Star Wars: Rebels Season 3 Trailer Hits. Grand Admiral Thrawn is Officially Canon Now! New Poster Revealed.
The highly-anticipated panel for Star Wars Rebels has just arrived at Celebration. Click ahead to see what we’ve learned.
Full trailer revealed!
Panel notes:
- 10:03 AM CST – Panel host Warwick Davis arrives.
- 10:06 – Davis recaps the ending of Season 2. Dave Filoni, Tiya Sircar, and Sam Witwer arrive.
- 10:07 – Filoni dances around the answer of if Ahsoka survived or not. He suggests that we haven’t seen the last of her in one way or another.
- 10:09 – Kanan’s new character art is shown off, having a greater emphasis on appearing like a samurai. He has a goatee now.
- 10:10 – Ezra’s new look features a shorter haircut and a general older appearance.
- 10:12 – Sabine’s new hair color is a mixture of white, blue, and purple. Sabine has to face her past with new gadgets; Sircar teases that we find out who she’s related to.
- 10:14 – A clip showing Sabine rescuing Ezra from Mandalorians using a jetpack is shown off in a chase sequence. Ezra is shown being more visceral with his new lightsaber.
- 10:16 – Zeb’s armor is simplified to look closer to A New Hope‘s alien designs.
- 10:18 – Witwer talks a bit about his experience with meeting Ray Park.
- 10:20 – Maul is coming to terms with his existence. He thinks of Ezra as an apprentice that can achieve what he was not able to do.
- 10:23 – A sequence showing Maul in action is shown. After landing in an abandoned base, Ezra and Kanan confront Maul, who has kidnapped their allies. Kanan is shot out of an airlock on a cliffhanger.
- 10:26 – The hidden base that Darth Maul resides on is the same one from Darth Maul: Son Of Dathomir.
- 10:27 – The Season 3 trailer hits. Grand Admiral Thrawn is confirmed!
- 10:31 – Thrawn was a character that Filoni wanted to bring into the story from the beginning. He is played by Lars Mikkelsen.
- 10:34 – Timothy Zahn offers thanks for integrating the character back into the character. He’s pleased with the direction that the Rebels writers have taken Thrawn in. A new, canonical Thrawn book is being written by Zahn himself.
- 10:37 – Sabine gets the Darksaber formerly owned by Pre Vizsla and Darth Maul.
- 10:39 – Tom Baker of Doctor Who fame voices Bendu, the giant Force creature that communes with Kanan.
- 10:46 – Q&A starts. Dave Filoni does not have immediate plans to adapt more content from role-playing scenarios, but the influence of that material is still there.
- 10:48 – A fan asks about Mara Jade’s possible inclusion in the series. He doesn’t think it’s likely for the show. The Ysalamir will not be appearing in the canon for the sake of consistency.
- 10:50 – A fan asks that if Ahsoka died, if she could become a Force Ghost. Filoni doesn’t think she knows the secret at the time, but he says the option is up in the air.
- 10:51 – A reporter asks if Daniel Logan could play Boba Fett on the show, to which he says “you never know”; other alumni from The Clone Wars may appear on the show to reprise their characters.
- 10:52 – The Sith Lady who spoke to Ezra has a name, but he’s not ready to reveal it.
- 10:53 – The marks on Kanan’s mask have two purposes – to help with animation, and to show Kanan’s newfound appreciation for Rex.
- 10:55 – Sam Witwer jokes about voicing both Maul and the Emperor. Filoni says that Maul is actively trying to avoid Palpatine in direct confrontation.
- 10:56 – A fan asks if Maz Kanata could appear on the show. Filoni coyly responds: “That’s a great idea.”
- 10:58 – Dave Filoni suggests that Cad Bane is alive during Rebels, but there are no plans to include him in the show.
- 10:59 – A fan asks about a ship that looks like the Outrider, and if Dash Rendar would appear. Filoni says that Rendar is a no-go, but the ship itself is the same kind of model.
- 11:01 – The panel ends, and the first two episodes are shown. Naturally, the stream cuts away at this point.
And that’s a wrap!
Screenshots from the event:
Also Wookieepedia has just uploaded the new poster HERE.
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.
Yes, but does Kanan have eyes?
He has some crazy glowing green eyes in that quick cut at the end of the trailer!
Looks like he gets his sight back at the end of the trailer when Maul and Ezra are sitting and Kanan looks as though he’s trying to stop them.
