Will Any ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Characters Appear in ‘Rogue One’?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this week, you’ll know that the teaser trailer for the upcoming anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has been released into the wild and all I can say is that we’re in for a real cinematic treat this December.

It’s hard to say what the fanbase is most excited about: The rebellious new anti-heroine Jyn Erso (played by British actress Felicity Jones), the return of Mon Mothma, the breath-taking shot of the near-completed Death Star, the intense action scenes, or actor Ben Mendelsohn’s epic white cape. To be fair, there is a *lot* to be excited about and this was just a little taste of what’s to come.

Of course, as a fan of Star Wars Rebels, I can’t help but wonder how the events of the film will tie into the animated show (if at all). Cameos are unlikely, especially since we don’t know how future seasons of Rebels will pan out, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to name-drop at least one of the Ghost crew members or include some sort of visual nod to the series. Even if it’s just something as subtle as hiding one of Sabine’s signature starbirdsin the background of a key scene.

Now, on the one hand, it’s somewhat unreasonable to expect the average movie-goer to be familiar with the characters or events of the Disney XD series. On the other hand, Ahsoka Tano, the Ghost crew, and Phoenix Squadron have all played important roles within the fledging rebellion, so I feel it would be a great disservice to the broader Star Wars mythos to simply overlook what these characters – and the series’ production team – have accomplished over the past couple of years.

As the series draws ever closer to the time period of Rogue One and A New Hope, it’s clear that the Rebels production team will have to take steps to ensure that their show doesn’t trod on any proverbial toes or outright contradict the events of the original trilogy.

In his interview with io9, executive producer Dave Filoni explained that the Rebels team were handling Rogue One’s existence “very, very, very carefully” and are trying to stay as faithful as possible to the events of the 1977 classic. There’s already been some talk of possibly phasing out the Inquisitors in season three and Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Pablo Hidalgo has stated that “over the course of the next season…. we’re going to see more of the Rebellion that we recognized in Episode IV and Rogue One taking shape in Rebels“.

So there does appear to be some concerted effort to align the TV series with the film. It’s also worth noting that screenwriter Gary Whitta, who worked on an early draft of the Rogue One script, has been working on some material for the third season of Rebels. Could this mean that we may see some of the film’s new characters appear on the show at some point?

Only time will tell. But it’s kyber crystal clear that 2016 is turning out to be an amazing year to be a Star Wars fan!

Update: Star Wars Rebels fans have been told to keep an eye out for several surprises in Rogue One. These will be listed and addressed in a future article, so stay tuned!

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What are your thoughts on the Rogue One trailer? Would you like to see some Rebels character cameos in the film or do you feel that would be unnecessary fan service? Feel free to leave your comments below!

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