Star Wars Rebels: Showrunner Dave Filoni Confirms Popular Fan Theory About Rex.
After a recent screening of Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Finale, Twilight Of The Apprentice, Dave Filoni answered a few questions from the fans regarding the show and the Star Wars canon in general. While he was tight-lipped about where certain Rebels characters could show up beyond this series, he did reveal something about the fan-favorite Rex that fans have been curious about since the character’s reintroduction.
Some spoilers for Rebels ahead (but not for Twilight Of The Apprentice).
For those not in the know, the theory in question is that the above soldier (named Nik Sant in the Star Wars Legends continuity) is actually an elderly Rex. The theory first popped up right around the time Rex’s redesign was unveiled, with many noting the similarities between the facial hair of Rex and Nik Sant. If we refer to Legends and say that the clone army was made in the same year that The Phantom Menace took place (32 years before the Battle of Yavin), then Rex would be left at the ripe age of 36 (72 in “Clone Years”, due to his accelerated aging) when the attack on the second Death Star took place. (Physically, this would make him older than Han is in The Force Awakens!) So the evidence for the link is there, but there was no confirmation about it… until yesterday, when Dave Filoni outright confirmed the theory.
The one thing that I have toyed with and we’ll see how I feel about this, this is probably a spoiler, Carrie Beck, but I gotta give them something. I’ve said absolutely nothing today. And my wife’s like yeah, it’s just like being home. But I think the one thing I have really thought about is I really do think that Rex is that guy on Endor. I really do. Why else is there a bearded old guy on Endor, Tano? Why? It makes no sense. If you don’t want that to happen, do you know what that means? I’m gonna make that happen. I’m getting like Palpatine, I’m getting power crazy.
So there you have it – a character from The Clone Wars and Rebels actually made their way into the movies, and it happened long before either of those shows were made to boot. Logically, this means that Rex won’t die during the events of the show, (which itself is the spoiler we were warning you about). It might even mean that Rex actually saw the end of the war, meaning he could possibly retire and live out his last few years in peace. Good ol’ retroactive continuity at work, making already-rich shared universes even more detailed. Maybe this could be a good sign for the whole “Maz Kanata was in The Phantom Menace” theory we ran with a while ago.
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.
Don’t know if I’d call that confirmation. Though I loved the theory and have been a proponent, I don’t think this makes it canon yet.
If Pablo Hidalgo approves this, so much HYPE
He’s the demi-god of continuity now, so I guess if Filoni said it, Pablo said it first.
Force sensistives have the last word.
So glad I have my own canon.
You are not alone 🙂
Me too – I fire shitty EU books out of it at all hours of the night. My neighbors LOVE it.
“Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future…”
For Lucasfilm Past is in motion too 🙂
This, everyone, is why we can’t have nice things.
Actually, this is how we can all have nice things.
:0 that’s so cool!
x) nice
I told you that. My theory was taken!! Wooo!
I would actually love seeing this fully confirmed. Nice way to retcon Rex into the OT.
That makes for such a perfect story for Rex, he now goes through two wars, that just blows my mind. The only reason I wouldn’t want this to happen is that we essentially needed to delete a previous character (Admittedly I don’t know anything about him from legends) in order to plop Rex in there. If all he has is a name, sure!
I don’t think he was given much of a back story if any…just a name…probably derived from “Saint Nick” who sports similar facial hair. 🙂
Rex is Santa. Confirmed. I’m okay with this.
Remember, Endor is still some 8/9? years after Rebels. With Rex’ accelerated ageing, I find it hard to believe he would still be running around in the thick of it all.
Old guy is cool, especially after you realise that he disguises himself as an imperial during the mission…. but I don’t know if I can accept he’s Rex.
Why? A 72-year old can’t fire a blaster rifle?
Han Solo did.
To be fair, being a soldier is in his blood and sole reason for existing. I think if any 72 year old guy would be running around fighting, it’d be him.
