UPDATE 2! More Character Details for Star Wars Rebels Revealed – SDCC 2014 Panel Confirmed! First Look at Agent Kallus, Cover Jacket for A New Dawn.
Disney is raring to get people into Star Wars Rebels with media detailing the backgrounds of the lovable anarchists, and Studio Fun International has announced two books that will do just that – the colon-free Sabine My Rebel Sketchbook, and the colon-saturated The Secret Jedi: The Adventures of Kanan Jarrus: Rebel Leader. Recently, SFI released two concise press releases explaining what these books will be about – and, more importantly, delves into details on these characters’ personalities. Lucasfilm also released a short video showing off a couple details about the Astromech Droid “Chopper” C1-10P. After the jump, we’ll share what SFI has to say about Sabine Wren and Kanan Jarrus (don’t worry, it’s all spoiler-free), display the video of Chopper, and also discuss what Disney is going to show at the San Diego Comic Con.
Firstly, let’s get into the press release for Sabine Wren’s book.
She’s funny, creative and impulsive; an artist with spray paint and advanced weapons. She’s also a 16-year-old girl who happens to be flying around the universe, wreaking havoc on the Imperial army. Now you can read the private diary of Sabine Wren, the awesome new heroine of the Star Wars Rebels television series! Wren is one of the most compelling and interesting female characters in Star Wars since Princess Leia! She’s an explosives expert supreme, and a master of advanced weapons. She’s also a crazy artist, gifted at graffiti and sketching. She’s strong, bold, confident, cool – and only 16! Get to know Sabine through her own words and artistic expression in this replica journal filled with sketches, photos of her best work, stories, doodles and her observations of her fellow rebels. In Sabine’s own writing, relive events that occur during the first 10 episodes of Star Wars Rebels, plus discover details about Sabine’s life and the rebel team.
In short, it would appear that Sabine’s character is meant to appeal to a wide variety of young viewers – aspiring artists, hopeful students, the “girl power” crowd, and (of course) the prized demographic of people who think that more cartoon girls should kick ass. Perhaps Lucasfilm Animation has been looking at Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Legend Of Korra as a frame of reference for that last category? It seems, in any case, that the writers of the show have their bases covered in appealing to girls and boys both with the character.
Now, let’s look at the press release for Kanan Jarrus’s book.
This breakthrough new book is filled with amazing insights and high-action adventures of the Jedi knight Kanan Jarrus. Plus the foldable holocron provides a gateway to carefully-guarded exclusive digital content. The holocron is a teaching device of the Jedi with access to guarded secrets! Discover the history and secrets of Kanan Jarrus, the newest Jedi to emerge in the Star Wars universe! Who was his master? How strong is the Force within him? What are his fighting skills and what type of lightsaber does he wield? This exciting storybook with exclusive links to rare online content, will reveal intriguing answers to many of these questions. Based on action and events from the first 10 episodes of Star Wars Rebels, this book features seven tales from the perspective of Kanan Jarrus, the secret Jedi. Packed with action, adventure, great reading, humor, and bold visuals, The Secret Jedi provides a wonderful glimpse into the new world of Star Wars Rebels, and the Jedi leading the rebel team. But what makes this a truly unique package is… the holocron! Packaged with each book will be a “holocron” toy that when arranged properly, reveals a secret code to a gated website that includes a wide range of bonus content linked to the book and the broader Jedi world.
Kanan’s description is a little less informative, but still teases that we’ll get a better background on the character by the time it hits the shelves. Nonetheless, it’s great to know that the story will come with not only details on the character, but on the Jedi as a whole via the holocron feature.
Outside of the children’s books, there’s a bigger and more immediate opportunity to see what’s going on in the new show: Comic Con. The panel – entitled “The Heroes Of Star Wars Rebels” – will feature voice talent Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan), Vanessa Mashall (Hera), Steve Blum (Zeb), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), and Taylor Gray (Ezra), alongside Executive Producers Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg. It was clear that Disney was going to feature the cartoon at the expo, given that the airdate of the cartoon is rapidly approaching, and the fact that they have a panel will surely entice fans to get into the show.
Finally, the official Star Wars YouTube channel gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the our heroes’ Droid, Chopper.
