according to this it's a year on from the last season, 3 years on since the show started but only 2 years from Rogue One/ANH. Guessing Ezra is now 17 or 18, depending on which side of Empire Day this episode was?

According to the official episode guide for the episode, in the Trivia Gallery, it's only 6 months since the end of last season.

Guessing that's the real canon answer

Well, I did read somewhere they were confirmed for 5 Seasons, and that was it.

Not sure if it was every formally "confirmed" or not, but the story arc was commented on as being intended for 5 seasons.

And Freddie Prinze Jr (Kanan Jarrus) is apparently a serious gamer, and sometimes comments on his twitch feed details on the show he probably shouldn't. One notable one was that 'Disney already bought the whole series - the yearly announcements of the next season being renewed are just for publicity purposes'

So I imagine we've got a 5-year story, here, that ends as Episode IV starts. Thus, no DIRECT tie-ins to Rogue One (which seems to end literally as the opening scene of Episode IV ), but certainly a lot of overlapping references.

And given the team that has done this did such a bang-up job on Clone Wars, now this series...and that Disney has movie announcements already through 2020 (2 more seasons of Rebels only being out to 2018)...I'd be shocked speechless if they didn't have this team spin up another series, with new characters, after this one wraps.

They probably will, and I'd be very interested to see just what they're cooking up there, but I also wonder if they can hit that Rebels magic again.

Yeah, I just said that. There's a certain magic to Star Wars: Rebels. It's got that "Oh, these are like a party of characters in an old star wars tabletop RPG" feeling, while continuing the story of The Clone Wars to some extent but being distant enough that it's its own thing.

Problem is, how do you strike gold like that twice? The Clone Wars fills in that wonderful blank spot between II and III, but with characters we know alongside characters we don't know. How long can we call back old characters- and if so, how long until the new ones get their own stories?

I know it looks like I'm having a hard time articulating my point- because honestly I kinda am. Dave Filoni said that he didn't want Ahsoka to overshadow our new cast and he's totally right about how she... Wasn't necessarily starting to but it was a major talking point for viewers. More major, arguably, than the primary cast.

I wonder if Ezra will be the next Ahsoka in this way- if Filoni will do this again because I don't believe he will.

It's really hard to make a point through all this, but I think what I'm trying to say is apparent. Maybe?

I'm just not entirely sure how they'll pull it off three times in a row.

The thing is, Filoni may not be involved with a third show. He seems to be getting a new job.

Is it bad that I agreed with Dark Side Ezra on almost everything? "Yes they are scrapping the ships, yes you have to act now" "Yes, for gods sake leave no witnesses" ...

Yes, it is bad.

It is not nessisarily wrong though.

Did like the voice of Bendu. Sounded a little Doctor Who-ish

Did like the voice of Bendu. Sounded a little Doctor Who-ish

That is because the actor is Tom Baker; The Fourth Doctor.

My opinion (and I would bet many many others), but they all have to die...Ezra, Kanaan, Maul, Ashoka, or Star Wars is broken. Period.

The "how many Jedi were actually in the Rebellion" questions not-withstanding, I don't see why they couldn't keep the show going through the ANH timeline and beyond?

Eh, they could but I honestly don't see the utility. Granted, something between IV-V and then between V-VI would be really cool.

But I don't think it'd be these guys. Unless it is.

I would so love to see a series set between IV and VI ... it'd be really nice if it was thematically appropriate for the period, and didn't have jedi everywhere, but I'm not sure Filoni & co could restrain themselves...

I would so love to see a series set between IV and VI .

Read the Battlefront Twilight Company novel.

I would expect a new series to be set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens , concurrent with the timeline of the sequel trilogy, or following the events of the sequel trilogy. Maybe even something Legacy -tastic, where it's set a hundred years after the last movie, or something set some 1000 years before The Phantom Menace , during the last war (open war, not shadow war) between the Jedi and the Sith.

My opinion (and I would bet many many others), but they all have to die...Ezra, Kanaan, Maul, Ashoka, or Star Wars is broken. Period.

I find that to be a rather narrow point of view.

My bet would be between RotJ and TFA. I mean, 30 years . That's a wider gap than between *any* of the other Star Wars movies (3 to 4 doesn't even manage a full 20 years).

