The fifth season of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series debuted on September 29, 2012. The season was first confirmed to be in development in December 2011. Unlike the series' four previous seasons, which aired on Friday nights in prime time at 9:00 p.m. ET, Season Five aired on Saturday mornings at 9:30 a.m. ET. Also unlike previous seasons, Season Five consisted of only twenty episodes. It was the final season of the series to be broadcast on Cartoon Network.
Before it began airing, Hasbro suggested that Season Five would be the last season of The Clone Wars. Supervising Director Dave Filoni disputed this claim at the time, and in Star Wars Insider 137, he reiterated his intention to keep making the series as long as people were watching. He also announced that his staff had begun working on scripts and designs for a sixth season. However, the series was canceled after Season Five, with thirteen remaining episodes that had been in development being released as The Lost Missions on March 7, 2014.
In the fourteenth episode, "Eminence," Cartoon Network censored the scene when Savage Opress decapitates several Black Sun leaders. However, it was confirmed that the full scene would be visible on the Blu-ray edition of the series. A scene from "Shades of Reason" was also censored, when Darth Maul decapitates Pre Vizsla, and his head rolls down on the stairs of the throne room of Sundari Royal Palace.
Yoda received an updated CG character model for Season Five (right)
At one point, the "younglings arc" (i.e. "The Gathering," "A Test of Strength," "Bound for Rescue" and "A Necessary Bond") was considered as the pilot for a possible spin-off series. Under this plan, "A War on Two Fronts" was intended to be the Season Five premiere, though it was eventually changed to "Revival," with "A War on Two Fronts" becoming the second episode of the season.
Following the episode order published in Insider 134, Star Wars Insider 137 also reported the episodes through episode fifteen:
Following the printing of Star Wars Insider 137, a new airing order was released, beginning with the sixth episode, "The Gathering." Pablo Hidalgo confirmed the release order inconsistencies through the official Star Wars blog. Furthermore, the episodes "An Old Friend," "The Rise of Clovis," and "Crisis at the Heart" were pushed to the series' sixth season.
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