Dave Filoni Discusses The Game-Changing Mid-Season Return Of Star Wars Rebels

After the two most recent episodes of Star Wars Rebels, nothing will ever be the same for the crew of the Ghost. Series creator and former showrunner Dave Filoni answers some burning questions fans have about the climactic pair of episodes in a new interview from SyFy Wire.

 

Unmarked spoilers ahead. This will be your only warning.

 

 

So… Kanan Jarrus is dead. And not in an ambiguous sort of case like what happened with Ahsoka back at the end of Season 2 – he explicitly became one with the Force as he pulled off a White Heat homage for long enough to let Hera and the others to get clear of the blast radius. And as we find out in the subsequent episode, he takes the form of a Loth-Wolf in the Force itself… Or rather, the Loth-Wolf named DUME couldn’t exist while Kanan still lived, as Dave Filoni explains when asked about why Ezra doesn’t recognize the fact that Kanan is DUME:

“What I will say is that Dume the Wolf can’t exist until Kanan the Jedi is gone. Those two things don’t exist at the same time. Dume the Wolf has a lot in common with Bendu as far as what kind of thing they are. There’s a similarity between these type of occurrences. The only wolf that’s particularly what you would call real are probably the gray ones that are always running around but don’t really say much. The white one is more of a guide. We can get into that later. There’s a little more you need to see before we really break it down.”

 

Before Kanan dies, though, he tells Hera that he needs to let her know something. but he dies before that can ever happen. Filoni explains that this was a late addition to the script and was either one of two things – a warning to her about the danger of this mission, or his decision to explain how he feels about her:

“I always played with the idea that if he has an inkling that he might die that day during that mission, I thought he would have an instinct to want to tell her, but that could be dangerous. I think it’s very human in that moment to say, “I need to tell you this, something really bad might happen today.” And how he feels about her. I thought without that moment where he wants to be completely truthful to her it just feels false.”

 

Speaking of Hera, Chopper’s reaction to the news has him dropping his typically-abrasive behavior altogether was one of the more understated moments in the wake of a tragedy. Filoni is of the belief that this was a scene where he needed to show, not tell, and he actually omitted a bit of dialogue to achieve this end:

“For me, how Hera deals with this is very important. She’s very distraught, but she’s also a powerful leader. I didn’t want her to melt into nothing because Kanan was gone. I think she has a lot of pride. I’ve always felt Chopper has this secret high emotional level. People don’t realize sometimes the reason someone is cantankerous or picks on them is because they care a great deal. You start to see the beginning of Chopper’s little facade break there a little bit, and the idea that he would be the one that could approach her and know not to say anything but just take her hand was a powerful image.”

 

Lastly, Filoni notes that while he expected backlash to follow the death of a beloved character, he also tells the fans to be patient and that it was done as an important part of the remainder of the show’s story:

“It’s very simple, [you] just have to trust me. [You] have to trust me here in where we’re going with it. None of it is done recklessly or because of a line in [Return of the Jedi]. It’s all important. It’s as important to the people making it as it is to the people watching it, the reason we’re trying to do this so well is because we value the people that have stuck with us for all four seasons. This is how the story has to go. I think we’ll see what they think when they come out the other side.”

 

For the full interview, go to SyFy Wire‘s page. What did you guys think of the two episodes? Let us know in the comments and on The Cantina!

 

 

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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.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

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.

49 thoughts on “Dave Filoni Discusses The Game-Changing Mid-Season Return Of Star Wars Rebels

  • February 21, 2018 at 9:34 am
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    Yoda tells Luke after Yoda dies Luke will be the Last of the Jedi, So they all have to die by ROTJ. Even AHsoka if she is not dead. But is Ahsoka still a Jedi if she is still alive in that time frame?

    • February 21, 2018 at 10:07 am
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      Ahsoka said to Vader that she’s no Jedi so I would guess she doesn’t count.

    • February 21, 2018 at 12:35 pm
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      Dave Filoni has repeatedly stated that he’s not ignoring Yoda’s statement but he’s also not treating it like it’s absolutely inflexible. And Ahsoka hasn’t been a Jedi since the end of the Clone Wars.

      – Pomojema

      • February 23, 2018 at 10:31 pm
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        Filoni is looking for a loophole to stash Ezra.

        • February 24, 2018 at 12:29 am
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          Ding, ding, ding!

          – Pomojema

    • February 21, 2018 at 2:44 pm
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      Playing off a technicality just like Obi-Wan’s certain point of view on Luke’s father. IE Yoda was speaking of the Jedi… but Force users? Plenty of them.

    • February 21, 2018 at 5:03 pm
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      Kenan tells Ezra that he has a future. Ezra won’t die during this series. Does he make it to ROTJ? Who knows? I bet we get a live-action TV show or something that tells that story.

    • February 21, 2018 at 11:43 pm
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      Ahsoka isn’t a Jedi, she left the order. We can debate until the end of time the meaning of Yoda’s line of dialog but one thing is certain, you’re being entirely too literal in interpreting it.