UPDATE 1!
Thanks to Herocomplex we have our first look at Rebel Hunter Agent Kallus:
As the fall premiere of “Star Wars Rebels” grows ever closer, we’re getting more familiar with the characters created to bring us into this new era of the space saga. On the bad guy side, images of the Inquisitor has been available for a long time, but now we’re getting our first look at his right-hand man, Agent Kallus, the so-called “Rebel hunter.” And the actor selected to voice him, David Oyelowo. Now he’s voicing the evil agent of the Empire, working for the Imperial Security Bureau. The way “Rebels” executive producer Dave Filoni describes it, it’s a little like the FBI and a little like the military police.
One of the most striking things about Kallus is his impressive facial hair, two imposing sideburns that sweep down the side of his face.
“We definitely wanted to capture that ’70s feeling that was so strong in ‘A New Hope,’” says Filoni. “Art director Kilian Plunkett and I looked at a lot of reference to try and make that influence fit into ‘Rebels.’ At one point we had [Rebel pilot] Zeb in bell bottoms.”
Unlike some of the more outlandish “Star Wars” looks, Kallus’ mutton chops are easy to grow for potential cosplay opportunities.
“I’m hoping to see some people sporting that look at Comic-Con next year,” Filoni adds.
Getting an actor of Oyelowo’s stature for the series was something of a coup for the “Rebels” creative team. He may not yet be a household name, but fans have bandied his name about as perfect casting for iconic characters such as James Bond and Doctor Who.
“We actually had David read for several different parts,” Filoni said. “We knew we wanted to use him, but weren’t quite sure where.”
UPDATE 2!
Beyond Agent Kallus, the cover jacket of A New Dawn has been unveiled by publisher Del Rey. The book summary gives us some solid details on Kanan Jarrus’s background, but bear in mind that it also contains SPOILERS for the Star Wars Rebels television series, so read at your own risk.
Ever since the Jedi were marked for death and forced to flee Coruscant, Kanan Jarrus has devoted himself to staying alive rather than serving the Force. Wandering the galaxy alone, from one anonymous job to another, he avoids trouble – especially with the Empire – at all costs. So when he discovers a deadly conflict brewing between ruthless Imperial forces and desperate revolutionaries, he’s not about to get caught in the crossfire. Then the brutal death of a friend at the Empire’s hands forces the ex-Jedi to make a choice: bow down to fear or stand up and fight.
But Jarrus won’t be fighting alone. Unlikely allies, including a bomb-throwing radical, a former Imperial surveillance agent, a vengeful security officer, and the mysterious Hera Syndulla – an agent provocateur with motives of her own – team up with Jarrus to challenge the Empire. As a crisis of apocalyptic proportions unfolds on the planet Gorse, they must stand together against one of the Emperor’s most fearsome enforcers – for the sake of a world and its people.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
Sabine is full of cheese.
Doesn’t look like an interesting show in my opinion. Doesn’t remind me of the OT at all, either.
Totally! And what is up with those pork chops!!! This show looks like OT, PT, EU, in a Blender, recycling and thrown to the lil kiddies like some STARWARS CHUM… by the bucket load.
“cowboy jedi” nuff said
Yeah, the Disneyfication of Star Wars is pretty evident on this show.
The nature of the casting for Episode VII doesn’t give me much hope either.
“farmboy jedi”, “muppet jedi”
I wonder if max Von is going to play kanan
No, Agent Kallus is my guess.
Looks like total spam to me. Star Wars gets so boring outside the main story arcs of the trilogy. I can’t understand why anyone would bother with a show like this outside of sheer entertainment desperation.
Does anyone know exactly when this fall Rebels will premiere?
Still no official word on that, but you can expect a confirmation date at SDCC.
NEW CHARACTER INTRODUCED:
AGENT KALLUS, IMPERIAL OPERATIVE.
“Firstly, let’s get into the press release for Sabine Wren’s book.
She’s funny ……… ”
ill be the judge of that
How can a 16 year old be an explosives expert supreme, and a master of advanced weapons?
Dumb.
Because it’s f-ing Disney… There’s not much sense to be made.