Wow, Thrawn. That is pretty awesome. Hopefully they do him justice. Still wish he could be in the sequel trilogy as the military leader of The First Order. Only because I’ve always loved the character.
Considering they have Timothy Zahn as consultant, I’m very positive!
Me too. I think it was both classy and brilliant to bring Zahn back into the fold to write Thrawn. It’s his character and I don’t think anyone but him would do it justice. I’m elated to see Zahn writing for Star Wars again.
Maybe this is how they’re introducing him and BDT will play him in live action!
He could be Benicio Del Toro still…they may be deflecting rumoring him to be this Vahn character.
Timothy Zahn signed off so I’m sure it’s done appropriately. Filoni said the no islamari, and it looks like he has a female version of Pellion.
Where’s the traiiiiilllerrrr
OHMYGODTHRAWN
I know, right? And Tom friggin’ Doctor #4 BAKER!!!!
OHMYGODWEDGE
Too! I was like: Wedge! Y-wings! Scout Troopers! Mandalorian Stormtroopers!Tarkin’s back! …. THRAWNNNNN
https://youtu.be/xmXp802sFgQ
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J2h_ISmOa-A/Vd1La1ilFLI/AAAAAAAAAAM/_lCnXh8CWcY/w1200-h630-p-nu/admiral_thrawn_mikkelsen_by_evelius-d9645lj.png
Madds was always the guy I wanted to portray Thrawn in live action. I guess is brother playing him in animation is the next best thing.
Lars I think will be even better, the guy is great at portraying cold and calculating villains.
I’m just happy that they shut down the possibility of using the Ysalamir in the new canon. They were the single dumbest idea the old EU ever had.
I agree that the Ysalamir were silly, but there were way dumber things in the EU than them. The Clone Emperor from Dark Empire comes to mind, among other things.
Or all of Dark Empire. I actually didn’t so much mind the ysalamir as they were explained as creatures that evolved the ability to push back the Force as an evolved trait against those creatures that hunted with the Force. I mean, maybe the entire thing is corny, but the ysalamir themselves didn’t annoy me. I’d take those over Emperor clones, yuzzhan vong (sp?), and sentient Sith ships any day.
The Yuzzhan Vong are the entire reason I’m okay with the EU wipe. I’m glad that Filoni and otheres are salvaging the best parts of the EU, though.
Yeah. I’m okay with the EU wipe for a lot of reasons, but the Vong are definitely one of them. It was an overall uninspired storyline. The EU kept going downhill from there. If the EU was able to maintain the quality and feel of Star Wars that Zahn continued in his Thrawn Trilogy, my feelings about the EU wipe well might have been drastically different. I’m really glad to see some of the highlights of the EU reintegrated into the new canon. Filoni gets it.
Why does everyone on these boards hate the Yuuzhan Vong? I seriously thought most Star Wars fans liked the idea of an outer galactic, biological, force immune, planet harvesting, sentient ship/ weapon wielding, pain god worshipping, alien invasion. Or is it just me? 😉
I didn’t really have a problem with the Vong as a species. As you pointed out, there were some interesting aspects to them although they did, at times, come off a a bit gimmicky. But to me, the story was quite dull and amounted to little other than a straight-forward invasion story.
Yet the screenshot above from the trailer invokes that imagery with the creatures behind him. It looks like he has two of them on his shoulder at a glance.
LOVE this. I’ve loved Rebels from the beginning and it just keeps getting better.
You didn’t read enough EU, then. But yeah, they were a little too convenient.
I’m very excited for Zahn’s Thrawn novel as well!
The Outrider, what appears to be Dark Troopers, and Thrawn? Filoni is going to bring back Legends on his own if he has to!
Just good legends not stupid ones like cloned Palpatine or space orcs. But i agree Thrawn deserve to be canon
What’s the space orcs? The Yuuzhan Vong?
You know about any other terrible rip off of orcs ?
Like seriously these rule breaking poorly written orcs should burn in hell.
WEDGE!!!
that’s not Outrider unfortunately, just the same class of ship. having said that, I think Disney purposefully did not explore ESB-RTJ era just yet, I think there is an understanding within Lucasfilm that they have to retell Shadows of the Empier in one way or another, and hopefully, that will also mean bringing Render and Leebo back. I have my hopes high for Anthology movie #3
Yeah, I heard them mention that it wasn’t that ship later in the panel, I just didn’t feel like typing out the YT-2400 XD. Here’s to hoping he pops back up though later on!
Glad I’m not the only one who caught the Dark Troopers.