  • February 21, 2018 at 10:22 am
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    I loved TFA but I can’t help thinking we would have had an amazing sequel trilogy if Dave Filoni had written these movies. He knows how to write good Star Wars stories that have a real emotional impact. Kanan’s death was so well done! Unfortunately it makes Luke’s death in TLJ look even more crap and that was one part of TLJ I didn’t have too much of an issue with! KK please make Dave Filoni head of Star Wars!

    • February 22, 2018 at 3:12 pm
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      ugh, that would be awful.

      • February 22, 2018 at 3:46 pm
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        You’re entitled to your opinion of course but I personally think he’d be great. For me he gets what makes good Star Wars. Admittedly there have been some not so good episodes but on the whole, over Clone Wars & Rebels, most have been great. I think from the comments on here the majority of other people feel the same as well.

        • February 22, 2018 at 3:58 pm
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          I find nothing remarkable about him at all. His mysticism when it comes to the Force is awful to me.

          As for the majority, well that solidifies my own opinion given how often majorities are usually right.

          • February 22, 2018 at 4:22 pm
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            I wouldn’t waste energy trying to change you’re opinion. It was just an observation.

  • February 21, 2018 at 10:28 am
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    The last two articles on SWNN about Rebels always brought up a relation between Kenan’s and Ahsokas death. I thought it was confirmed that Ahsoka is still alive. Has this confirmation changed?

    • February 21, 2018 at 11:27 am
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      I think the whole Kanan and Dume wolf Couldn’t co exist thing till Kanan died, will reveal that Ahsoka indeed died, and became a wolf.

      Tbh if it turns out Kanan, Ahsoka and Ezra just become wolves in the force after physical forms, im all for that, all for expanding the mythology of the force

      • February 21, 2018 at 12:33 pm
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        I don’t think Ahsoka will be a wolf, presuming she even “transformed”. Those are tied explicitly to Lothal, where Kanan died.

        – Pomojema

        • February 22, 2018 at 4:38 am
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          Yeah, wouldn’t she be the Owl?

          • February 22, 2018 at 8:47 am
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            The Convor is implied to be the Daughter, as she shows up before Ahsoka leaves for Malachor and after the battle, right before she walks into the Sith Temple. She’s got the same color scheme.

            Unless you’re talking about the Convor that shows up next to the Bendu in a few episodes. Which *might* be her, but it just as easily could be a standard Convor.

            – Pomojema

      • February 21, 2018 at 4:22 pm
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        Force Reincarnation in Star Wars would be cool.

    • February 21, 2018 at 12:31 pm
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      He “confirmed” it only in the sense that he put an exclamation point over a question mark on his “Ahsoka Lives” shirt. Although with the presence of content related to the Mortis Trilogy confirmed for this last set of episodes, and Ahsoka’s connection to the Daughter, we’ll get a definitive answer soon enough.

      – Pomojema

  • February 21, 2018 at 2:48 pm
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    Spoilers obviously… if you happened by this comment and don’t want Rebels spoiled don’t read any further. Kanan’s death was really one of the best Star Wars deaths I’ve seen in a long time. This is coming from someone who’s sort of drifted away from Rebels. Also if Filoni’s warning of things getting strange were the wolves? They were fantastic. Now that’s how you add to some mythos! I was never really into the movement for Filoni to make his own movies but now I’m starting to understand the draw.

    • February 21, 2018 at 5:10 pm
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      Filoni is the best. His work always feels like Star Wars because, on one hand, he never loses sight of the fact that its for kids, but he’s simultaneously not afraid to take the subject matter seriously. It’s looking like Lucasfilm will never give him a shot at a live action movie, but I’d love to see Lucas, Feloni, and Mark Hamill team up on an animated show.

      • February 22, 2018 at 4:29 am
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        Agreed – George spotted a guy who really had a grasp on what makes Star Wars work, and LFL now has a seasoned talent in Filoni. Really would like to see him get a shot at an anthology film.

    • February 21, 2018 at 5:45 pm
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      It was a great Death scene! Much better than what poor Luke received. But, I’m still not a Filoni fan…

  • February 21, 2018 at 6:09 pm
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    I don’t understand the backlash towards Filoni over Kanan’s death.

    I really enjoyed Kanan’s character and I thought watching him progress as a Jedi and a leader throughout the series was really well done.

    It’s sad to see a strong character like him go, but it’s the best way to proceed with storytelling in the SW universe. There would have been major questions that needed to be answered in regards to the OT. For continuity sake, it just makes more sense for him to go out this way.

    I think they could have a little more freedom with Ezra and the rest of the crew, but we’ll see.

    • February 21, 2018 at 9:49 pm
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      I don’t think there’s been any backlash yet. I think he’s just preempting some backlash because of TLJ. Personally I don’t think he’s got anything to worry about. Kanan’s arc and death were perfectly handled.

