Star Wars Rebels

Star Wars Rebels is an American 3D animated science fiction television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation and set in the Star Wars galaxy five years before A New Hope. It takes place during an era when the Galactic Empire is hunting down the last of the Jedi while a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking form. The visual style of the series is inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. The series features new characters, along with some from the original trilogy and from the previous CGI series, The Clone Wars.

The series premiered as a one-hour television film, Spark of Rebellion, on October 3, 2014, on Disney Channel prior to the premiere of the series on October 13 on Disney XD. The second season premiered on June 20, 2015, with a one-hour television film, The Siege of Lothal. The third season premiered on September 24, 2016, with the television film, Steps Into Shadow. The fourth and last season premiered on October 16, 2017, with another one-hour television film, Heroes of Mandalore. Its final episode aired on March 5, 2018.

Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman served as executive producers of season one. Weisman left the show after season one. Filoni was also the supervising director for the first two seasons, a role he relinquished after accepting a promotion that expanded his creative role into overseeing all Lucasfilm Animation projects; he chose Justin Ridge to succeed him for season three.

The series has been generally well received with several award wins and nominations. Rebels garnered praise for its writing, characters, voice acting, score, and expansion of the franchise's mythology, although it received some criticism for its animation and perceived lack of depth. The show was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Animated Series and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. Rebels became the first recipient of the Saturn Award for Best Animated Series on Television, winning for its final two seasons.

A number of tie-in media have been released to expand upon the series' lore such as the comic book series Kanan, the novel A New Dawn, and the novel series Thrawn.

## Premise

Fourteen years after the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order and the rise of the Galactic Empire depicted in *Revenge of the Sith*, a motley group of rebels unite aboard a freighter starship called the *Ghost* and begin to conduct covert operations against the Imperial garrison on and around the planet Lothal and other planets that are menaced by the Empire.

## Cast and characters

### Main

* Taylor Gray as Ezra Bridger, a teenage con artist who is taken in by Kanan to be trained as a Jedi.
* Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus, formerly known as Jedi Padawan, Caleb Dume, who survived the events of Order 66. He is Ezra's mentor and leader of the Ghost Crew.
* Vanessa Marshall as Hera Syndulla, a Twi’lek pilot turned Rebel Commander and the daughter of Ryloth freedom fighter Cham Syndulla.
* Tiya Sircar as Sabine Wren, a young Mandalorian warrior who's fixated with art.
* Steven Blum as Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, a former Lasat honor guard member who wants the Empire to pay for enslaving his people.
* Dave Filoni as Chopper (credited as "Himself" prior to the series finale), Hera's astromech droid who can be a bit reckless.
* David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus, a member of the Imperial ground team tasked with overviewing Imperial activities.
* Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex (seasons 2–4), a former high ranking Clone trooper, who served under Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars.
* Sam Witwer as Maul (seasons 2–3), a former Sith Lord and apprentice to Palpatine who is attempting to hunt down Obi-Wan Kenobi.
* Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn (seasons 3–4), a powerful high-ranking officer within the Galactic Empire.

### Recurring

* Jason Isaacs as Grand Inquisitor (seasons 1–2), a former Jedi Temple Guard who turned to the dark side and was tasked with hunting down surviving Jedi.
* James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, an evil Sith Lord and apprentice to Palpatine who was once Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.
	+ Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, a former Jedi Knight who became Darth Vader.
* Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, who aids the rebellion with pivotal assets.
* Stephen Stanton as Grand Moff Tarkin, an Imperial officer who oversees many of the Empire's activities.
* Sam Witwer and Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine, the ruler of the galaxy and also known as Darth Sidious, Sith master of Darth Vader.
* Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Governor Arihnda Pryce, a high-ranking officer of the Galactic Empire and Governor of the Lothal sector.
* Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, a Rebel extremist and a former freedom fighter.
* Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, the leader of the Rebel Alliance.

### Guest appearances

* Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, a protocol droid who assists allies in the rebellion.
* James Arnold Taylor and Stephen Stanton as Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight in exile on Tatooine.
* Frank Oz as Yoda, the wise and powerful Grand Master of the Jedi who is exiled on the planet Dagobah.
* Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, a smuggler in the underworld.
* Nathan Kress as Wedge Antilles, a former Imperial TIE fighter pilot, who defects to the rebellion.

## Other media

### Films

Chopper and the *Ghost* appear in the 2016 film *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*. Hera's surname is called on a loudspeaker at the Rebel base on Yavin IV, where Chopper can briefly be seen. In addition, the *Ghost* takes part in the climactic battle over Scarif.

The *Ghost* also appears in the 2019 film *Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker* during the final battle over Exegol. The voice of Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus can also heard in the film as one of the voices of Jedi past who provide Rey with encouragement to defeat Emperor Palpatine.

### Novels

On September 2, 2014, Del Rey Books published *Star Wars: A New Dawn*, a prequel novel by John Jackson Miller telling the story of how Kanan and Hera met (set about six years before the series). One of the first canon *Star Wars* novels to be released by Disney, it also introduces Imperial captain Rae Sloane, who is later a grand admiral in the *Aftermath* trilogy (2015–2017). It includes a foreword by Dave Filoni.

In 2017, a new novel, entitled *Thrawn*, was released. The book marked the entrance of Grand Admiral Thrawn into the current canon. It was written by the character's original creator, Timothy Zahn.
A sequel to *Thrawn*, titled *Thrawn: Alliances*, was released on July 24, 2018. It explored Thrawn's partnerships with Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. Another Thrawn novel, *Thrawn: Treason* was released on July 23, 2019. It takes place during the events of Rebels' fourth season.