I figure that they are letting 'Rebels' run its course, given it's set in roughly concurrent timeline to the "Rogue One" movie (2016) and the 'Untitled Han Solo project' (2018) - so this series finishing up in 2018 lets them then switch over to the TFA-bridge period for the movies that would slot in there. Maybe tying in heavily/launching from the story in Episode 8 (2017) and initially bridging into Episode 9 (2019) and then the third confirmed anthology film (2020).

Did like the voice of Bendu. Sounded a little Doctor Who-ish

That is because the actor is Tom Baker; The Fourth Doctor.

Yeah, I know. He was my favorite Dr..

My opinion (and I would bet many many others), but they all have to die...Ezra, Kanaan, Maul, Ashoka, or Star Wars is broken. Period.

Eh. Old EU also had Jedi (though mostly fallen) popping up in weird places and Star Wars managed. In my opinion such statements can't be made without first seeing how it plays out.

My opinion (and I would bet many many others), but they all have to die...Ezra, Kanaan, Maul, Ashoka, or Star Wars is broken. Period.

The Galaxy is a big place and there were 10,000 Jedi according to Kanan (although whether this is before the Clone Wars or at the time of Order 66 is unclear). Plenty of places that Jedi (particularly less well-known ones) could hide away. Why do we not see more of them during EPs 4-6? They were still hiding as Vader was still out there.

I could stand any of the above characters surviving provided there is a convincing reason we don't see them in the OT. Maul is the easiest to explain away. He is part of neither the Empire nor the Rebellion. He had lived in hiding since the Clone Wars and I could easily see him dropping out of sight again during the OT while he pursues his own agenda.

Asoka is a harder to explain away. Even if her faith was shaken by her duel with Anakain/Vader I find it hard to believe she simply abandoned the Rebellion unless she believed her continued presence would endanger them more. I find it disappointing that Vader didn't try harder to recruit Asoka. He tried to persuade both Padme and Luke to join him, Asoka was someone else he was very close to who would have made a fine ally/apprentice. Add to that, she left the Jedi before he did so was already that step closer to his own point of view.

Ironically, I could actually imagine force users being forced to leave the Rebellion in order to protect them (that was actually one of the themes of season 2). The Empire has all sorts of elements meant to hunt force users from special agents, inquisitors, Emperor's hands, bounties, etc. The more powerful a force user becomes, the more of those elements are put into play to track them, often leading a sizeable detachment of the Empire along with them.

Imagine for instant that you become powerful; suddenly you have Vader, classically trained Jedi war veteran mixed in with powerful Sith teachings... and by episode 4, add a Super Star Destroyer to the lot (with star destroyer escorts). Even if you survive, your friends probably won't be so lucky.

All I want is for Thrawn to NOT end up dead once Rebels is done with him.

If you watch the rebels recon for the episode, Dave and Henry gilroy, one of the producers, talk about the great lengths they went to make sure their Thrawn was faithful to the books, and in a different interview Dave said that they showed Timothy Zahn the progress on him and he gave input on the process. I think they know what he means to the fans, and are treating him with the utmost respect, which is awesome

Well, I did read somewhere they were confirmed for 5 Seasons, and that was it.

Not sure if it was every formally "confirmed" or not, but the story arc was commented on as being intended for 5 seasons.

And Freddie Prinze Jr (Kanan Jarrus) is apparently a serious gamer, and sometimes comments on his twitch feed details on the show he probably shouldn't. One notable one was that 'Disney already bought the whole series - the yearly announcements of the next season being renewed are just for publicity purposes'

So I imagine we've got a 5-year story, here, that ends as Episode IV starts. Thus, no DIRECT tie-ins to Rogue One (which seems to end literally as the opening scene of Episode IV ), but certainly a lot of overlapping references.

And given the team that has done this did such a bang-up job on Clone Wars, now this series...and that Disney has movie announcements already through 2020 (2 more seasons of Rebels only being out to 2018)...I'd be shocked speechless if they didn't have this team spin up another series, with new characters, after this one wraps.

They probably will, and I'd be very interested to see just what they're cooking up there, but I also wonder if they can hit that Rebels magic again.

Yeah, I just said that. There's a certain magic to Star Wars: Rebels. It's got that "Oh, these are like a party of characters in an old star wars tabletop RPG" feeling, while continuing the story of The Clone Wars to some extent but being distant enough that it's its own thing.

Problem is, how do you strike gold like that twice? The Clone Wars fills in that wonderful blank spot between II and III, but with characters we know alongside characters we don't know. How long can we call back old characters- and if so, how long until the new ones get their own stories?