That is what I honed in on. But they look like a combination phase 1-2-3 this time around. I wonder if they boiled it down to one type or if it will still be in a couple forms
Trailer looks great, I’m extremely happy to see Thrawn added to the show. It’s also awesome that they have Zahn’s approval and that he’ll get to write a new canon novel featuring him.
Make you wonder if Mara Jade is upcoming?
Don’t bet on it.
Was I the only one that caught Wedge is in the trailer?
No, it’s just that everyone’s seeing blue at the moment. lol
Heh heh. So true. But yeah, Wedge! This season can’t come soon enough.
You rang?
Is there any databank that lists everything canonc from comics to toys to books? I have lost track of all the things that you should or could know about the new canon. So far I only managed to see all the animated series, movies and read the Marvel comics…
If all else fails I usually look it up on wookieepedia. They usually have a little logo on top as to if it’s legends or canon
Yeah I saw that but I would like a webiste that updates me canonwise since I don’t have the time to read or play it all by myself. Someone who summarizes canon so that I can dig deeper into what sounds interesting while keeping an overview over what’s out there.
We are working up an article right now that will post after Celebration regarding the comics and novels.
Oh wow! Great, thanks a lot 🙂
Star Wars Explained on Youtube does very good updates on the canon periodically. Excellent channel overall. Check it out. Collider Jedi Council also does a weekly canon update.
My bookshelf XD
Just look under “timeline of canon media” in wookiepedia. That’s as comprehensive as you are gonna get.
One thing I would like, is some kinda of list of elements that have been re-canonized from legends. So many starships and droids have popped back up in various games and books that it’s hard to recall which have appeared in canon material and which haven’t
Happy Chissmass y’all!
I’ve had very mixed feelings about Rebels and I’m not as invested in Thrawn as some fans but that was a great trailer.
I don’t like Ezra’s new look. I also find the idea of Ezra wanting to be more powerful to “protect his friends” rather unoriginal. I mean, we’ve seen that before with Anakin, haven’t we ?
I personally am good with it, look, Ezra will have to fall at some point for Rebels to not undermine the basic principles of the OT.
I don’t have a problem with Ezra falling to the dark side. I just think the explanation for his fall could be more original and not just a rehash of the same theme from the Prequel Trilogy.
Having said that, I am not so sure Ezra will turn dark in S3. The trailer hints at him being tempted and Kanan “saving” him from falling at the very last moment. Right now, I’d say his future is still uncertain,
oh neither do I, he’s the hero of the show, too many kids look up to him for them to turn him evil. however, I think Kanan will not make it to the end of the show and his sacrifice somehow will turn Ezra from the dark path as he will end up pretty much like Ashoka being neither Jedi nor Sith, kinda force wielding pirate
I’m glad they are being pretty careful on what they take from the legends. There is so much crap that they need to avoid, such as The Crystal Star.
Agreed. So much, maybe most, of the EU just wasn’t all that great. I like the discretion that Lucasfilm is taking in what to bring over to the new canon. But yeah, I’d welcome Thrawn and many of Zahn’s other contributions.
Worst. Novel. Ugh-Remember the anti-force?
The EU is a treasure trove of brilliant ideas hidden under a mound of garbage.
I am also glad that Zahn got second chance. He is good author and wrote good books. It great shame that authors and stories which followed in continuity was such let down. And in the end doomed old EU.
So i am truly glad Disney took him back on board he truly deserve it.
Mads AND Lars??? Yaay! 😀
So a Legends character is now part of the new canon?
Season 3 should be very interesting; can’t wait for the fall. ^_^
Anyone else catch the Millennium falcon at 1:09?
That wasn’t the falcon, but a YT-2400, Dash Rendar’s ship model
^^
I don’t knoiw where to ask for this, but could someone recap what happenned during upcoming books and marvel publishings panel?
Kyle (our comic book guy) is on it. 🙂
Great! Thanks
uhm… is he still working on the article? I’m awaiting the comic books…
I apologize for the hold upon the comic panel. Apparently there was a mistake on the time for the panel and hardly anyone seems to have been able to cover it. However from what I understand no new titles were revealed. I think Marvel is holding out for SDCC. I’m sure we’ll have a report on this panel in tge days ahead, but from what I hear it wasn’t very interesting. Just cover reveals and stuff like that for the current titles.
oh… allright. Thank you anyways; this celebration had all sorts of time schedule confilcts and mistakes, it’s no really you guys’ fault. 😉
Any ideas what that giant ape thing is?
