Dave Filoni on the Long Anticipated Ahsoka vs Darth Vader Clash and more on Star Wars Rebels: Season 2

dave-filoniIGN posted a really interesting interview with Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni. During the conversation Filoni hinted that in Season 2 it’s possible the fans finally to witness the long anticipated clash between Ahsoka and her formers master Darth Vader. He also revealed whether the Inquisitor is really dead and many more interesting details about the highly anticipated new season of Rebels.

 

 

From IGN:

 

IGN: So here’s where I get to ask you things where you have to play coy. But Dave, Vader versus Ahsoka… You have to! Isn’t that right? You have to.

 

Filoni: Well, it’s a very challenging thing, as you can imagine. What people send me already is fascinating to see how people have gravitated to that matchup and are already predicting it. I guess in some ways, I don’t want to say yes or no, but it seems like a collision course, doesn’t it? Even the way they’ve appeared on the show already… But it would be a hard conflict for her to walk away from, I’ll say that.

 

This is not a spoiler but there were several things that I wanted to go over with George before he was out completely. One of the things that he and I sat down and had fairly lengthy discussions about was Ahsoka and Darth Vader. We forged a plan that basically was what she would know, what she didn’t know, what ways she would react, what he would think. So all these things that we may or may not cover, I know I’m basing them, deeply rooted, in all the things that we had kind of planned. So I was glad to have gotten this kind of backstory detail, so if a confrontation happens, it’ll be legitimate.

 

 

Ahsoka

 

I will feel that it needs that backing and informative detail. I guess that, in summary, that just tells you it’s come up before, already. It’s something that’s always been on our minds since the early creating of the character, once you realize she’s Anakin’s Padawan. That has implications that are very far reaching, but we’ll see. That’ll be a sticky thing and hopefully very epic.

 

To that end, I would say that I would caution people, and I said this already — Ahsoka is not going to bunk up on the Ghost. That’s not her style. You have to think of her more as a figure that comes in and out of the story, a figure that has a lot of knowledge and advice, kind of a mentor, definitely a warrior, but one that’s very cautious about when to draw her sabers and actually fight. It’s an extremely dangerous time, especially for someone like her that has a personal connection to someone like Darth Vader, whether she knows that or not. We’ll have to wait and see. That’s one of the big questions, I would imagine.

 

The Inquisitor

 

IGN: You’ve taken out what had been the main villain and a big part of the imagery of the show – while bringing in someone not too shabby to replace him. How did you decide you wanted to do that pretty early in the show’s run?

 

Filoni: I think it just speaks to… We always want there to be consequences and that goes for the villains. We saw that a little bit with Aresko and Grint when Tarkin showed up and their brand of kind of carelessness is dispatched. We discussed the Inquisitor. It was painful because Jason [Isaacs] is so brilliant playing him, but it was a pivotal moment in the season and everything’s going to change.

 

Season 1 is like A New Hope. Season 2 becomes more like Empire Strikes Back for our heroes. They’re starting to pass through this new part of their journey and things become ratcheted up, more exciting, more adventure; but darker, more dangerous like you would expect. Having the Inquisitor hang on, after such a failure, having captured this Jedi and let him go – It’s really a problem for the Inquisitor because he knows that Vader and the Emperor will not suffer this failure. He knows what they could do to him is, to him, worse than death. That’s a critical difference between an inquisitor and a full fledged Sith. A Sith sees death as an absolute. They’ll do anything they can to avoid it because there’s nothing for them after death and they know this. That’s why the Emperor is so obsessed with trying to prolong his life, to find immortality – because if he dies, he loses all his power. He can’t see a way to be part of the eternal existence of things and just selflessly be a part of it like Obi-Wan can and like Yoda can. They’re opposites.

 

 

Darth-Vader-Star-Wars-REbels

 

An Inquisitor though, he says, there are some things far more frightening than death, which is an interesting thing for him that I’ll let people puzzle over what it means. It’s not accidental, the way he perishes. And he does perish. This isn’t me being sneaky or clever, having him fall off screen. I know that once Maul got cut in half, pretty much everyone was like, “He could be alive!” But I don’t see that happening. We felt it would have a big impact, obviously not just for the villains, but for Kanan to have this happen in front of his eyes. There’s a moment where he thinks he’s lost his main adversary in the Inquisitor and he’s lost Ezra, he believes, so there he’s kind of alone in all this chaos – the very symbol of a Jedi at that point for how things have gone for them. It was a dramatic moment and we have, I think, in some ways some better things in store for Season 2 that could play off of that moment.

