Ten years ago, Star Wars Rebels premiered on Disney XD, marking the first major new on-screen project that Lucasfilm premiered after the Disney acquisition. A decade later, it remains the very best series from the entire Star Wars franchise.
That’s especially high praise, and you might think it’s an overstated opinion. After all, the galaxy is now filled with plenty of shows: The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, Resistance, Tales of the Jedi, Tales of the Empire, and Young Jedi Adventures on the animation side, with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Acolyte, and the soon-to-be-released Skeleton Crew in live-action. When Rebels premiered, only one of those other shows was in existence, which puts into perspective just how many different Star Wars shows we’ve seen over the last ten years. But, in my opinion, Rebels remains the best.
Why? Let’s celebrate the show’s significance by exploring five reasons it was so great.
1. The characters
The strength of the show rests first and foremost in the new cast of characters created, and Rebels gives fans time to fall in love with them before branching out in broader galaxy-wide stakes. For much of the first season, the story is about this band of rebels known as the Spectres. There’s Hera Syndulla, the Twi’lek ace pilot who becomes a key leader in the Rebellion and the New Republic. There’s Kanan Jarrus, the Jedi who grows into the role of the wise master and mentor. There’s Ezra Bridger, the young Force-sensitive boy who becomes Jarrus’s Jedi apprentice. There’s Sabine Wren, the artistic Mandalorian exile. There’s Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, the formidable Lasat with a lovable heart. And there’s Chopper, the sassy, bloodthirsty, iconic droid. These characters created for the show have become some of the very best in the entire Star Wars franchise, and they remain the heartbeat throughout. Though other familiar characters get introduced as the series goes on, it’s a testament to these spectres that they remain the focus and the emotional heartbeat throughout. Dave Filoni struck gold in the creation of these six characters.
2. The story
As the story of these six heroes progresses, we see the war against the Empire picking up and escalating. Along the way, we get what is, in my opinion, the single best on-screen Star Wars story about a master training a Jedi apprentice, as Kanan trains Ezra in the ways of the Force. But we also get the continuation of the Mandalorian thread from The Clone Wars (with Sabine), and begin tying in to the original trilogy in major ways. But the story, throughout, is the story of a plucky band of rebels who stand up for those who are being oppressed. They don’t set out to overthrow the Empire – indeed, as the show goes on the characters aren’t all in agreement with how to do it anyway – but to fight for the good of the overlooked and the burdened.
3. The connections
But make no mistake: it’s not just these six new characters who steal the show. This series continues some really significant threads from The Clone Wars, particularly with Ahsoka Tano and Maul. We see the long-awaited duel between Ahsoka and Darth Vader, as well as Maul’s rematch with Obi-Wan Kenobi. The story with these two characters is continued in the perfect way, as it is not only executed well but also fits in naturally to the story this show is telling. It doesn’t ever feel like it takes away from it, or that it’s a subversion of the show’s main storyline (in a way that, say, The Book of Boba Fett did). Beyond Ahsoka and Maul, though, the series also gives us some truly great Darth Vader moments, and introduces the legendary Grand Admiral Thrawn as the big bad of the final two seasons. It’s connections like that which make this show even better, and then as the Rebellion gets going, we see plenty of familiar Rebels pop up too. This series is a perfect tie-in leading up to the original trilogy.
4. The lore
As it does so, the series grows our understanding of the Star Wars universe, particularly the Force. Dave Filoni is the master at exploring this in Star Wars, and there are moments in this series where he really delves into the mystical side of the Force (most notably in the World Between Worlds). Those wanting to understand the Star Wars franchise and the Force in better, deeper, ways will not want to miss this series.
5. The influence
But perhaps the best way to see just how significant this show is in the Star Wars canon is to look at how much it has influenced the storytelling that has come later. In a very real sense, the whole Mandoverse of stories right now is a continuation of Rebels. The Ahsoka series was literally a sequel to Rebels, but the whole storyline of this era is pulling from it. Hera, Sabine, Ezra, Chopper, and Zeb have all showed up in live-action, as have Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ahsoka Tano. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that the most significant Star Wars project to understand this new era of storytelling is Rebels. A decade after its premiere, it is influencing a ton of current projects, a testament to its enduring legacy.
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