We are now a pop culture community in the middle of the long and winding road to a new Star Wars feature, but that hardly means we’re averse to having more intergalactic adventures in the meantime. As such, it’s rather excellent that Disney XD has already given its newest series Star Wars Rebels an early renewal for Season 2, even though most of the world hasn’t even seen the first episode yet. The Rebel Alliance will not be stopped!
Star Wars Rebels will make its official non-sneak preview premiere of the one-hour mini-movie Sparks of Rebellion on Friday, October 3, on Disney XD, though it has been available on the network’s website for a week now. The series was officially given the greenlight back in May of last year, so it’s pretty smart on Disney’s part to gauge the early buzz properly and get a second season in motion early, given how long it generally takes animated projects to reach completion. Especially when they look as lush as Star Wars Rebels does, and are filled with this kind of action and huge set pieces.
Not that Disney would be biased in this case or anything, but Disney Channels Worldwide president Gary Marsh said that the series meets up with the extremely high expectations that fans worldwide have for this project, and that “the team at Lucasfilm has delivered something that has surpassed even that incredibly high bar – artistically and thematically.” We all know that Star Wars fans are among the most level-headed and lenient people on the planet – pause for sarcasm to sink in – but the early world on Star Wars Rebels has been positive and the show will likely appease audiences everywhere.
Star Wars Rebels takes place between the events of both of the feature film trilogies, and centers on a young ne’er-do-well teenager Ezra (Taylor Grey), who hooks up with the crew of the ship Ghost in an effort to battle the Galactic Empire, which are trying to destroy all of the galaxy’s Jedi. The Ghost crew is comprised of clandestine Jedi Kanan (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), pilot Hera (Vanessa Marshall), enforcer Zeb (Steven Blum), and weapons expert Sabine (Tiya Sircar). Their biggest foe is the dreaded Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs), whose sole purpose is turning Jedi into bantha food. Check out the first part of the upcoming special below.
Unfortunately, co-executive producer Greg Weisman confirmed with Newsarama that he won’t be coming back to the series for Season 2, leaving executive producing duties to Simon Kinberg and Dave Filoni. Still, he’ll get to reap all of the rewards for this presumably successful first season.
Will you guys be watching Star Wars Rebels when it premieres on Disney on Friday, October 3? May the Force and buttered popcorn be with you.