 

 

For the full interview make sure to go to IGN

 

*title image by Lucasfilm

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

60 thoughts on “Dave Filoni on the Long Anticipated Ahsoka vs Darth Vader Clash and more on Star Wars Rebels: Season 2

  • March 5, 2015 at 5:45 pm
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    Mind blown, can’t wait for Season 2

    • March 7, 2015 at 8:35 pm
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      “A new power is rising!!” This kind of reminds of me of Sauron’s return. Where no one can stop it. The Inquisitor is force sensitive and probably saw a stalemate, The way Qui-gon saw his before he succumbed to Mauls blade. Qui-gon could have waited for Kenobi though.
      Kanan and co. have unleashed the wrath of Vader.

  • March 5, 2015 at 5:47 pm
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    Great interview. It’s nice to know that they’re still drawing on George’s outline for various parts of the Saga. He left a crapload of content behind and it should form the basis of anything that touches on it.

  • March 5, 2015 at 5:49 pm
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    What’s really interesting is that most people in that universe don’t realize that Vader is Anakin Skywalker. I don’t most of us were aware of that but they established that in the novel Tarkin, so I wonder if Ahsoka realizes it. It would be a pretty incredible moment if she doesn’t know but then finds out that Anakin is alive and is essentially responsible for the fall of the Jedi.

    • March 5, 2015 at 6:44 pm
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      Now that’d be something interesting!

      • March 7, 2015 at 8:36 pm
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        She doesn’t know!!
        Its a secret only few Jedi know.

        • March 7, 2015 at 8:40 pm
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          Its not like Jedi have the luxury of finding each other. they are scattered and in chaos in some cases. The Rebellion was the only real organized enclave of Jedi, post of CW to unite Jedi after order 66. By the time of ANH they are all gone or have disappeared.

          • March 7, 2015 at 9:09 pm
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            She is NOT in the Jedi Order! Why would she know that. Even some Jedi at the Temple didn’t get a clear view of Anakin amongst all the Clone trooper blasts and chaos. Its was the Security and evidence of Lightsaber hacks that Yoda and Kenobi pieced it together. Had they not reversed the beacon in time, only a dozen would have survived from the entire order. Saving a few hundred Jedi from immediate extinction helped buy time. Order 66 reduced them from thousands to a few hundreds. Most of the hundreds were reduced to Dozens by Vader’s purge. It should be half only half of these dozens of Jedi that Propel the Rebellion but the other half just disappear. They are just far removed from it all and ‘Anakin’ is just a name from ‘The tragedy of Anakin,’ according to the Jedi/Sith Holocron records.

          • March 7, 2015 at 9:29 pm
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            “The Tragedy of Darth Vader the Powerful”
            The most powerful Jedi with the highest midichlorian count ever. He can’t shoot force lightning or he will electrocute himself though. lol

    • March 6, 2015 at 9:57 am
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      The problem with that is Obi-Wan. Why would he not tell her? To save her the pain he felt knowing his brother turned evil? Maybe he wouldn’t tell her, Kenobi wasn’t up front with Luke about Anakin.

      Maybe he’s afraid she’ll try and turn him back to the light and get herself killed in the process. Funny thing is that is how Luke turned him back with self-sacrifice and love. I think Vader would kill Ahsoka though because he is so far on the dark path at this time period.

      I say he kills Ahsoka and it makes him FEEL guilty and question his path a bit. I think that will help him turn back in ROTJ. I don’t though, cause Lucas failed on the transistion to Vader. It was just poorly written. Anakin came across as a psychopath incapable of love in the first place. I mean how do you kill so many innocent children out of the blue like that? Just weird bad writing.

      • March 6, 2015 at 11:43 am
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        It has never been a fact that Anakin killed the Jedi younglings. He just ignited his light saber. In my Canon he then said run.
        The Tusken Raiders will always be savages to me, evil regardless and not capable of any “humanity” as in, they are destine to be rotten to the core. They might as well be malevolent robots under their garbs.
        They are like sharks, its all about themselves, their wants and desires always an absolute. Anakin knew what they were, desert nomads that steal, pillage, and kill.
        Kanan got away, and so did many other younglings.
        Lucas left that for interpretation, great writing.

