The Star Wars Rebels animated series debuted in October of 2014, over a year ahead of the theatrical release of the first Disney-era Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. The story follows the crew of the Ghost, one of the first cells of freedom fighters who eventually found others and formed the Rebellion that would ultimately bring down Emperor Palpatine and his Galactic Empire.
Rebels introduced all-new characters into the Star Wars canon, including Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, his Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger, Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren, and Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, the sole surviving member of the Lasat honor guard. Rounding out the group of newcomers was Hera Syndulla, the pilot of the Ghost, and her mouthy, grouchy astromech droid, Chopper.
Fan favorite characters introduced in the earlier animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars became regulars after a while, too, including Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex.
By its series finale 2018, Star Wars Rebels had given fans many fantastic moments, like a long-awaited between Ahsoka Tano and Darth Vader, and the final lightsaber clash between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Maul. It re-introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn, a character previously cast out of the canon after Disney bought the rights to Star Wars from Lucasfilm, and added a new chapter in the long and rich history of the Darksaber, as a new leader of Mandalore took up the legendary weapon.
Throughout its four seasons, Rebels became vitally important to the overall story of Star Wars. The show connected The Clone Wars animated series to films like Rogue One and A New Hope. It introduced complex characters who quickly solidified their place in the hearts of fans, and added new wrinkles to the mythology.
With The Clone Wars now over, there’s currently no animated Star Wars series in production. But something tells we’ll have another one before long, since Disney loves to make Star Wars stuff. And when it gets on this, it should make a sequel to Rebels. Showrunner Dave Filoni even outlined how such a series should go in the epilogue to the series finale, “Family Reunion and Farewell.”
Sabine Wren narrates a touching scene, talking about how the Rebellion finally destroyed the Empire in the Battle of Endor as we see Ahsoka Tano lands on the planet of Lothal. Ahsoka, dressed in her best space Gandalf cosplay, is there to pick up Sabine. The two are off to search for Ezra Bridger, a powerful Jedi Padawan who could speak with creatures using the Force.
That power was on full display in the final battle for Lothal. The Rebel forces were on the verge of freeing the planet from Imperial rule when the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn arrived with his Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, and began shelling the defensive shield protecting the planet. Seeing only one way to save Lothal, Ezra used the Force to connect with a pod of space whales called Purrgil, which got close enough to the Star Destroyer to pull it into their hyperspace lanes. It worked! The Purrgil destroyed Thrawn’s fleet and incapacitated his ship with him on board.
Unfortunately, Ezra was on the command deck of Thrawn’s ship, and when the Purrgil pulled Thrawn’s ship into into hyperspace, they took Ezra with them.
And just like that, the search for Ezra is the basis for your Rebels sequel show. Ahsoka and Sabine would travel to dangerous parts unknown in the outer reaches of the galaxy, hoping to find Ezra and bring him home. Obviously, they’d come across Grand Admiral Thrawn in the process. In fact, Ezra and Thrawn could be working together to find their way home, where Thrawn would be shocked to find the Emperor is dead. He could even get a redemption arc of sorts, like the one we saw for Agent Kallus.
And in the spirit of Disney’s desire to connect everything, Ahsoka and Sabine could stop by The Mandalorian where the title character could point them in the right direction, having heard of a Jedi hiding out on some planet through his contacts in the Bounty Hunter’s Guild. We know that Ahsoka, at least, will show up in the second season of The Mandalorian, and maybe even get her own show. Until proven wrong, I’m imagine that this is how it’ll go down.
It’s time for a sequel series to Star Wars Rebels. I hope you’re listening, Disney.
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