Star Wars was a huge influence on the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980’s. The writers of modern Star Wars grew up on those same cartoons. Ergo Star Wars has now become those shows writ large and made real.

Animation moved on (see Avatar, Korra, Steven Universe, Voltron LD etc) but Star Wars did not.

Actually that last part isn’t true. Rebels remains essential viewing and the Visions series have to be some of the best interpretations of the backdrop of the modern day but I digress.