In countries stricken with war and revolution, it’s common for children to become skilled with weaponry. As part of the rebellion, a revolutionary movement in the galaxy, Sabine would need to know how tonuse weapons.
Yes. They know how to use weapons.
But they aren’t masters, or experts supreme. To become a master or expert at anything, takes years and decades of training and experience. Not just a quick read of a few WikiPedia articles and girl power.
To be a master and/or expert at 16, when would she have started training? When she was 4? Come on.
Moreover, children who engage in warfare in other countries generally are engaging in guerilla warfare. So they’re not wearing bright pink costumes that facilitate the target practice of their enemies, or create signature bombs and leave behind grafitti that help the enemy track their movements.
If I were trying to engage in a guerilla rebellion, the very last thing I’d want anywhere near me is some teenage grafitti artist that’s constantly trying to draw attention to herself.
I’m sorry, but the character is just dumb, and clearly very little forethought was put into her creation. It’s obviously the formulaic PC creation of some inane Disney executive comittee meeting, meant to pander to teenage girls.
I agree with you 100%, anon. Is this really going to be the group that sparks the rebellion we know from the OT?
What is an “expert supreme” anyway?
Does that mean she comes with sour cream?
I really can’t the idea of the inquisitor too… Not only because of his character design, but his presence in the story waters down so much of Vader’s original badass villainy. It’s been so long since we’ve seen new material with Vader in all his sith lord glory. They really should have booted the idea of the Inquisitor and expanded on Vader’s character.
Well, we now have a reason for that: Sabine is Mandalorian, and doubtless she has already been trained at an early age to be combat-ready, much like the young Padawans we see in Episode 3 (as well as young Anakin himself).
Maybe 10-15 years ago I´d look forward to see this….but being 40 y.o. I´m not interested in this…to me – and I mean ONLY TO ME not wanting to offend all of you with a different oppinion – this and Clone Wars will never be canon, just a cartoon in one of the galaxies far away, because of the simple fact that cartoons are at different level that live movies. Well, if it´s done in the same tone and style as the movies…but it´s not.
Whether or not its cannon isn’t really something I care about. But as far as tone goes, Clone Wars does a pretty great job compared to the prequel trilogies. That’s not saying much, obviously, and neither really matches the originals. But I think Clone Wars and Rebels will be extremely different from one another. With the latter obviously being much more of a “cartoon”.
I wonder if the main guy will make that eye brow thing often or if its permanent
Ehh, that “eyebrow thing” tends to be used in a lot of promotional material for several animated series. I wouldn’t count on it being a huge thing in the show.
Hate to say it but this looks really lame… Hope the new movies don’t follow this childish theme. I was hoping they would make a Star Wars for all the adults that grew up with the OT…
That being said, The Clone Wars = awesome… or at least the last 4 episodes – IMO
So, you’re criticizing a show as looking kiddy based on material written for a kid’s book. That would be like me saying The Dark Knight is for little kids because it has a sticker book.
I say to wait until the first season finishes before making a judgment on the series – TCW got darker a fourth of the way through the first season.
If they wanted to make another animated series geared entirely towards children, they really should not have had it be what explains their new canonical reasoning as to how the rebels began their fight against the empire. I know it’s still a little too early to make any legitimate judgement on the show, but from what we’ve seen this series just screams “disney.” The origin of the rebellion is far too important to be portrayed in this manner. I fear for the franchise and hope to god that the sequel trilogy does not succumb to the same fate…
So much hating. As a true fan of anything Star Wars I’m excited for this show. It’s canon. It happened. Get over it and stop the complaining. It won’t change anything.
“A fan of anything Star Wars”
What a shallow way to think…
Yes. No one is allowed to express negative comments. Only shiny happy people that agree with “true fans” are allowed to post comments. No diversity of thought please.
“As a true fan of anything Star Wars I’m excited for this show. It’s canon.”
Have some standards, and stop being a prick with that kind of talk.
Once upon a time in a land far, far away……
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
Starwars is a story about knights, a princess and a waste of strange creatures as alot of other f-tales and stories. Why bother dislike that theres to “young” heroes and the fact that it seem childish, i beleive that the day Starwars starts to try pleasing only the OT generation it will fail. I´m 40 y.o and i have seen the clonewars series whit my chldren and guess what -im entertained and i with my children cant wait for Rebels to start.