To be fair, by the time of the Rebels redesign, it looks more like bacon is in his blood.
Ha!
Mmmmmmmm………baaaaa-con. Ahhhhhhhh….
When 72 years old you reach, look as good, you will not.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?
I don’t think he confirmed it I think he said its what he would like to see happen.
I wonder if Vader knows yet that his former friend and 501st commander is now part of the Rebel Alliance?
Off topic but this interview just went online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgqEx9aIfCQ
Awesome! I love little stuff like this!
Now I will watch ROTJ with totally different eyes,it is so amazing
I usually hate retcons. Especially where every character ends up being related to every other character in some convoluted way. But… This is actually pretty cool. It’s nice to think that Rex made it through one last battle & retired into a (temporarily) free Galaxy.
Yes, but this one is a Retcon that doesn’t have much to do with the movies, it’s not like anyone has dialogue about it.
Yeah, it’s just nice.
I’m not trying to be John Campea, but it’s pretty obvious it wasn’t ever intended to be Rex LOL. Dave Filoni probably went to Lucasfilm executives and said, “Can I make this guy Rex?” Hahaha. I’m very glad Rex isn’t going to die in Rebels now…
Any link… Please?!?
None yet.. Recon isn’t even out yet.
Thanks… my kids and I are dying here! Thank you, btw. This is the only way my sons and I can watch it.
here ya go http://pastebin.com/xSrcZ6qc
I think he is Walter White surviving cancer.
I remember this theory from months ago, and I’d totally be up for it!
Nik Saint. Get it? Only thing is that it’s clearly a honkey playing him and Rex is Maorian looking being a clone of Temura Morrison. Ie: darker tanned skin.
Here’s something I never got through or saw explained anywhere……Why the fuck are there Rebels disguised as Biker Scouts in The Battle Of Endor? You see maskless ones with their hands up with Stormtroopers pointing blasters at them. Are they traitors or Rebels in disguise? I found nothing in the EU to support either theory and it sounds like it would make for a cool story.
If they are only shown during the capture, that would likely mean that Nik….Rex dressed in a Scouttrooper outfit as the rest of the team snuck into the base. He would have stayed outside to give the appearance to any returning patrol that “everything’s normal, we’re fine here, now, how are you?”
You can actually see him put on the helmet as Han and the rest go inside the base. They took the uniform from the biker scout they captured.
Really surprised the EU has never touched this till now. Unless it was covered in one of the RPG books which I don’t follow. No clue why they used the oldest guy on the team to get in the armor either.
Because he wrote the Imperial communication codes with Cmdr Wolf.
Explains why he was on the team but judging by Rebels he was too fat for the average trooper and since they were no longer using clones anymore he wouldn’t necessarily be a perfect fit either. I’d like to see this canonized but there are too many holes the least of which him looking nothing like Temura Morrison in spite of being a clone.
Sounds like a job for a comic book miniseries – or continuation of Shattered Empire ‘Vol. 2’, likely the best (and audience favorite) choice.
They’d be dumb not to. I’m just going to say he got the same type of plastic surgery Obi-Wan got in TCW.
I kind of like the idea… But this is exactly why I don’t listen to anything Dave, or Pablo either, have anything to say.
Not listening to them makes no sense at all as they make the stories and cannon.
That’s fine and all, but they bullshit too much. I’ll let the actual stories speak for themselves.
Best retcon ever. Seriously.
Rex looks pretty white in Rebels.
That’s kind of a problem, yeah.
Nik Sant… Am I the only one getting the Joke? Sant Nick, white beard.. Its Santa Clause!
As much as I love Rex and want to see him have a happy ending, there is no getting around the fact that the old guy in the OT looks nothing like a clone…
i think he is Jimmy Herring …
Filoni didn’t confirm anything. The only confirmation he did was that he likes the idea…But there is a difference between thinking it and confirming it. Until it is actual confirmed by either Disney or Lucasfilm, I will still consider this as nothing more than a theory…