Rebels is the most underrated Star Wars program. It doesn’t have the same bravado that The Clone Wars or The Mandalorian, but it’s an exciting coming-of-age story in its own right. It also unites all kinds of loose ends – and canonizes the best villain in Star Wars novels, Grand Admiral Thrawn.
In recent months, old rumors of a Rebels Season 5 or the series sequence has cooled, leading to a leak to suggest that the future of the series is in the next series Ahsoka. Here’s why to finish the Rebels live-action story can make a lot of sense.
YouTube channel Kessel Run Transmissions ran a live broadcast on Sunday, revealing exclusive leaks from Ahsoka Tano’s upcoming secondary series and the Rebels sequel. They revealed that while the Rebels sequence was in production, the huge success of The Mandalorian made the series change direction. Now, Ahsoka basically will become the now abandoned Rebels fans of the sequel have been waiting.
However, all hope is not lost. The move to live action does not mean starting from scratch and, apparently, the Ahsoka series will use scripts from Rebels sequel. Their plot revolves around the search for Ezra Bridger and Thrawn, who were lost in the Rebels Final. Seeing that Ahsoka was still looking for Thrawn during the time of The Mandalorian Second season, using these scripts in the continuation of your story makes perfect sense.
Using Ahsoka as a Rebels the sequel also meets another great need for Star Wars fans – a live action by Sabine Wren. Sabine, a Mandalorian colleague, would fit perfectly with the rest of Mandalorians in the live-action universe of Star Wars. In fact, there was a lot of speculation that Sasha Banks would play her in Season 2, but her role was actually Koska Reeves, a new character. The live-action Sabine would provide another Mandalorian to possibly interact with Din Djarin, Bo-Katan Kryze and even Boba Fett while helping Ahsoka look for Ezra.
Although this leak is not yet confirmed, it is important to note that Kessel Run Transmissions leaked that Lucasfilm was developing nine new Star Wars series in July, an idea that seemed absurd at the time, but was confirmed during Disney Investor Day. So while these leaks must be viewed with a healthy amount of skepticism, there may be some truth to them.
Ultimately, dealing with Ahsoka as a Rebels “successor”, as the leaks refer to it, means that while the narrative may find resolution in the new live-action medium, it also establishes possible links with other live-action programs like The Mandalorian or Boba Fett’s Book. It’s a way to finish telling the story, but keep the door open for new adventures. After all, that’s what Star Wars is best at.
Star Wars Rebels is now broadcasting on Disney +.