Some type of force creature is all I know.
It sounds like it called itself a ‘bendu’. If so, that’s actually a callback to one of the earliest drafts of the original Star Wars, when ‘Jedi Bendu’ was the name that Lucas gave to the order.
If you have seen “avatar: the last airbender” then think about the Lion-Turtle from that show. A mysterious beast of ancheint wisdom. I’d wager he’s as old as the republic and knows all sorts about the force!
Can we consider the sith female as Ventress? There’s a dathomir centered episode, so having ventress talking would make sense to me…
I remember something in the clone wars took out a lot of night sisters, isn’t she one of the few that remain? It’d make sense.
You might wanna read Dark Disciple…
You mean grievous sterminating nightsisters? Or what do you mean?
I haven’t seen the episodes for awhile, but something with anakin, ashoka, and maybe mace windu took out a ton of nightsisters. Maybe I’m mixing it up with a different episode but I don’t remember a lot of them remaining because maul couldn’t go back to them like he did before
The night sisters were all killed off by grievous and his army. Mother Talzin and Ventress were the only ones to be shown to get away. You might have gotten mixed up since it’s been awhile and if you only watched them in “aired order”. There’s lists of chronological order on the Internet. It makes it sooo less confusing to do it that way.
Mace Windu, and Jar Jar encountered mother Talzin in an episode arc with some random aliens I can’t remember the name. This was after the night sisters were killed. And mother Talzin was trying to get the power to actually wield the force. Through these aliens who were sacrificing their people to suck their force out into this crystal ball. It sounds ludicrous typing it out, but it was actually a really cool arc.
Yeah, I watched them in release order so the jumping around really messed with my head XD
you are mixing up the entire nightsisters arc…
I believe Dave Filoni has confirmed she is not Ventress.
He just said he wasn’t going to say who it was, never denied it was any specific character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXY-zEGjP-k
I read the novel, duh. Ghost form…
Excited!! As long as they are listening to Zahn, Thrawn will be done right!
Crazy theory: Madds Mikkelson is a Chiss in Rogue One (possibly even Thrawn’s relative).
He plays Jyn’s father. So no.
Half-species exist in Star Wars and Jyn’s skin/eye color could take after her mother… You have to remember that we haven’t seen Madds’ character yet. It’s still a crazy theory, but who knows?
Yes we have.
http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Galen-Erso-Star-Wars-Rogue-One-header.jpg
I think its hilarious that they are both playing cold, calculating, white-outfited imperial commaners. Though not to be space-racist, but they would have to be adopted since they have different color skin and eyes. I think its more an out of universe wink & nod to the fans.
You’re thinking of Ben Mendelssohn’s character.
So I am- my bad. In that case your theory is much more more plausible
Thrawn is Canon FINALLY!!!
I litterally swooned when Thrawn was announced! Couldn’t be happier! I know Dave said in the interview that Mara Jade wouldn’t be there in rebels, but you HAVE to think that Zahn is going to use this opportunity of a full novel to re-canonize everything he was upset got wiped with the disney purchase. Granted, she won’t be Luke’s wife or anything like that, but I would be VERY surprised if outbound flight, Pellaeon, and Mara Jade (maybe re-branded as an inquisitor or imperial assassin) were not mentioned in the book. I mean think of how Lucino immediately re-canonized info about Plageius when writing the Tarkin novel. I suspect Zahn can’t resist an opportunity to do the same thing and as long as it dosn’t interfere with the story of the sequel trilogy I see no reason Disney wouldn’t let him.
On a completely unrelated note…are those DARK TROOPERS at 1:29 in the trailer?! That would be so awesome!!!
yes, those are Dark Troopers
Make you wonder if Mara Jade is upcoming??
Dave was asked that question on the panel and said “no” for rebels, but IMO there is a high probability she sneaks a cameo in the Thrawn novel. Plus plans change so hope springs eternal 🙂
Maybe no plans for now. Who know a year or two from now, or in some other book.
Definitely! If not in the Thrawn novel itself then definitely down the line! She’s a pretty popular character so I think they just like to spread out the EU fanservice. She will be different than we know her, but it would be throwing away free money not to use her at some point.