        • March 7, 2015 at 1:27 am
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          Obi-Wan remarks to Padme that there is a video of Anakin killing younglings.

          Yoda also confirms it at the scene: “killed by a lightsaber”.

          Not up to much interpretation. The dude killed younglings.

        • March 7, 2015 at 12:17 pm
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          Yeah, there’s no interpretation there… He killed the younglings. I also think that, even if Vader feels a twinge of remorse when (and I mean when) he kills Ahsoka, we won’t see any of it. It’s going to be cold, and it’s going to be monstrous. This isn’t the Vader that knows that his child survived Padme’s death, and who has become consumed with turning his son to the Dark Side as an alternative to killing him (which is what ultimately leads to his redemption).

          This is a Vader who, as far as he knows, is solely responsible for the death of his wife and unborn child (he didn’t know about the twins). He’s going to be in pure nightmare monster mode.

      • March 9, 2015 at 11:40 pm
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        Kenobi is living as a hermit far away from everybody. He isn’t telling anybody anything.

    • March 8, 2015 at 6:38 pm
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      That would be cool but Ashoka knows Anakin’s future. Remember CW arc-story, where Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ashoka end up in a sort of planet habited by a guy representing the dark side, his sister representing the light side and their father maintaining the balance in the force? Ashoka has a vision of herself as a grown-up there, who advises her of the seeds of the dark side that her master has planted on her. Therefore, Ashoka Major knows at list that Anakin has turned to the dark side, and if she knows that, I’m sure she also knows he is Vader. Possibly Obi-Wan taught her that. I expect them to show us this at some point of the show, as well as how Ashoka struggles with those seeds. Could it be that Ashoka had eventually turned to the dark side, and will appear as villain in episodes 7, 8 or 9? Could she have become an agent of Vader who survived the rebellion? I hope not, but it would be a mind-blowing plot to follow.

  • March 5, 2015 at 6:08 pm
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    Sorry guys, not buying it. If anyone here truly believes the inquisitor won’t be back in some form , maybe he was a clone, maybe he didn’t die, I have a nice peice of land on alderan for you.

    • March 5, 2015 at 7:46 pm
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      But the thing is he isn’t with the Empire anymore. Some one MUST replace, whether that be Vader or a new Inquisitor. Hell, three or four Inquisitors would be interesting.

      Sure, the old Inquisitor might come back, but not under the Empire. Maybe a one off episode, or maybe a few episodes. But he certainly isn’t a part of the ‘big picture’ anymore.

      • March 5, 2015 at 8:48 pm
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        There will be more inquisitors…did you relaly think he was the only one? LOL …did you even think he was the first? no

        • March 7, 2015 at 12:20 pm
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          My theory: Maul is the one training the Inquisitors. Sidious made it clear when we last saw Maul that he wouldn’t tolerate him being Sith, but that he had “other uses” for him. It’s no coincidence that the Inquisitor was trained to use a double-bladed saber.

          • March 11, 2015 at 12:39 am
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            The last time we saw Maul, he escaped in a shuttle, actually. Son of Dathomir comics.

    • March 7, 2015 at 9:15 pm
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      Ventress should be seduced by the most powerful Vader and become an unofficial Inquisitor. She would be more effective and be a perfect fit since she has a dark side to her and the whole pale head inquisitor thing.

  • March 5, 2015 at 6:14 pm
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    I expect another guest from Clone Wars. Darth Maul should be next Inquisitor. Like Ashoka, his fate has been beyond Clone Wars , is Cannon, I guess.
    If he does not show up in Rebels, he must appear in stand alone movie.

    • March 5, 2015 at 10:55 pm
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      It would be cool, if he would be blackmailed into being an Inquisitor, cause he ain’t with the Empire anymore too. He will appear in Rebels, I’m sure, just hope they don’t squeeze his head so he does look shite. If carry on with that technique people will start disliking McQuarrie.

    • March 5, 2015 at 11:46 pm
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      The Emperor would fry Maul on sight, not give him a job.