I know it looks like I'm having a hard time articulating my point- because honestly I kinda am. Dave Filoni said that he didn't want Ahsoka to overshadow our new cast and he's totally right about how she... Wasn't necessarily starting to but it was a major talking point for viewers. More major, arguably, than the primary cast.

I wonder if Ezra will be the next Ahsoka in this way- if Filoni will do this again because I don't believe he will.

It's really hard to make a point through all this, but I think what I'm trying to say is apparent. Maybe?

I'm just not entirely sure how they'll pull it off three times in a row.

The thing is, Filoni may not be involved with a third show. He seems to be getting a new job.

I enjoyed the episode but wish they had continued developing Ezra's reliance on the Dark Side. I know they may bring it back but it seemed a bit final in the last scene. See Ezra fall to the Dark Side could have been a great theme and not just a brief arc.

I enjoyed the episode but wish they had continued developing Ezra's reliance on the Dark Side. I know they may bring it back but it seemed a bit final in the last scene. See Ezra fall to the Dark Side could have been a great theme and not just a brief arc.

I don't think that's the end of it, just the end of that discussion. IIRC, Maul was seen in the trailer for S3 so I suspect this topic will resurface as one of the primary themes.

Pretty certain Maul shows up next episode.

Where would Filoni go? He's worked for Lucasfilm for over 10 years and was personally tutored by George Lucas. If anyone knows what Star Wars is and how to do it, it's Dave Filoni.

Where would Filoni go? He's worked for Lucasfilm for over 10 years and was personally tutored by George Lucas. If anyone knows what Star Wars is and how to do it, it's Dave Filoni.

He isn't going anywhere, he got promoted: https://io9.gizmodo.com/clone-wars-and-rebels-dave-filoni-is-now-in-charge-of-a-1787134065

awesome, more projects in the works.

I enjoyed the episode but wish they had continued developing Ezra's reliance on the Dark Side. I know they may bring it back but it seemed a bit final in the last scene. See Ezra fall to the Dark Side could have been a great theme and not just a brief arc.

I don't think that's the end of it, just the end of that discussion. IIRC, Maul was seen in the trailer for S3 so I suspect this topic will resurface as one of the primary themes.

(Loosely quoted)

"What about this?" (The holocron)

Kanan: "Keep it."

Yeah... as if a Sith Holocron would ever fade out of a story so simply. Those who think that the Holocron will come back to bite them in their midichlorians, raise your hand!

I felt a chill (in a good Star Wars way) when Ezra used the force on that walker. More specifically during that last step. That's some good screenwriting there.

YES!

I enjoyed the episode but wish they had continued developing Ezra's reliance on the Dark Side. I know they may bring it back but it seemed a bit final in the last scene. See Ezra fall to the Dark Side could have been a great theme and not just a brief arc.

I don't think that's the end of it, just the end of that discussion. IIRC, Maul was seen in the trailer for S3 so I suspect this topic will resurface as one of the primary themes.

(Loosely quoted)

"What about this?" (The holocron)

Kanan: "Keep it."

Yeah... as if a Sith Holocron would ever fade out of a story so simply. Those who think that the Holocron will come back to bite them in their midichlorians, raise your hand!

Seems like a solid bet to me. The Bendu would be just as likely to talk to other force users as to Kanan, so Maul, Vader, or an Inquisitor finding the planet and the holocron there seems quite possible.

I enjoyed the episode but wish they had continued developing Ezra's reliance on the Dark Side. I know they may bring it back but it seemed a bit final in the last scene. See Ezra fall to the Dark Side could have been a great theme and not just a brief arc.

I don't think that's the end of it, just the end of that discussion. IIRC, Maul was seen in the trailer for S3 so I suspect this topic will resurface as one of the primary themes.

(Loosely quoted)

"What about this?" (The holocron)

Kanan: "Keep it."

Yeah... as if a Sith Holocron would ever fade out of a story so simply. Those who think that the Holocron will come back to bite them in their midichlorians, raise your hand!

Yeah Kanan, he helped you, but after telling you things like "I am the one in the middle" and "an object cannot make you good or evil" and opening a Sith holocron without any effort... How do you know what he will do with that, why wouldn't "the one in the middle" help a darksider if he helped you?

He also looks like a MMO raid boss... ah, you didn't notice