Hera Syndulla would go on to appear in Alexander Freed's *Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron*  novel trilogy, as a general of the recently christened New Republic's eponymous starfighter squadron in the final days of the Galactic Civil War, hunting down the weakened Imperial forces after the battle of Endor and the death of Emperor Palpatine.Template:Citation needed

### Comics

From April 1, 2015, through March 16, 2016, Marvel Comics published a 12-issue comic series, titled *Kanan*, and set during the events of the first season. Written by former executive producer of the series Greg Weisman and illustrated by Pepe Larraz, Jacopo Camagni and Andrea Broccardo, the story is centered on Kanan having flashbacks to his days as a Padawan in the Jedi Temple and the Clone Wars. The other members of the *Ghost* crew also appear.

In the summer of 2017, Marvel announced that a comic book miniseries adaptation of Zahn's *Thrawn* novel is being planned, scheduled to be released in early 2018. The first issue was released on February 14, 2018, with new issues being released over the following five months.

A few days after the series finale was aired, IDW Publishing released the seventh issue of the long-running *Star Wars Adventures* multi-era comic book series, which contained the first of a two-part comic arc, set between the second and third season, in which the Spectres embark on a mission to save a rare endangered bird from Imperial custody. The second part appeared in the next issue, which was released on March 28, 2018.

### Video games

A side-scrolling run-and-gun game based on the show's first season, titled *Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions*, was released by Disney Mobile on iOS, Android, and Windows Store in early 2015, before being discontinued on July 28, 2016, due to the limitations of the support team. Ezra Bridger is the only playable character, with other characters available via in-app purchases, which also grant early access to most of the game's levels in the mobile versions and are required to play the full campaign in the Windows Store version.

Additionally, several of the characters from the series are playable in other games such as *Disney Infinity 3.0*, *Angry Birds Star Wars II*, *Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (as downloadable content only), *Star Wars: Galactic Defense*, *Star Wars: Force Arena* and *Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes*.

Vanessa Marshall reprises her role as Hera Syndulla for the 2020 video game *Star Wars: Squadrons*, providing voice work and motion capture for the character.

## Themes

### Historical influences

Characters in Star Wars Rebels have taken influence from Biblical, Hebrew, and Greco-Roman mythological names. Star Wars writers have often used biblical names for Jedi while giving galactic Imperial characters Roman names. In 2015 an interview was conducted with Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg where Kinsberg stated that they wanted to connect to the original films by using the biblical naming scheme seen in the films. Both Caleb and Ezra are historically Hebrew names with Ezra translating to "Helper". While Hera comes from the ancient Greek religion after one of their gods. A few Imperials with the Roman Names include Clone Captain Rex which translates to "King" in Latin along with characters Sabine Wren, Admiral Brom Titus and Admiral Kassius Konstantine.

## Themes

### Historical influences

Characters in Star Wars Rebels have taken influence from Biblical, Hebrew, and Greco-Roman mythological names. Star Wars writers have often used biblical names for Jedi while giving galactic Imperial characters Roman names. In 2015 an interview was conducted with Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg where Kinsberg stated that they wanted to connect to the original films by using the biblical naming scheme seen in the films. Both Caleb and Ezra are historically Hebrew names with Ezra translating to "Helper". While Hera comes from the ancient Greek religion after one of their gods. A few Imperials with the Roman Names include Clone Captain Rex which translates to "King" in Latin along with characters Sabine Wren, Admiral Brom Titus and Admiral Kassius Konstantine.

1. ↑ Star Wars Rebels Trailer. IGN (May 4, 2014).
2. ↑ *Star Wars Rebels* Confirms *Rogue One* Easter Eggs, Might Revisit the Film.
3. ↑ Here's all the *Star Wars Rebels* Easter Eggs in *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*.
4. ↑ Template:Cite news
5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `IGN`
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Disney and Random House announce relaunch of *Star Wars* Adult Fiction line. StarWars.com (April 25, 2014).
7. ↑ Template:Cite book
8. ↑ Goldman, Eric (August 30, 2014). *Star Wars: A New Dawn* Review. IGN.
9. ↑ Template:Cite news
10. ↑ Crouse, Megan (April 26, 2016). 5 of Rae Sloane's Greatest Moments. StarWars.com.
11. ↑ Star Wars: Thrawn canon novel announced for 2017!. Making Star Wars (July 16, 2016).
12. ↑ Keane, Sean (October 6, 2017). *Star Wars: Thrawn* sequel announced at NYCC 2017. *New York Daily News*.
13. ↑ Thrawn: Alliances – A sneak peak at the cover.
14. ↑ Get a First Look at Timothy Zahn's Thrawn: Treason – Exclusive (en-US) (December 5, 2018).
15. ↑ Kanan (2015–2016). Marvel.com.
16. ↑ Timothy Zahn's Excellent Thrawn Novel Is Being Turned Into a Marvel Comic.
17. ↑ Star Wars Adventures #7 Review.
18. ↑ IDW digital store listing for "Star Wars Adventures #8".
19. ↑ Vanessa Marshall and Star Wars: Squadrons: “Had so much fun” (9 October 2020).
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Star Wars Rebels: What's in a Name? (en-US) (2015-06-29).
21. ↑ Template:Cite journal
22. ↑ Template:Cite journal