      • March 6, 2015 at 1:23 am
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        Incorrect. The last time we see Maul in the CW is after he’s on the receiving end of a Sidious beat down but is spared his life because Sidious has other “uses” for him.

        • March 7, 2015 at 10:32 pm
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          I see The PT as great quick fast paced live action graphic novel.

  • March 5, 2015 at 6:22 pm
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    In some ways, I think Filoni is the TRUE standard-bearer for the integrity of Star Wars. The guys just gets it deep in his core, and really seems to always place story and character over spectacle.

  • March 5, 2015 at 6:41 pm
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    Prediction; Ahsoka will not battle Darth Vader…confront him perhaps but not battle him. She’s no good to the rebellion dead, and she knows it. She knows/knew Anakin intimately and remembers who and what he was….she saw it. She’s not going to risk getting killed now that he’s turned and become even more powerful. Her strength is going to be KNOWING Vader and how he operates…or operated. Again, a prediction.

    • March 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm
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      I honestly think she has no idea Anakin is Vader…at least not yet. The fact Filoni basically referred to this season as being similar to “Empire” (where Vader’s identity is revealed to a major character) is basically an underlying message that she’s in the dark.

      It will be great to see play out during the upcoming seasons. I’d bet the farm Ahsoka thinks Anakin is dead.

      • March 5, 2015 at 8:52 pm
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        only 3 people know who vader is..obi-wan- yoda- and the emperor.If bail organa knew…then Princess leia would know….and if she knew…..well…you do the math. so i would say that only those three are the ones who know… maybe tarkin.

        • March 5, 2015 at 9:22 pm
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          In the Tarkin novel, he has his suspicions. After spending so much time with Anakin during the Clone Wars, Tarkin seems to think Vader is Skywalker, but figures it is best not to dig too deep.

          • March 7, 2015 at 9:19 pm
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            And even Vader no longer sees himself as Anakin. He is a new monster, twisted and evil to serve the Emperors military empire.

  • March 5, 2015 at 6:51 pm
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    I really hope they put Mon Mothma and Garm-Bel Iblis in as leaders of the other rebel cells. It would also be neat if they brought in more jedi that could have survived the great jedi purge, like Shaak Ti or Rahm Kota.

    • March 6, 2015 at 12:18 am
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      I doubt they’ll canonize Rahm Kota or Garm. Let’s just live them in the legends. A Mon Mothma appearance would be nice though.

  • March 5, 2015 at 7:01 pm
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    Plagueis debunked!

  • March 5, 2015 at 7:03 pm
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    “I know that once Maul got cut in half, pretty much everyone was like, ‘He could be alive!'”

    Not a single person I know in real life or was in communication with online EVER thought that Maul might still be alive after being sliced in half and dumped down a “bottomless” reactor shaft.

    That was the one part of TCW that I never bought at all.

    • March 5, 2015 at 7:09 pm
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      Yes, thank you!! My reaction to it; “Wait….SAY WHAT??”

      • March 5, 2015 at 7:41 pm
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        Thought for sure it had to be a typo. It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it was meant to be sarcastic.

        • March 5, 2015 at 9:20 pm
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          Yeah but like he said, Sith see death as an absolute. So Maul hung on to life almost with pure willpower and the force. Same reason Anakin survived lava. And I also thought the Maul spider thing was ridiculous at first but it turned out to produce some of the best arcs in the clone wars.

          • March 6, 2015 at 12:18 am
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            The problem I had with the whole thing was, in the movie Maul very clearly got bisected right through his vital organs, and then in TCW they turn around and act like he basically just got his legs and lower pelvis chopped off.

            In fact, I believe I recall Lucas mentioning, in one of the TPM “making-of” things, that he re-did the scene of Maul falling down the shaft so that he very clearly fell in two pieces, the idea being that everyone would know that he wasn’t going to be coming back from that one.

            Evidently, that didn’t quite take.

        • March 6, 2015 at 1:37 am
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          No, no, no. This is a classic case of misinterpreting what is meant when only reading what’s been said. He wasn’t referring to the collective viewing audience’s reaction to Maul’s death in TPM. He’s saying that, SINCE, Maul was “resurrected” in the CW toon, it lends justifiable credibility to the idea of something like that happening with the Inquisitor. Filoni is just shooting that notion down by referencing what happened with Maul’s story via CW. Geesh

    • March 5, 2015 at 7:50 pm
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      Maybe he means everyone at the writers’ table who were looking for characters to bring back, but not fans or moviegoers.

