Rim Sieges were the last battles of the conflict, so it would only make sense that they were included in the wrap-up season of The Clone Wars. This further plays into the overlap the show will have with Revenge of the Sith in coming installments, explaining why they were talked about every now and again in the film. The show is known for its innate ability to retroactively make the world the prequels helped establish appear even more well rounded, and this is just another fine example of such.

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