Star Wars Rebels: Zero Hour Preview Shows the Culmination of Thrawn’s Plan.
Grand Admiral Thrawn has been playing the long game in Rebels, much to the frustration of several fans, but it looks like his slow-and-steady approach to destroying Phoenix Squadron is finally going to pay off in a big way with the biggest season finale to a Star Wars animated series yet. A preview shows the return of several familiar faces at what looks to be far and away the biggest action sequence ever shown on Rebels.
I could get into what we now know about the hour-long finale, but I think that ought to wait until after you see the clip.
I GOT IT! Here’s the preview I saw for the season finale of #StarWarsRebels! pic.twitter.com/qfaoztX3lW
— Johnamarie Macias (@BlueJaigEyes) March 12, 2017
Although the first few seconds of the ad are cut off, we learn quite a bit from the footage shown here. Sabine, Tristan, Fenn, and the other Mandalorians will be participating in the battle, as will Rex and Jan Dodonna. Odds are that Ursa, Wedge, and Kallus will be involved with the battle as well – and it’s likely that the Bendu will factor into this episode somehow, given that the episode appears to be Attolon’s swan song. The episode appears to involve a war on two fronts – on land and above the planet. This is far and away the most ambitious episode that Rebels has attempted yet, and hopefully it should more than make up for a few of the more underwhelming episodes of the season. Best of all is that we’re bound to see Thrawn at his absolute best with such an extensive battle sequence, as this episode should be able to do justice to the Grand Admiral in a way beyond all of his quiet, contemplative moments. It’ll be hard to decide what’s more exciting – next week’s long awaited confrontation between Maul and Ben Kenobi, or the big finale on the weekend after that.
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.
that scream at the end is gold! xD
I don’t think Ezra/Kanan will meet Obi-Wan in the next episode because that will mean Obi-Wan being asked to join the rebellion. It will be purely an Obi-Wan vs Maul showdown with no distractions
Ezra does go after Maul (one of the trailers has him looking at the Holocron, and it later shows an A-wing above Tatooine), but I don’t think that he will meet Obi-Wan in the episode based on the way that things are headed. If they do meet, then Obi-Wan will bring up Luke as a reason why he can’t give aid to the Rebel Alliance.
– Pomojema
I hope he doesn’t mention Luke. We all know why he’s there and can’t help the Rebellion at that point, but isn’t Luke and Leia suppose to be a secret. Telling Ezra, a kid that turns up from no where, doesn’t sound like something wise to do. He could simply say he doesn’t want to get involved, done enough fighting in the Clone Wars, etc
Obi-Wan knows that Anakin had 2 kids (Luke and Leia), but does he know the names of them both? (other than Luke I mean). I agree with the last bit thou, he might just say he doesn’t wanna get involved.
But then again, we know that Leia is currently active in the growing rebellion, and her ship was above Tatooine when it was captured by Vader in A New Hope. So she obviously knew the location of Obi-Wan (probably through her adoptive father).
Obi Wan was by Padme’s side when she gave birth so..
Padme names both of them in front of Obi-Wan. He knows.
I’m pretty sure Obi-wan is told the names by Padme as they are born.
He doesn’t have to say why. He can just say he is doing something far more important.
Exactly – there is no reason for why Obi-wan needs to bring up the matter of Luke with Ezra.
Well, he has to say something otherwise Ezra will just be like “ok, what?”
“he doesn’t want to get involved, done enough fighting in the Clone Wars, etc” That doesn’t sound like Obi-wan. if anything he would tell Ezra his mission is elsewhere or something like that and then Jedi mind wipe Ezra.
Um yeah, but the end result is the same.
True, but devil’s in the details.
Can Jedi mind wipe other Jedi?
I don’t see why not if it’s a more powerful Jedi… or a Sith. It’s probably a path to the dark side or some such, though.
Don’t you have to be weak minded? You know, like the Jedi mind trick…
Well, it was done in Legends to Revan, it could be bought back here.
I think there was also a shot of him standing on tatooine in the previews, but that of course could be a dream. I am curious how the show will handle this as it would be odd to not have a main cast member involved. I’m only about 60% confident the show can pull this off, though, without just causing a lot of problems.
Makes sense, albeit Ezra will certainly feature in the episode in some way.