I disagree. I think her role was perfect for the EU, but doesnt fit into the new canon. I think thats the only reason they have no plans for her, and another reason I think Rey isnt lukes daughter, because he never had a wife. He left soon after the battle of Endor to pursue whatever it was he was trying to pursue, and to rebuild the jedi order. Thrawn was just thrown in at a different timeline in the universe but iyou would have to change so much for Mara Jade that there would be no reason to even give her that name in the first place, because she could easily be anyone if they just went off influence of the character. Heck, Jyn Erso could be a Mara Jade influence.. Her dad did help construct the Death Star, so that Empire connection would be there somewhere. I think thats the closest we would get to Mara Jade
But in the EU Mara jade was the hand of the emperor and an imperial assassin around the time of episode 6 before she was ever involved with Luke. I think that part of her character as well as her physical appearance and personality are already perfectly suited for a minor villain/anti-hero in a book or movie. Even in the right time period. Really the only thing you would have to drop from her character is the romance with Luke which wouldn’t be the biggest loss. I can see it going both ways, but I would rather have her in canon than have her be Luke’s wife.
I honestly don’t have anything at stake in the “MARA JADE MUST COME BACK” argument. However, I do have to say that she would fit right in with the new canon as an Inquisitor.
Words cannot express my elation that Thrawn is canon once more! So happy!!!
same here. I’m elated. Thrawn was one of the very few EU characters I feel NEED to be recanonized.
Everyone is most excited about Thrawn while I’m freaking out that we’re getting the Fourth Doctor.
Also, we are getting more Maul AND Dark Troopers. This season is going to rock!
Moar Tom B is ALWAYS a good thing!
My wife will watch it only for that reason 🙂
Tiya Sircar is freaking sexy af. Also.. This trailer is badass. Looks better than anything else the past two sreasons. No words needed for Thrawn being canon. Next up is Revan. The two characters I feel HAVE to be canon. Rebels is the shit. I cant wait to see all this awesomeness
SPOILER ALERT:
I love Thrwn trilogy EXCEPT the final destiny of Thrawn. His end could have happended indistinguibly ANY TIME in the trilogy. It´s like… end of third book, mmm it´s time to finish the story now. AND and don’t like animals that are immune to the force, too catoonish.
Yeah, i thought I was the only one. Very happy when Dave said that they weren’t brining yasalimiri (spelling? Lol) back into canon. Yoda said the force is created by all living things. It’s not like a magnetic field you can just turn on and off. That’s some mediclorian level nonsense right there.
Thrawn! Thrawn! Thrawn!
Okay, I’m sure somewhere down this giant list people saw the OTHER awesome things coming up this season . . . right?
YT-2400. The ship becomes canon, and maybe Dash Rendarr does too? Probably not, but, still neat to finally see another YT model outside of a game, RPG system, or comic book.
Dark Troopers. Did anyone see the Dark Troopers? There were totally Dark Troopers, or more likely experimental Imperial battle droids that LOOK a lot like Phase 1.5 Dark Troopers! Canonizing an older video game is kind of a big deal, ain’t it?
I know I saw this somewhere deep down this thread. But. Yes. Wedge Antilles. As a child. But still. It’s Wedge.
And a question I haven’t seen asked yet.
Grand Admiral Thrawn! Woohoo!
Captain Gilead Pellaeon?
Agreed on all points! Dark troopers FTW!!
Wedge is not a child in Rebels. He is more likely a teenager, probably older than Ezra.
Sorry that I wasn’t more specific in highlighting his developmental age?
Maybe someone has noticed already, but in the trailer, before the Wedge reveal, the voice talking about the group of trainees planning to jump ship to the Rebels seemed reminiscent of Fulcrum, aka Ahsoka’s in disguise, plus the symbol that hovers above the hologram is the same as the one on the box from season one of Rebels that caused speculation that Fulcrum was Ahsoka. Maybe I’m just hopeful, but might this mean she’s alive? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b901566a0828cf22f0278fabf633d822e9d98a6db003507c7bc6146587193705.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e6dd76ea61dda446160c0d1367fd05466dc742f795358b16da0a70c3e8ed8d5.png
I am also happy Ezra got a grownup light saber hilt. The moves they show him doing are really implying he getting very very powerful. I can’t see this show going much beyond season 3.5. The small band of rebels can’t become the center of everything without hurting continuity.
Vader kills Maul & Kanan and takes a secret apprentice.
Thrawn was made a Grand Admiral shortly before the Battle of Endor. In the Rebels time frame, he would be Vice Admiral Thrawn.
Different timeline. He’s a Grand Admiral earlier in this one.
Maul and Thrawn! Where’s Vader?
Thrawn is being played by Mads Mikkelsen’s brother, he actually looks like he could play Thrawn on-screen also…probably just wishful thinking…