Why Now Is The Perfect Time To Watch 'Star Wars: Rebels', If You Haven't Already

Dave Filoni, in partnership with Jon Favreau, has been credited by many fans for helping save the Star Wars franchise with his work as a writer, Director, and occasional guest star on The Mandalorian. Prior to stepping into the live-action version of the Galaxy far, far, away, Filoni made a name for himself with animated Star Wars content, including Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and more recently Clone Wars spin-off/sequel The Bad Batch.

Filoni was also the main creative mind behind Star Wars: Rebels. Running for four seasons from 2014 to 2018, the animated series follows a small Rebel cell, the Spectres, in the days of the Galactic Empire, eventually leading into o the birth of the full-blown Rebel Alliance. Rebels was the first Star Wars series to be produced entirely under the Disney banner. While it earned decent ratings, many more seasoned fans failed to warm to the series initially, for a few reasons. Some disliked the animation style compared to Clone Wars, and others were quick to dismiss it as a kiddie show due to the Disney connection. A few avoided Rebels in protest, blaming the series for the premature cancellation of Clone Wars initial run, regardless of Dave Filoni's involvement in both.

However, in recent years, largely due to the easy availability of the series on Disney Plus, fan sentiment towards Rebels has shifted in a much more positive direction. If you haven't got around to watching it yet, here's why now is the perfect time to catch up on Star Wars: Rebels.

'Rebels' is an easy binge

In the day and age of streaming TV, most viewers love a good binge-watching session. Just sit back, relax, hit that play button, and enjoy a marathon of episodes. As great as Clone Wars is, we have to acknowledge that it doesn't exactly lend itself to the binge-viewing model, particularly not in the early seasons.

The early episodes of Clone Wars were not produced or aired in chronological order. This somewhat hampers an easy binge watch experience, as any viewing of seasons one through three often requires the viewer to dive for the remote between episodes, scanning online lists for which one they need next to properly follow the story. It also makes taking a break difficult, as the episode queued up on the 'Continue Watching' tab may not be where you actually left off from. Clone Wars also follows a much larger cast of characters spread across multiple locations.

These factors are not an issue with Rebels. The episodes air in chronological order for all four seasons. The series is also mostly centred on the Spectre Cell Rebels, with particular focus on Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger. Guest characters come and go over the course of the four seasons, but the series really belongs to the Ghost crew.

Rebels also features surprisingly little in the way of filler, at least by animated series standards. Almost everything happens for a reason. For example, a season two environmental Aesop episode about the whale-like Purrgil, dismissed by many as filler on it's first airing, actually contains the greatest Chekhov's Gun of the entire series.

It is more accessible for casual fans

Dave Filoni's animated Star Wars shows are each set within unexplored stretches of time between the various Star Wars films. Clone Wars is set in the time period of the Prequel Trilogy, depicting the events between Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Bad Batch follows Revenge of the Sith, while Rebels begins sometime later, in the lead-up to the Original Trilogy.

While love for the Prequels has grown in recent years, especially in light of the negative reception faced by the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the Original Trilogy of films remain the most well-loved, and notably, well-known. Hardcore, dedicated Star Wars fans will know Clone Wars mainstays like Count Dooku or General Grievous, but a more casual viewer may not. However, they are likely to recognise Original Trilogy icons like Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and the Stormtroopers. To most viewers, those things are quintessential Star Wars, and all feature in Rebels at one point or another, and for this reason, Rebels is more likely to attract and hold the attention of less seasoned fans.

'Rebels' fills in a number of gaps for a few much-loved characters.

Many fans who distanced themselves from Rebels early in it's run have found themselves regretting that choice later on. Why? Well, at the time, the idea of Clone Wars getting its seventh and final season (Eventually produced and streamed as a flagship title in the early days of Disney Plus) was little more than a pipe dream. So, Filoni instead used Rebels as a vehicle to tie-up some of Clone Wars' loose ends.

Without watching Rebels, fans would never learn the fate of the beloved clone Captain Rex, or (at least until Clone Wars final season) Ahsoka Tano herself. Without watching Rebels, you would never see Ahsoka go toe-to-toe with her former Master, Darth Vader, or Obi-Wan Kenobi's final confrontatiuon with Darth Maul.

Rebels also contains information that, while not entirely vital, definitely adds to the experience of the live-action Star Wars shows, most notably The Mandalorian. For example, the final season of Rebels details how Bo-Katan Kryze came to possess the Darksaber, and while the Purge of Mandalore itself is not depicted, the series depicts the events that likely lead to the Empire's decision to raze the planet.

It includes the first on-screen appearance of the franchise's next Big Bad

When Disney decided to de-canonise all Star Wars Expanded Universe novels from before their purchase of LucasFilm, many fans were most distressed by the loss of Grand Admiral Thrawn, a villain created by author Timothy Zahn. In Zahn's original novels, Thrawn, the sole survivor of the Empire's twelve Grand Admirals, but also the one with the most brilliant strategic mind, takes control of a surviving Imperial fleet, and eventually proves the greatest threat to the New Republic established by Luke and Leia.

To the delight of many, Filoni, with input from Zahn, restored Thrawn to canon status in season three of Rebels, with the Chiss Grand Admiral becoming the main antagonist for the remainder of the series. Thrawn's inclusion drew the attention of fans who had previously not been interested, and led many to declare seasons three and four the best of the series.

Keen-eared fans will probably have heard Thrawn's name in The Mandalorian. During Ahsoka Tano's guest appearance in season two's 'The Jedi', she makes it clear that she is searching for Thrawn. He is also mentioned during the brief meeting of the Shadow Council in the season three episode 'The Spies', where it is implied, to Moff Gideon's chagrin, that Thrawn is expected to take charge of what remains of the Empire.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is set to make his live-action debut in the upcoming Ahsoka series, and in a recent interview, Filoni confirmed that Thrawn is the ultimate Big Bad of this era, dubbed the 'Mando-era' or 'Mando-verse' by some fans. Many assume that Ahsoka and other projects set in this period will adapt Zahn's original 'Heir to the Empire' trilogy. Thrawn's Rebels arc predates all of this, making it a valuable set up for the character.

'Rebels' is required viewing for 'Ahsoka'

While many considered the character annoying in the early episodes of the Clone Wars series, fans eventually grew to love Ahsoka Tano, becoming eager to see Anakin's former Padawan make the leap into live-action. They got their wish, with Rosario Dawson guest starring as a live-action Ahsoka in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett. Dawson will reprise the role in Ahsoka.

Many fans are expecting Ahsoka to pick up where the Rebels epilogue left off, with Ahsoka recruiting Mandalorian former Rebel Sabine Wren in her quest to find the missing Ezra Bridger. The show will deal with some of Rebels dangling plot threads, such as the fate of Ezra and Thrawn, and further adventures of the Ghost crew, many of whom, including Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, and the droid C1-10P, better known as Chopper, will be making their live-action debuts in Ahsoka. While Ahsoka will and should be able to stand alone, there will undoubtedly be references and plot points that will hold greater significance to those that have seen the Rebels series.

Aside from all this, Star Wars: Rebels is just a great story, with compelling characters, set in an era that holds a special place in the heart of any Star Wars fan. The story of the Ghost crew deserves to be seen, and there is no better time than now, before their next chapters are written.