Mike takes a deep dive into what we know and what we might see in season two of Rebels!
By Mike Audette // Summer has flown by. Force Friday is coming up right around the corner. Our hype for The Force Awakens is growing by the day. What’s not to be forgotten in the shuffle is that season two of Star Wars Rebels! This past June we had the release of The Siege of Lothal to tide us over until the rest of the season debuts in October on DisneyXD. I think now is the perfect time to get into some predictions for what is in store for us.
In season one, we saw the growing relationship between new master and apprentice in Kanan and Ezra. While we know Kanan is a former Jedi padawan during the Clone Wars, Ezra has grown up in a galaxy where the Jedi are known of as a distant memory. Throughout the season Ezra proves to be quite a difficult student for Kanan, and he even has a brief dance with the dark side. I expect to see that relationship develop further in season two. With the introduction of Ahsoka Tano joining the rebels, we will see the effect that she has on Kanan and Ezra’s relationship. From what we’ve seen briefly we get the sense that Ezra respects Ahsoka and is interested in what she has to say. Will this clash with how Kanan teaches? Will Ezra learn something from Ahsoka that Kanan can’t do himself? This no doubt will give us some interesting moments for these characters.
What else about Kanan? We know from “The Siege of Lothal” that he has no interest in turning back into a soldier. He has painful and traumatic memories from the Clone Wars. What kind of impact will this have on Ezra? The new missions that the crew of the Ghost is going to be tasked with completing now are going to have great ramifications on Kanan’s psyche and will certainly have an effect on Ezra in turn. Kanan has already voiced his displeasure in being part of a larger rebellion and wants to go back to being just a singular crew on the Ghost. This leads into the next thing I want to see—the formation of the Rebel Alliance.
Fulcrum has been revealed to be Ahsoka. It seems pretty obvious that she was brought in on the behest of Bail Organa, who has been featured twice in season one. I expect we will see more of Bail and the Alliance, but more specifically I think we need to see how he acts on Coruscant, gaining intelligence on Imperial plans in the Senate. We know next to nothing about what is going on the Imperial capital. Seeing as how critical a location Coruscant had been in the PT, it makes zero sense to leave it out of Rebels. From what we’ve seen from “The Siege of Lothal” and the preview trailer, the Ghost crew has joined up with a Rebel group. Is this the apex division of the fledgling Rebel Alliance? It seems that Ahsoka is certainly in a leadership role along with the new character, Commander Sato. So where does this leave our second favorite Alderaanian? Clearly, pulling the strings behind the scenes back on Coruscant with Mon Mothma. So who exactly will the Ghost crew be going up against this season? Two new Inquisitors, obviously!
As it appears right now we will be doubling our count of Inquisitors. So who are these new blood? I have a hunch that at least one of them is related to The Clone Wars in some fashion. From what we’ve seen of images released, as well as behind the scenes art from Celebration Anaheim, one of them bears a striking resemblance to the infamous Jedi Temple-bomber and Ahsoka-saboteur, Barriss Offee. While I won’t dispute that the new female Inquisitor certainly seems to fit the description of the Mirialan, it should be said that this is only a rumor and has been neither confirmed nor denied by Dave Filoni. And what about the other unnamed male Inquisitor? I think he could have been a former Separatist that the Emperor or high ranking Moff found directly after the events of Episode III and forced into becoming an Inquisitor based of his disdain for the Jedi. This is something I would very much like to see for the sake of using a brand new and unrelated character to tie the two generations together.
Speaking of tying the two generations together, who better to make an appearance than the fan favorite, Hondo Ohnaka! That’s right, as seen in the season two trailer, Hondo is making a return to Star Wars. While all we know is that he’s going to embark on an adventure with Ezra, we should expect it to be a great story and hopefully leads to more exploration of the galaxy beyond the rebels and the Empire. What The Clone Wars did a great job of was delving into the unexplored features of the galaxy, not just the Jedi and the Separatists. We had bounty hunters, pirates, simple village folk and numerous assortments of other denizens. This was lacking in season one but is certainly understandable based on the length of the season. Since this upcoming season will be full length, it only makes sense for us to expand out into the galaxy and see what else is happening out there. We know Hondo will be back, but what about some others who are left unresolved? Boba Fett is absolutely active in the galaxy at large and that is a story people are dying to know. I think seeing these other parts of the galaxy are a must for this upcoming season.
We are only a few short months away and it’s going to be great to jump back into this amazing show. Season one left on a great note and season two has the chance to really jump ahead and take great steps in the way of design, character development, and storytelling.
