One thing that was a casualty of Star Wars Rebels birth was Star Wars The Clone Wars. The series had a successful five-season run on Cartoon Network, earning fan and critical acclaim despite a rocky start. Then, the sixth season was cancelled due to the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm, which resulted in Rebels being made. Slowly though, over the course of two seasons, Clone Wars characters and storyllines came into Rebels. Now, via the Season 03 trailer, it appears the Clone Wars will finally be getting a proper sendoff, as the Rebel team will be facing Battle Droids from the Trade Federation.
Showrunner Dave Filoni talked with IGN about the Battle Droids appearing, and how it all came together:
“We are kind of moving through the path we had last season where we’re touching on some Clone Wars things and bringing things to a head. There’s an episode coming up that’s I believe is called ‘The Last Battle of The Clone Wars,’ or something like that, and it was really an emotional thing for a lot of the crew in Star Wars Rebels because they all fought the Clone Wars. So here they’re watching these Battle Droids on screen again walking around and Rex yelling with his helmet on. It kind of took us all back several years. But it was an important story for Ezra, mainly, as you’ll see in the future, to have those guys there.”
Filoni notes that he welcomed the opportunity to bridge the gap between different generations of Star Wars, explaining, “We had a great opportunity to put them in the same space as classic Star Wars elements and that was kind of very eye opening. Because while we know the prequels and classic trilogy back to back, it’s very limited how much they’ve ever crossed over. So when you see Ahsoka Tano standing in front of Darth Vader, even more than it just being about her confronting him, and the story of it, you’re literally seeing someone from a prequel era timeline confronting a classic trilogy character in a major way and that I think is just as important for the Battle Droids. To see them operating in the same space that the Empire is, it’s a little bit mind blowing.”
The third season of Rebels debuts this fall.
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