He can be asked. he would refuse
Yep. He wants to protect and train Luke, and the threat of the Empire hasn’t grown to Death Star-seized proportions. He could even ask Kana and Ezra to keep hima secret.
Had a feeling Sabine’d be bringing the Mandos into the fray sooner than later – nice! And I also remembered commenting a few months back whether anyone felt Bendu’d defend his home in any way if Imperials threatened it…should be a good season finale!
We saw Mando starfighters assaulting an Imperial Class Star Destroyer in the mid-season trailer – I extrapolated from that after the Mando episode and the episode title releases that we’d see them come back for sure.
Mandalorians v.s. Transformers. Yes !
I just hope they don’t make thrawn turn out looking like an idiot or worse they kill him off
If Filoni has balls he’ll have Thrawn kill a notable crew member.
This. It’s time to raise the stakes.
I’d want it to be Zebb, but I feel like Kanan makes the most sense to Kill story-wise. Can’t have a wise mentor jedi stick around too long.
Agree on both counts. Sick of Zeb as three years in he’s added very little to the show in my opinion. That didn’t have to be the case, but it has been. But yes, Kanan makes the most sense. But I don’t see them getting rid of him just yet.
Zeb is going home to his people at the end of the show, if not sooner. Could be Kanan, based on the fact he hasn’t been around the last couple episodes… maybe they are getting us used to being without him.
I DO NOT want another SW animated show ending with a million characters still dangling out there. Thrawn needs to die.
Yes, but not this season, in my opinion. Maybe Season 4 or 5.
I’m still not 100% convinced this show won’t get cancelled before it’s over, TCW style.
Meh, I doubt it. Lower budget, Disney-owned channel, no imminent buyout, more kid-friendly tone. All the factors that caused TCW to get cancelled are absent in Rebels.
I’m reading this as “all the factors that caused TCW to be awesome are absent in Rebels.” 😉
Btw, I don’t mind a kid friendly tone, but what they are doing 1/2 the time is more toddler friendly. IMO, of course.
Agreed. But still, if we’re talking cancellation, Rebels is in a much better spot than TCW ever was.
Thrawn’s not really been a tactical genius and I question his ‘long term plan’. His break seems to be through sending out a load of probe droids and getting lucky.
I thought he had said he would pull the rebels apart piece by piece, ensuring that they would be the architects of their own destruction…..
Personally I think it was a mistake to include Thrawn this season. I was done clearly because the fans wanted it, but I don’t think he has fit into the story they intended to tell one bit. He’s not menacing, tactically inept (despite he being meant to think otherwise) and continually manages to get outsmarted by the rebels, both by himself and with his best troops. Finding the current phoenix squadron base is hardly the mark of a tactical genius. So really this finale has to show him scoring a major victory over the rebels as otherwise his inclusion this season has been a bit of a waste of time in my opinion.
I think you’re wrong! No offense, and I am not going to get into a debate, just so you know. I’ve always loved Star Wars! My name is Luke, and people always told me they were my father… However, I never read one of the books; even still to this day. The EU may have been intriguing, but it was not intended by the creator. All of those stories were B rank at best for that reason alone. That said, the inclusion of Thrawn has been ABSOTIVEY AWESOME. He hasn’t proved to us why he is “Grand Admiral”. But I am sure that will be revealed next year. His demeanor alone makes him cooler than a polar bear’s toenail. Point blank, season 3 as a whole was bunk. However, from the things that did shine out to me, Thrawn was definitely one of them. I hope that season 4 returns us to a Star Wars story surrounded by Jedi, Sith, those learning the force, and then everyone in between. I know this is a kids show, but I am certain that more adult fans watch it over the kids. Adults definitely are buying the merchandise, either for themselves or their children/family. Let’s just say, “it is what it is.” The season finale has much to cover, so this show should be AMAZING!!!
Well, other than reading the Heir to the Empire trilogy when it was first released, I too have never read the books. But I know enough that Thrawn is meant to be Tarkin levels of bad (or worse) and a tactical genius, and I just haven’t felt that yet. It takes more than a slow voice and a bit of organ music to convince me. But the, I suppose if he scares the kids already, job done (assuming he does).
That gal’s scream at the end is so loud and annoying.
One might fear that absolutely nothing significant is going to happen to any of the crewmembers of The Ghost. I hope that they will prove us otherwise on that. Don’t waste Thrawn and this full-on build-up this entire season on nothing, make it big, make him have an actual impact.