The final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars should more or less complete the prequel trilogy era, which Star Wars fans know ushers in the next era that will include Star Wars Rebels and the original trilogy. Based on some comments from voice actor Sam Witwer, who has brought Maul to life in both Clone Wars and Rebels, it's possible that the Clone Wars finale could have some significant connections to Rebels.
Of course, there were always bound to be some connections, based on some of what Dave Filoni told CinemaBlend regarding the final season of The Clone Wars following the end of Rebels. Additionally, the final arc of Clone Wars should explain Maul and Ahsoka's exchange in the Rebels Season 2 finale, and perhaps even where they began the journeys that brought them to where they were when they made their Rebels debuts.
The fall of Mandalore to the Empire following the Siege of Mandalore influenced Sabine and an arc in Rebels' final season, and the Clone Wars Season 7 trailer revealed the pre-Kanan Jarrus Caleb Dume will appear before the final credits roll. According to Sam Witwer in a chat with Syfy, the end of Clone Wars will show the impact of Star Wars Rebels:
That's the fun of the final arc. [With the] new stuff, you're gonna see Dave Filoni bringing the experience that he gained doing Rebels and the experience he gained doing The Mandalorian ... the Bad Batch is classic Clone Wars, it's pretty close to what they would have done years ago. The Ahsoka arc is 50/50; you're gonna see some new stuff. And then the final arc, it's every trick that they have learned since Clone Wars [ended]. Every cinematic tool that they have newly developed since Clone Wars to tell the best Clone Wars story that maybe we've ever told. We'll see if people agree with me on that.
Dave Filoni was the showrunner for Star Wars Rebels and has been supervising director of The Clone Wars, so ties between the two shows should come naturally. Sam Witwer also explained that Filoni wrote the final arc of The Clone Wars himself and the episodes are meant to be seen as one big movie. The finale will apparently change how fans think of some characters!
Assuming Caleb Dume and Maul don't appear until Ahsoka's solo journey concludes and the Siege of Mandalore begins, connections between Clone Wars and Rebels in the series finale arc are inevitable. With Dave Filoni bringing his Rebels experience to the final episodes of The Clone Wars, even more connections that viewers don't know about just yet could happen.
All of this said, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has a lot to wrap up without adding extra connections to Rebels. At this point in the final season, Anakin is still more or less on the straight and narrow.
Still, Anakin knows Padme is pregnant and is getting a little sloppy in hiding the strength of his attachment to her, so the final build to Revenge of the Sith has begun, and Revenge of the Sith is a whole lot closer to Clone Wars in the Star Wars timeline than the beginning of Star Wars Rebels.
See how Star Wars: The Clone Wars finishes its story with new episodes releasing Fridays on Disney+. With a whole lot of shows coming to premature ends in their current seasons thanks to the coronavirus, streaming services like Disney+ could soon become to the place to be for TV.
