As you probably know, a new trailer was released last Saturday for Star Wars Rebels season 4.  It was packed full of all kinds of interesting things!  In this post I want to address some of the important stuff from the trailer and talk about what they could mean.  Without further ado, let’s get to it!

 

Ok, first of all, I want to discuss these wolves.  I am really excited to see what part they will play in the story of season 4.  There are many theories, the most popular being that Ahsoka, who disappeared after the events of Twilight of the Apprentice, is a wolf.  This theory, unfortunately, has been denied by Star Wars Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni. The wolves are related to the force in some way.  Though, they are like the Bendu, they are not with the Dark Side or the Light.  A while back, it was revealed that these wolves almost made it into the Clone Wars tv series, but then the series got cancelled and it was never done.  It also looks like they will play a big part in Ezra’s story.  We will have to wait and see to know for sure.

 

Another obvious highlight is Thrawn’s agent, Rukh.  In the trailer, we saw Thrawn telling Rukh to capture Hera.  I may be for the rebels, but I really want to see Rukh succeed in this.  I want to know just exactly what Thrawn is planning for the rebellion captain. Anyway, there is one little thing that I’m worried about with Rukh.  When they first announced that he would be coming back into canon, half of me got really excited while the other half was like, “No, not him!”.  You see, I adored Rukh in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy.  He was a very dark character, very creepy; you just have to ask yourself, what is he thinking? where did he come from?  Those are the characters I usually love in a story.  But then there was the comic books.  Thrawn’s loyal bodyguard, one of my favorite characters, turned and assassinated one of the most beloved Star Wars characters ever made.  What if Thrawn’s fate was to be the same in this last season of Star Wars Rebels?  We only have one clue of Thrawn’s ultimate demise, and comes straight from Star Wars Rebels season 3.  In Zero Hour part 2, after the Bendu was shot out of the sky, he told Thrawn that he could see stuff he couldn’t.  When Thrawn asked what he could see, the Bendu replied with, “I can see your defeat, like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace.”   And of course, like everything else with the Bendu, these words are totally cryptic.  I’ve been trying for a long time to figure out what it could possibly mean, but I never can.  It’ll just have to be a matter of patience.

 

Now what about that Krennic name drop?  Well, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on seeing the Rogue One villain in Rebels because, according to showrunner Dave Filoni, having that many villains just doesn’t work for him. That, and animating capes is a very scary and costly thing.  When asked about the name drop, Filoni said this…

“I was imagining a shot with Vader and Krennic and the Emperor, but it’s like having a cape convention with those guys.  Then you have Tarkin and Thrawn, and it starts to look like a Legion of Bad Guys.  When you get to may bizarre Star Wars villains together, I don’t know if it works for me.”

Really, though, I would have loved to see more Krennic, but, you know, oh well.  And another thing we can’t forget about is the mention of Project StarDust.  No, it’s not Jyn, it’s the Death Star.  The Death Star was teased in Star Wars Rebels in the one hour special Ghosts of Geonosis when Klick-Klack kept writing a circle in a circle in the sand.  Maybe this season we will get a glimpse of the actual Death Star?  We will have to wait and see!

 

Time for Mandalore!  Rukh isn’t the only character you is returning to the spotlight! Another highlight that has a lot of Clone Wars fans, including myself, excited is the return of Bo-Katan.  Bo-Katan is the sister of the Mandalorian Duchess, Satine Kryze and the leader of Death Watch, a terrorist group.  From what I can tell from the trailer, she wants the Darksaber.  Mandalorian traditions state that in order to acquire the Darksaber, you have to defeat the owner in a battle.  So that mean that Bo-Katan will have to go through Sabine first!  Though, I’m not too sure Sabine will do a great job.  In the first trailer for season 4, there was a split second shot of Bo-Katan beating the daylights out of Sabine and in another scene Bo-Katan had the Darksaber with an unhappy looking Sabine at her side.  I am really looking forward to seeing the Mandalorian arc and seeing what Bo-Katan has planned for the Darksaber.  It looks like it’s going to be fun!  Oh yeah, and those walkers that were literally disintegrating the mandalorians were pretty cool.  It looks like the Empire is going to get pretty aggressive when they try to take over Mandalore!

 

And what about Ezra?  Ezra is the main focus in Star Wars Rebels, but it seems that a lot of people are really wanting Ezra to turn to the Dark Side; and I’m not gonna lie, I really REALLY want it to happen too.     Throughout the entire series, Ezra’s darkness has been teased to us.  His constant choice of using violence, what happened with the Sith Holocron.  It’s bound to happen some time!  One of the things I really want to see is a Kanan vs. Ezra lightsaber battle.  How cool would that be?  I wonder who would win that one?

 

Last but not least, let’s talk about Kanan and Hera.  How could they not be a highlight? This is what a lot of fans have been waiting for.  So ever since Rebels came out, everyone refers to Kanan as the dad, Hera is the mom, Sabine’s the sister, Ezra and Zeb are the brothers, and Chopper is their grumpy cat.  But for real though, Kanan and Hera have had a special relationship from the get-go.  If you read John Jackson Miller’s A New Dawn, which is a really good book, by the way, you might have noticed Kanan was immediately interested in Hera.  Throughout the entire Star Wars Rebels series Hera has referred to Kanan “love” or “dear”.  But whenever Hera’s voice actress, Vanessa Marshall, was asked about the two’s relationship, she would simply deny that there was any romance.  That is, until now.  Recently Marshall said this about Kanan and Hera’s relationship…

“Hera cares very deeply about Kanan.  There is a sweet bond between them, and an intimate affection that is undeniable.  How could she not love him?”

Obviously the trailer shows that the fans will finally get what they want.  And, of course, I am one of those proud, happy fans!  But, there is a problem.  Everyone knows that Kanan can’t stick around much longer. There just can’t be any Jedi still around before this series ends.  And if I know Star Wars, one thing that always seem to happen is heartbreak in families.  It might not be pleasant, but it’s the truth. Look at Anakin and Padme, Luke and Mara Jade in the Expanded Universe, and what about the most tragic of them all, Han and Leia?  It just seems like all the love stories end in tragedy.  I’m really hoping that this won’t happen with Hera and Kanan, but hey, someone’s got to go and it’s not going to be Hera!

 

What do you think about these highlights?  Do you have any of your own?  Let me know in the comments!

 

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