Star Wars Rebels


Star Wars Rebels is an American 3D animated science fiction television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation and set in the Star Wars galaxy five years before A New Hope. It takes place during an era when the Galactic Empire is hunting down the last of the Jedi while a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking form. The visual style of the series is inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. The series features new characters, along with some from the original trilogy and from the previous CGI series, .
The series premiered as a one-hour television film, Spark of Rebellion, on October 3, 2014, on Disney Channel prior to the premiere of the series on October 13 on Disney XD. The second season premiered on June 20, 2015, with a one-hour television film, The Siege of Lothal. The third season premiered on September 24, 2016, with the television film, Steps Into Shadow. The fourth and last season premiered on October 16, 2017, with another one-hour television film, Heroes of Mandalore. Its final episode aired on March 5, 2018.
Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman served as executive producers of season one. Weisman left the show after season one. Filoni was also the supervising director for the first two seasons, a role he relinquished after accepting a promotion that expanded his creative role into overseeing all Lucasfilm Animation projects; he chose Justin Ridge to succeed him for season three.
The series has been generally well received with several award wins and nominations. Rebels garnered praise for its writing, characters, voice acting, score, and expansion of the franchise's mythology, though its received some criticism for its animation. The show was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Animated Series and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. Rebels became the first recipient of the Saturn Award for Best Animated Series on Television, winning for its final two seasons.
A number of tie-in media have been released to expand upon the series' lore such as the comic book series Kanan, the novel, and the novel series.

Premise

Fourteen years after the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order and the rise of the Galactic Empire depicted in Revenge of the Sith, a motley group of rebels unite aboard a freighter starship called the Ghost and begin to conduct covert operations against the Imperial garrison on and around the planet Lothal and other planets that are menaced by the Empire.

Cast and characters

Release

Broadcast

The first two episodes, titled Spark of Rebellion, premiered on October 3, 2014, on Disney Channels worldwide and on Family Channel in Canada. In Australia, the series premiered on October 17 on Disney XD. The Siege of Lothal premiered on June 28, 2015, and the second season debuted on October 18. In Canada, the series premiered on October 19 on the DHX-owned Disney XD. However, due to DHX Media losing the rights to Disney content, the show was later moved to Disney Channel. The second season premiered on November 7, and it was moved to the Corus-owned Disney XD channel on December 1.
In the Middle East and Africa, Spark of Rebellion premiered on October 11 and the series debuted on October 18 on Disney XD. Siege of Lothal premiered on October 10, followed the official season premiere on October 17. In Southeast Asia, Spark of Rebellion premiered on Disney XD on October 4 and the series officially started on November 29. Siege of Lothal premiered on October 3 on Disney XD and Disney Channel, and the second season was released on October 24. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series debuted on October 16 on Disney XD. Siege of Lothal premiered on July 18, 2015, followed by the second-season debut on October 17.

Home media

Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD in the US at all retailers on October 14, 2014. DVD bonus features include character shorts, a 3D model kit of the Ghost ship, and a preview of season 1.
The Complete Season One of Star Wars Rebels was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on September 1, 2015, in America, and in Germany on September 10, 2015. The Season 1 collection contains the expanded version of Spark of Rebellion with the Darth Vader/Grand Inquisitor prologue shown on ABC-TV. The Complete Season Two of Star Wars Rebels was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30, 2016, in North America. The Complete Season Three of Star Wars Rebels was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 29, 2017. The Complete Season Four is announced to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15, 2018, in Germany, and July 31, 2018, in the United States.
The series is also available on the Disney+ streaming service, which launched on November 12, 2019.

Reception

Ratings

In the United States, the one-hour special garnered 2.74 million viewers on Disney Channel and 2.40 million viewers on ABC. Worldwide, it delivered a total of 6.5 million viewers. On Disney Channel, the first and second episodes delivered 2.33 million and 1.92 million viewers, respectively. The third and fourth episodes garnered 2.32 million and 1.84 million, respectively. The fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes were watched by 1.43 million, 1.30 million, and 1.60 million viewers, respectively. The eighth and ninth episodes got 1.92 and 1.44 million viewers, respectively.
In Canada, the second episode was watched by 274,500 viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast ever on the network. In the United Kingdom, the film was the highest-rated broadcast that week, with 81,000 viewers.

Critical response

According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of critics have given a positive review for all four seasons based on 11 reviews for season 1, 6 reviews for season 2, 6 reviews for season 3, and 10 reviews for season 4, with an average rating of 8.17/10 for season 1, 7.38/10 for season 2, 9/10 for season 3, and 9.28/10 for season 4. At Metacritic, the first season has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". IGN and Variety in particular had strong praise for the pilot film, Spark of Rebellion, with their only criticism being the appearance of the Wookiees in the film, being cited as not all that impressive compared to the rest of the animation.

Accolades

Other media

Films

Chopper and the Ghost appear in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Hera's surname is called on a loudspeaker at the Rebel base on Yavin IV, where Chopper can briefly be seen. In addition, the Ghost takes part in the climactic battle over Scarif.
The Ghost also appears in the 2019 film during the final battle over Exegol. The voice of Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus can also heard in the film as one of the voices of Jedi past who provide Rey with encouragement to defeat Emperor Palpatine.

Novels

On September 2, 2014, Del Rey Books published ', a prequel novel telling the story of how Kanan and Hera met.
In 2017, a new novel, entitled Thrawn, was released. The book marked the entrance of Grand Admiral Thrawn into the current canon. It was written by the character's original creator, Timothy Zahn.
A sequel to Thrawn, titled ', was released on July 24, 2018. It explored Thrawn's partnerships with Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. Another Thrawn novel, was released on July 23, 2019. It takes place during the events of Rebels' fourth season.

Comics

From April 1, 2015, through March 16, 2016, Marvel Comics published a 12-issue comic series, titled Kanan, and set during the events of the first season. Written by former executive producer of the series Greg Weisman and illustrated by Pepe Larraz, Jacopo Camagni and Andrea Broccardo, the story is centered on Kanan having flashbacks to his days as a Padawan in the Jedi Temple and the Clone Wars. The other members of the Ghost crew also appear.
In the summer of 2017, Marvel announced that a comic book miniseries adaptation of Zahn's Thrawn novel is being planned, scheduled to be released in early 2018. The first issue was released on February 14, 2018, with new issues being released over the following five months.
A few days after the series finale was aired, IDW Publishing released the seventh issue of the long-running Star Wars Adventures multi-era comic book series, which contained the first of a two-part comic arc, set between the second and third season, in which the Spectres embark on a mission to save a rare endangered bird from Imperial custody. The second part appeared in the next issue, which was released on March 28, 2018.

Video games

A side-scrolling run-and-gun game based on the show's first season, titled Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, was released by Disney Mobile on iOS, Android, and Windows Store in early 2015, before being discontinued on July 28, 2016, due to the limitations of the support team. Ezra Bridger is the only playable character, with other characters available via in-app purchases, which also grant early access to most of the game's levels in the mobile versions and are required to play the full campaign in the Windows Store version.
Additionally, several of the characters from the series are playable in other games such as Disney Infinity 3.0, Angry Birds Star Wars II, ', Star Wars: Galactic Defense, ' and .