Season 7 broke down into a trio of four-episode arcs that filled in some of the gaps in the stories of two fan favorites, Commander Rex and Ahsoka Tano, who were introduced in the animated Clone Wars film that preceded and set up the series in 2008. But it also helped position both its writer and its most memorable character for expanded roles in the franchise’s future.

Season 7’s 12-episode send-off was largely intended to tie up loose ends and bid goodbye to a show and an era that hold a special significance for many Star Wars fans who were weaned on the prequels. The seventh and final season of The Clone Wars, which returned from a six-year hiatus in February, bowed out with a May 4 finale that saw the prequel-spanning series catch up to-and briefly vault past-the conclusion of Episode III. Fifteen years after Lucas presided over preproduction of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the animated series has reached its long-delayed conclusion.

On Monday, Disney snipped the last link to George Lucas’s decades-long tenure as the steward of Star Wars.