      “Well, they didn’t show his head get cut off or his brains smashed out. Nice. We can bring him back.”

      • March 5, 2015 at 9:13 pm
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        LOL! No, they just showed him getting bisected across his torso, then falling hundreds of feet down that shaft. The idea that somebody could believably survive that… well, I think the TCW writing team has a big future in daytime soap operas. ;^)

        • March 5, 2015 at 10:57 pm
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          Ironically, TCW wasn’t the first SW story that did this, there was one of the Dark Jedi bosses in Dark Forces II who could only hover, because he lost his lower half in a saber fight.

  • March 5, 2015 at 7:42 pm
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    I haven’t had a chance to watch any episodes of “Rebels” yet, but I’m very happy to hear that Ahsoka has shown up again. She’s a terrific character, and I have to say that one of the most emotional aspects of her “leaving the Jedi order” story arc, for me and my daughter, was the realization that this meant that she would probably *survive* the Jedi purge. So it’s great to see her again. But please, please don’t use this opportunity as a way to kill her off. She’s a great character. Let her be.

    • March 6, 2015 at 4:45 am
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      For any of the canon to work she has to die at some point. Kanan and Ezra too for that matter. We can’t just have these powerful Jedi characters running around the galaxy and it’s up to some farm boy to save the day. What for if they are still alive? She deserves a good honorable death.

  • March 5, 2015 at 8:47 pm
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    Ashoka may be cool, but now she needs to die.

    • March 5, 2015 at 11:03 pm
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      She might kill herself, because of bad animation plastic surgery.

  • March 5, 2015 at 10:10 pm
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    Nonono… guys, guys, GUYS! The inquisitor is dead. face it. I liked that carachter too. Its crystal clear obvious that we’ll see Vader instead, as they said might not always, guess more standard imperial officcers in most of the battles, but no, not the inquisitor. I really would like to see a new Starkiller debuting in the show. Or Maul is still alive, though a little aged at the time…

  • March 5, 2015 at 11:01 pm
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    Yeah I see absolutely no scenario where Ahsoka can survive. The fact she’s directly involved with the rebellion, and in particular Bail Organa, basically guarantees she’s a goner.

    There would be absolutely no way to explain her absence from episode 4,5 and 6 given how rough things got for the Rebellion and how much they could have used ANOTHER Jedi ally, especially with Obi-won kicking the bucket in ANH.

    Writing is on the wall…Vader will reveal himself to her and then kill her. It will take the old saying “I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you” to another level.

    • March 5, 2015 at 11:05 pm
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      Always a way there is.

      • March 6, 2015 at 12:27 am
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        Nope. Who surving through the OT would be a copout and severely damage the mythos overall. Heck, I think the same way about Kanan as well. As for that matter, Vos, Maul, and Ventress. Random Jedi/Force sensitive individuals roaming the galaxy.

  • March 6, 2015 at 5:37 am
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    I wish jar jar binks could come back, even though he may or may not he dead. He would be so funny. 🙂

    • March 6, 2015 at 11:47 am
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      Jar Jar will be back, there is no doubt.
      Jar Jar has a fan base regardless what ganglers dish.

      • March 7, 2015 at 3:24 pm
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        Jar Jar should be snacked by a Rancor without warning. That would be the coolest scene ever.

      • March 7, 2015 at 9:33 pm
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        Yep!

  • March 7, 2015 at 1:14 am
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    Any Ashoka vs Vader fight would be anti-climatic since we all know who would win.
    No Vader = No New Hope appearance.

    Besides I want Ashoka in the new Star Wars films.

    • March 7, 2015 at 9:33 pm
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      The way it plays out is gonna blow everyone away!
      The story is already playing out very well under Disney. Its exciting!

  • March 7, 2015 at 11:08 am
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    I didn’t like the stylized Vader costume they showed at the end. Why must SW:Rebels distort iconic costumes just for the sake of it??

    • March 7, 2015 at 9:30 pm
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      Why? He looks more angry than robotic now, which is a staple of animation. Its okay.

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