Huh?
“Agent Kallus” sounds like he should know Agent Coulson rather than anyone from Star Wars.
Whoever’s coming up with these names needs to quit their day job. “Chopper”? “The Inquisitor”? A ship named “Ghost”? Wow, Filoni and Disney. Wow.
and a big bad alien call ZEB!!!!
Yeah, because Count Dookoo set such high standards.
“Count Dooku”, “Jar Jar Binks”, “Dexter Jettster”, etc. are all ass garbage names. I never defended them.
Not sure why, but I’m unable to “like” comments…
Just a question: Are you a generally negative person? If so, it is hard to “like” anything.
PROBLEMS WITH COMMENT SECTION
Well, maybe it’s not technically a problem, but it sure is annoying that the comments don’t just appear beneath the post, that I have to click on “comments” to actually see the comments.
Then when I post a comment, it kicks me out of the comments section, and I have to click on “comments” again.
Plus it seems to take a really long time for the comments to load.
Just an FYI.
That’s not a defect, it’s a feature – the site loads comments on a separate page because it would take a while for pages to load otherwise. That long load time when you open up the comments? That’s typical – and, if you wanted to just read the article and ignore the comments, it could get grating quickly. More info here: http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2014/07/update-comments-section.html
I do agree with you that it gets annoying that you have to reload the page again to see the comment you just made, but that’s something that the coder behind this site is trying to figure out, from what I’ve heard from Viral Hide. Just hang in there.
Frankly the feature feels like a defect.
Lol, ouch.
LANDO: Viral Hide will have this figured out. We’ve got to give him more time!
Man what’s up with the ethereal slingshot? Looks so wimpy… the only characters I think look sorta cool are the twi’lek and the droid… everybody else looks un-Star Wars-ish to me.
The slingshot is pretty dumb. Executives probably just didn’t want to give him a blaster.
Still not buying this Sabine character. Hope to hell she surprises me like Quicksilver in Days of Future Past, but everything we see or hear about her just roars ‘demographic checklist’.
Please, for God’s sake…someone stop this prevalence of young ‘feisty’ girl characters in media. It sends all the wrong messages you want with a character like this.
Yeah, pretty much any time a character is described as feisty, spunky, and/or sassy, you know it’s going to be crap.
I saw the video of Chopper a few days ago on youtube, I really enjoyed watching Chopper come to life! And after seeing all the work the R2 builders put into making Chopper, it would be cool to see a little cameo from Chopper in Episode 7.
I would really like to see the full scene of that clip at the end of the video when Chopper electrocuted Zeb LOL Really would like to find out what happens next. Episode 7 and Rebels have stirred up my interest in SW to new heights. ttfn star trek!
I have to say the marketing of this seems obviously rather cheesy. Of course to appeal to kids, knowingly one of their biggest demographics for this. Being that it’s Disney and a “cartoon”. Although to every nay-sayer, I just want to point out…number one, this is how clone wars came off in regards to advertising. Which actually turned out to be a pretty great cartoon. It had it’s kiddy moments, but the overall theme was pretty serious, had ALOT of great moments and episodes. And Two, it’s biggest benefit still, is that Dave Filoni/simon kinberg are attached. Filoni is a genius. He will be producing, directing and writing. Which he is quite amazing. He created and wrote one of the best shows…not just cartoons mind you…shows..avatar the last airbender. He also did the clone wars, which is good. Even adults can appreciate avatar and the clone wars.
And no I’m not some kid, I’m a 30 year old man, but still stumbled across avatar and the clone wars because of my nephews. I’m glad I did. So I’ll save any criticism about it due to obvious child-centric marketing which of course Disney will do. I’m sure this show will be great cause filoni is heading it up. To anyone, age 5-90, who hasn’t seen avatar: the last airbender, WATCH it. It’s one of the most epic shows, cartoon or not, of all time. It is much more deep than most people would suspect. And it’s nice to feel like a kid again watching shows like avatar.
Looks really interesting, so looking forward, I’ve hope they will release more information on Imperial Inquisitor…
Coming next: My Little Jedi Farm and Dress a Stormtrooper with additional collectors material