Star Wars Rebels, about to enter its fourth and final season, begins five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope and focuses mainly on the crew of the ship ‘The Ghost’; captain Hera Syndulla, droid Chopper, Manadlorian Sabine Wren and Lasat muscle Zeb and their role in the burgeoning rebellion as well as the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and his young apprentice Ezra Bridger.
The Ghost crew has grown from taking on small missions and low level raids and causing minor disruption to Imperial activities to a full blown part on the Rebel Alliance, taking on more important roles. Syndulla has become one of their best pilots and leaders of troops, Sabine is now an important person on Mandalore and holds the legendary Darksabre, and Zeb is now far more than muscle and comic relief, having saved what remains of his species.
There have been some formidable foes. Agent Kallus, a ruthless rebel hunter under the instruction of Darth Vader, caused the Ghost crew many a problem before changing allegiances. In Season Three, his role as antagonist was filled by Grand Admiral Thrawn, a blue skinned Chiss who the Empire send to stop the continuous thorn in their side.
What we have also seen is how sometimes, in the background, but coming more to the fore as the show continues, is the Rebellion growing from a few rag tag groups and cells of freedom fighters battling the oppression of Emperor Palpatine’s galactic Empire to a more organised, more influential and overall larger Rebel Alliance that we are familiar with from the Original Trilogy, with characters like Mon Mothma and Bail Organa playing major roles (not major in the show but major in the rebellion).
Kanan and Ezra are perhaps the main focus, with the two force sensitives having a central role. Kanan survived Order 66 seen in Revenge of the Sith when he was just a Padawan. Getting involved in the Rebellion and training Ezra has given him purpose, although he has struggled with training and his own sense of self worth. In latter episodes he has revelled in becoming a strong role model for Ezra and Sabine while still learning about the force himself. A returning Darth Maul blinded Kanan at the end of Season Two, although down to his loss of vision he seems to be more attuned with the force.
Ezra is more interesting in so much as that he has dabbled with the dark side and teetered on the brink of it at times. Manipulated by Maul, purely for Maul’s own gain of course, he has helped the former Sith, at times willingly, but managed to shake off the shackles of Maul and the dark side, for now at least, and has been growing in power and helped Kanan fight off intimidating foes like The Inquistors – who by the way are not very inquisitive (they are pretty nasty though). We have seen both grow as people and in the force, with some influence from a returning Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s former protegee, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Quite where there story goes remains largely unknown, but it is the most intriguing plot thread to resolve. We know Hera, Chopper and The Ghost are around at the time of Rogue One, but where are the two Jedi? What has become of them?
Star Wars Rebels Season Four begins on Disney XD in the UK on Saturday 28th October. Let us know what you think of the season.