      • February 22, 2018 at 1:02 am
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        I haven’t seen anyone complaining on SWNN, so I suppose it would have been better to say I wouldn’t understand why Filoni would receive any backlash.

        I agree though. Sad to see Kanan go, but it was really well done.

        • February 22, 2018 at 3:11 pm
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          Allow me:

          It was so heavily foreshadowed that Kanan was going to die that we spent the entire episode merely waiting for the moment to happen.

          And when it happened, it was staged so it looked needless, like he could have escaped, not to mention the awful trope of declaring your love and then INSTANTLY dying.

          I can’t imagine his death being done in a more hamfisted way.

          • February 22, 2018 at 6:47 pm
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            I can understand that.

            Overall, I felt the episode itself was good, but not great. I would have liked to see them profess their love to each other earlier as well, even just an episode before.

            However, I still really felt like his death was cool. He saved his friends, was so in tune with the force he regained his eye sight, and was able to complete the mission while sacrificing himself. I found it satisfying.

          • February 22, 2018 at 7:44 pm
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            I’m glad you liked it 🙂

  • February 21, 2018 at 6:15 pm
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    while it was a very ‘Jedi-like’ sacrifice, I still would have liked Vader to be the one slaughtering the Phoenix crew.

    • February 21, 2018 at 11:40 pm
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      Why? To live out some bad fan fiction fantasy? Vader isn’t called out to destroy every Rebel cell personally, he has other shit to do and he had his chance at Phoenix already. The Emperor clearly has other plans.

      • February 22, 2018 at 1:37 am
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        Hey, hey! Stop messin’ with Vader. He ain’t got time for yo problems, he’s busy, with sith shit!

  • February 21, 2018 at 6:24 pm
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    Yeah it’s one thing to tell a story over a long drawn episodic television show. A whole nother ball game to do it in 2 hours. You’d imagine just condensing the storyline should work. But it’s a bit more complicated. Anyways I haven’t watched since the end of season 2 because s3 bored me but I’ll be hopping back in now

  • February 21, 2018 at 6:26 pm
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    I’ve been a harsh critic of the last two seasons of Rebels, but these two episodes were fantastic. I have to admit that at the start of the second part I was ready for the head-fake “just kidding” moment when Kanan returns — like they did in the first part of season 4 with the not-really death of Sabine’s mother. I’m so relieved that didn’t happen.

    Still, I’m surprised that Dave Filoni feels the need to apologize/explain to fans about the death of Kanan. I expected it, although not this early. (Too bad it couldn’t have been Ezra on the fuel tank, lol.)

    • February 21, 2018 at 7:28 pm
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      Not too surprising. I imagine he’s not oblivious to the TLJ backlash and wants to pre-empt the expected conversation.

  • February 21, 2018 at 6:59 pm
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    The white wolf said, “Dume” well before this episode. If the wolf is Kanan now, it was Kanan before, and that doesn’t make sense.

    Palpatine is doing some Sith Sorcery of some kind.

    • February 23, 2018 at 10:08 pm
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      The other said Dume TO DUME. That one said “I am Dume”.

    • February 21, 2018 at 9:51 pm
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      Lol! Now that’s dirty fighting biting the other wolfs knob!

  • February 21, 2018 at 9:24 pm
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    I really liked that the Rebels didn’t go kill every Imperial at the parade while standing in an open field and having every shot miss them. One of the few times I didn’t predict what would happen. Glad one Jedi is gone, can’t wait to see the other go.

  • February 22, 2018 at 12:55 am
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    I think Kanan, Ashoka, and Ezra end up on Mortis.

    • February 22, 2018 at 1:04 am
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      Before TLJ was released I held a possibility of Luke, Rey and Ben becoming the new Mortis Trio.
      But your idea might still happen.
      Few more weeks!

      • February 22, 2018 at 5:39 am
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        Your idea actually works better since Ben fits the dark side role better and Luke fulfills a fatherly figure. I don’t know if it makes sense for Kanan and Ezra to end up there or not. I think Ashoka took the daughter’s place though.

  • February 22, 2018 at 4:32 am
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    I’m not alone in thinking the ‘Dume’ wolf has been voiced by Prinz Jr. all along, am I? I usually have a pretty good ear for voice actors, and I think I’m right on this one.

    • February 22, 2018 at 8:50 am
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      It’s him. They don’t say it in the credits (as they refused to with either version of Fulcrum), but it’s him.

      – Pomojema

  • February 22, 2018 at 3:09 pm
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    Filoni is so overrated.

  • February 23, 2018 at 10:07 pm
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    I just saw the episodes. I start to think that the white wolf is another dead Jedi of the past (someone important from the Lothal Temple).
    Maybe we could see his story in a future comic, novel… Even in that show.

    And I LOVED the Chopper moment. I always liked him, and was not surprised. I can see he cares about the family, he employs great effort in the missions.

    The high level of sentience of the Galaxy droids is something very compelling to me.

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