I was thinking about Star Wars (again) and I started to consider all the ways that The Clone Wars series ties back into the films (both prequel and original). The following list is by no means exhaustive, but I thought it would be fun to share all of this with you. Enjoy!

1. Anakin Skywalker meets Captain Tarkin (the future Grand Moff) while rescuing a Jedi Master. Tarkin is decidedly NOT impressed with the Jedi (though he and Anakin do come to a grudging understanding by the end of the arc). Knowing this, it REALLY makes you wonder if Tarkin knew who Darth Vader really was…
2. Earlier in this same arc, Anakin unveils a plan whereby he, Obi-Wan, and the rest of their team will smuggle themselves onto a Separatist-controlled planet by freezing themselves in carbonite. Vader (apparently) remembered this idea years later and attempted to implement it on Luke.
3. Anakin was friends with the future Admiral Ackbar. No, really! When Anakin and Padme are dispatched to Mon Cala, home planet of the Mon Calamari, they are forced to rescue the Crown Prince whose captain of the guard is one Captain Ackbar. Knowing what happens in the future, seeing them work together was surreal to say the very least.
4. Anakin (and his Padawan Ahsoka) pays a visit to Mustafar long before Anakin has his fateful duel with Obi-Wan there.
5. The Clone Wars series is the reason Darth Maul was (technically) resurrected and made into one of the greatest villains in the Star Wars canon. In one of their early encounters, Maul taunts Obi-Wan by reminding him how he killed Qui-Gon Jinn (at the climax of Episode I).
6. Mon Mothma (the leader who gave the briefing in Episode VI) appears as a Senator in multiple episodes. Watching her talk with Padme is cool and really sad at the same time since we know what happens at the end of Episode III.
7. The Clone Wars establishes even more that Anakin and Bail Organa are friends which is so ironic to me given how Anakin (as Vader) will be a part of the Empire that destroys Bail’s home planet (and kills Bail himself).
8. You know Sy Snootles, the alien singer with the awesome performance number in Return of the Jedi? Well, as it turns out, during the Clone Wars, Sy (who was still a performer) had a love affair with Jabba’s uncle Ziro the Hutt, only to ultimately betray and kill him in order to retrieve some damning information.
9. Think back to the Death Star conference meeting in Episode IV. Remember that older officer with a white moustache and off-white uniform? The Clone Wars reveals that this was formerly Admiral Yularen, fleet commander serving under General Anakin Skywalker. It blows my mind that Yularen’s former Jedi commander is walking mere steps from him and he has no idea at all.
10. Last, and to me most importantly, in the earth-shattering Mortis arc, Anakin is shown EXACTLY what he will become in the future by a living incarnation of the Dark side of the Force. He sees visions of Padme dying, the death of the Jedi and most terrifyingly, a vision of himself as the masked Darth Vader. Now, one could argue that since Anakin’s memory of his vision is wiped out, that this doesn’t really count. But to me it does, because it answers a long-burning question (for me anyway): if Anakin HAD known what was coming, would he have acted differently? Had he not been stopped, I think the answer would have been yes. Anakin is HORRIFIED by what he sees and desperately wants to stop this future from happening (though at this late stage, I’m not sure if that is even possible).

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