A Look Back at Star Wars: Rebels in Preparation for Season Four

Star Wars: Rebels is set to release its final season within the next three weeks on Disney XD. The show is set about five years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, and the main character – a homeless thief named Ezra Bridger – ends up joining a rebel cell that attempts to provide aid to those worlds that are under imperial reign. This rebel cell ends up joining the wider rebellion with the goal of ending the tyrannical empire.

Before we start getting into speculation on what might happen in the upcoming season let’s recap on what happened in the previous three seasons of Star Wars: Rebels.

Season One started off fairly simply with Ezra joining the crew of the Ghost, which includes Jedi Kanan Jarrus, Captain Hera Syndula, Graffiti artist and former bounty hunter Sabine Wren, The Muscle Zeb, and the smart mouth astromech droid Chopper. After their introduction, the crew goes on a multitude of adventures in which they are challenged and begin to be noticed by the empire. In one particular adventure, after realizing that Ezra is force-sensitive, Kanan takes him to an abandoned Jedi temple on the planet Lothal where he has to go through a trial. This trial, according to Kanan, will determine if Ezra is destined to be a Jedi. As Ezra goes through the trial, he faces many challenges, including fear and doubt, but after he finishes the trial he sees a vision of Yoda. This vision causes Ezra  to decide that he wants to become a Jedi to protect his friends. He is then gifted a kyber crystal to make his very own lightsaber. The season finale of season one showcased a battle between Ezra, Kanan, and the Grand Inquisitor. This battle was heated and ended with Ezra getting knocked out. Kanan thought that he died and finished the fight with the Inquisitor after the Inquisitor’s lightsaber was thrown down the reactor shaft. That lightsaber caused the ship they were on to start blowing up, at which point the Inquisitor said that there are things worse than death and committed suicide. Kanan and Ezra left the Imperial transport and rejoined the crew of the Ghost.

In season two, we are reintroduced to old characters from the previous Star Wars animated television show The Clone Wars. We see Ashoka Tano, the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker (who is now known as Darth Vader), as well as a few clones. One clone in particular that becomes a major player is Rex, who was a part of Anakin’s clone legion in the clone wars. In this season, the crew of the Ghost has joined the larger rebellion and are being hunted by the empire with two inquisitors. This causes major problems for the characters. The rebellion finds a permanent base on the planet of Attolon, where a creature called the bindu resides, and is what seems to be the force itself. In the season finale, Ashoka, Kanan, and Ezra travel to the planet Malacore where they run into Darth Maul. Maul tempts Ezra with the dark side of the force and tells Ezra he needs him to get to a Sith holocron so that Maul can get information to exact his revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi. While this is happening, Kanan and Ashoka travel to the temple where they meet back up with Ezra and Maul, and chaos ensues. In this battle, Maul blinds Kanan, and Ashoka fights her old master, Darth Vader. At the end of the season, fans don’t yet know what happens at the end of that duel, but they do see Kanan and Ezra return to the Ghost to regroup with the rebellion.

Season three is all about gaining resources and strengthening the rebellion. At first, because of the Sith holocron, Ezra goes into a dark side phase, but after he realizes that it’s hurting his friends, returns to the light. There are two major things that occur during this season. First, Ezra disobeys orders and goes to Tatooine to find Obi-Wan and attempt to get him to join the rebellion; Obi-Wan refuses, because he’s watching Luke. At the same time, Maul ambushes him, at which point Kenobi finishes Maul. The second major event is the finale of the season, where the rebellion attempts to start open warfare and make a major blow onto the Empire. This attempt fails, since the main villain of the season, Thrawn, knows about this plan and ambushes them on Attalon. Ezra is tasked with getting assistance from the Mandalorians and Sabine. The Mandalorians agree to help and assist with the rebellion. The rebellion takes heavy losses but is able to escape. They are able to get the defected Kallus and move to Yavin IV, which is where A New Hope begins.

In season four, I believe that the rebels will get beat down, and suffer heavy losses all the way to the battle of Scarrif in Rogue One. We might even see that battle in animated form which will lead directly into Star Wars: A New Hope.

Season four of Star Wars: Rebels airs Oct. 16, 2017 on Disney XD.