Through Four Seasons, Star Wars Rebels Has Been a Storytelling Bridge

While Kanan and Rex try to figure out a way to work together in a post-Order 66 world, another twosome reunites at the end of Season Two -- Ahsoka and Anakin Skywalker. As the first Fulcrum agent, Ahsoka’s storyline brought the Ghost crew into a larger world of rebel activity just as she found out the terrible truth about her old Master. Ahsoka had an open-ended exit from The Clone Wars television series after years of Jedi training with Anakin. Her relationship to Anakin was so strong that her discovery of just how far Anakin had fallen to the dark side created one of the most emotional moments in Star Wars history.

Other Clone Wars characters that have appearances in Rebels are space pirate Hondo, Hera’s father Cham Syndulla, and Bo-Katan Kryze, the sister of the Dutchess of Mandalore Satine, who died in an episode of The Clone Wars. Throughout four seasons of Rebels, the crew of the Ghost helped piece together small groups of rebels across the galaxy and reveal to audiences just how long some of these groups have been fighting for their freedom against the Separatists and the Empire.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul, characters who first met all the way back in The Phantom Menace, at last find closure with each other in Star Wars Rebels. Kenobi and Maul had an epic lightsaber duel in Naboo that left Kenobi’s Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and it appeared, Maul dead. After a resurrection of sorts in The Clone Wars, Maul spent several episodes doing everything he could to destroy Kenobi, which lead to the death of Satine Kryze among others. In the Rebels episode “Twin Suns,” after much time attempting to lure Ezra into being his apprentice in previous Rebels episodes, Maul seeks his final revenge against Kenobi.

The end of “Twin Suns,” where Maul dies in Kenobi’s arms (mirroring Kenobi holding Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace), also includes a shot of young Luke Skywalker and the voice of Aunt Beru outside their home on Tatooine. This episode ties together the beginning of current Star Wars storytelling from The Phantom Menace with the beginning of A New Hope, while also pushing Ezra Bridger’s character development forward after his interactions with both Maul and Kenobi.

By the fourth season of Rebels, the Ghost crew have found their way to Yavin 4 (complete with General Dodonna) in the rebel base later seen in Rogue One and A New Hope. Saw Gerrera and Mon Mothma’s tense relationship, referenced in Rogue One, is on full display in the Season Four episode “In the Name of the Rebellion.” Mon Mothma and Gerrera also appeared in multiple episodes of The Clone Wars, so fans of both that series and the feature films can get a feel for what motivated these characters at different points in the Star Wars timeline in their Rebels scenes.

Fans looking for appearances and backstories of some of their favorite characters from the original trilogy films are also in luck in Star Wars Rebels. R2-D2 and C3-PO show up in Rebels episodes, as does Lando Calrissian in the episodes “Idiot’s Array” and “The Siege at Lothal." The story of how pilots Wedge Antilles and Hobbie found their way to the Rebellion is told in the Season Three episode “The Antilles Extraction,” and Wedge also plays an important role later on that season in “Double Agent Droid.”

Two icons of Star Wars are also featured in Rebels: Princess Leia Organa and Wilhuff Tarkin. Leia and Tarkin have a complicated past before the events that brought them together in Episode IV; even though they don’t appear in any of the same episodes of Rebels, their appearances add much to what we know about them and their journeys. In many ways, seeing them at this time in Rebels takes their interactions on the Death Star in A New Hope to a whole new level.

What’s your favorite Rebels appearance from a character who debuted in another Star Wars film or television series? Let us know in the comments!