'Star Wars Rebels' Season 4: Everything We Learned From Star Wars Celebration 2017

Straight from Star Wars Celebration, we have a bunch of updates on the upcoming fourth season of Star Wars Rebels, which has been confirmed to be the final season of the animated series on Disney XD.

Executive producer Dave Filoni appeared at the convention with cast members Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan), Taylor Gray (Ezra), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Vanessa Marshall (Hera) and Steven Blum (Zeb) to talk about what's in store for the reunited Ghost crew.

Find out everything we learned from the Star Wars Rebels season 4 panel after the jump.

The panel began things by talking about each of the members of the Ghost crew and what will be happening with each of them.

Voice actress Vanessa Marshall shared that Hera Syndulla still has the same agenda as before, but her focus is much more sharp, despite being rather impacted by the losses that the group experienced in the third season. Marshall went on:

"She is more focused and committed than ever to get the job done. It's vital. It's essential. Not that she was kidding earlier. I think [the Ghost crew members] are pressed to the very edges of their ability of what is put before them. And I think we'll see that in season four."

Thrawn really stuck into the Rebels last season, and knowing that this is the final season, now is the time for them to strike back, and Hera will be ready, becoming a General in the Rebel Alliance, just as she was referred to in Rogue One.

Steven Blum jokes that Zeb is "about 20% better at not losing Chopper in bets. Not because he likes Chopper more, just because he's better at betting." But more seriously, Blum notes:

"Zeb has become more of an uncle than a brother. He's becoming more of a responsible citizen rather than being a tough muscle head. I'm looking forward to him making smarter remarks and better choices."

Zeb has always been one of those characters that's a little more rough around the edges, but the comparison to him becoming more like a cool uncle is an apt one. He won't come down on Ezra in the same way that Kanan does, but he's still one of his elders.

Dave Filoni mentioned that Chopper has gotten a little cocky now that he's a bit of a movie star after appearing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Beyond that, Filoni indicated that the droid may be grumpy because he hasn't really had much of an arc. The droid is feisty and grumpy, but the executive producer elaborated on how that will change a bit this season"

"Chopper doesn't have an arc. He's more of a reveal. You'll learn more about him. When someone is that cantankerous, you'll find that actually means they care the most. He has a bigger heart than you realize, because when the chips are down, he likes these guys."

It'll be interesting to see how Chopper shows the heart that lies within his gears in this final season.

Sabine is probably the most interesting character in Star Wars Rebels, and this final season will allow us to explore more of her complicated family. Voice actress Tiya Sircar was cautious about revealing too much of what's in store this season when it comes to the Mandalorian family she has, but she said this:

"It will be surprising where we end up and – I'm very scared right now [to accidentally give away secrets] – who might show up.  There might be some new people you know, there might be some people you haven't seen before. They might all be Mandalorian."

There was a clear hint that the Mandalorian bounty hunter known as Boba Fett might make an appearance this season, which will be a real treat for fans. As for how Sabine develops this season, especially with regards to her Mandalorian family, Sircar also offered this tidbit:

"Sabine is in a new place this season. We saw her step into her own in a way we hadn't sen before. We knew she was super capable, the epitome of this Mandalorian warrior who happens to also be this incredible creative artist. I don't think we'd seen that dichotomy before. a complex woman wise behind her year. But she's still a young lady with her own insecurities and trust issues. We've seen her grow and mature into this really capable adult. I think she's gotten beyond those issues with this family, but she has all these other issues with this other family, and we'll explore those in season 4."

Now let's get to one of our Jedi characters. Freddie Prinze Jr. says Kanan is still blind, but "he sees more than he has ever seen before. He knows what path these Rebels need to be on. It takes some time to figure it out, but once he figures it out, he has the certainty that you've seen in other Jedi before."

Freddie Prinze Jr. talked about how the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi impacted him as a kid, making him hate Darth Vader. He didn't make any winks or nods during this conversation, but I wonder if this was a hint that Kanan may not make it through the end of the season alive. That's something we've assumed since all the Jedi are essentially gone by the time the original trilogy begins, so this wouldn't be all that surprising.

Finally, Kanan's apprentice Ezra has gone through plenty of changes over the three season we've spent with him, and now he's going through the part of his life where he has to decide not just what kind of Jedi he wants to be, what kind of person he wants to be.

Ezra has surpassed Kanan in some ways, as far as his Jedi powers are concerned, but since he's still a young man, he still has struggles with his anger and faith that make his coming of age rather complicated. Even so, Taylor Gray says that Ezra will make some great decisions this season, presumably away from the dark side.

On the next page find out about Rogue One characters, a Star Wars Legends character entering canon, the return of Ahsoka Tano and more.

Outside of the core Ghost crew, the fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels will incorporate some of the characters that we met in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

As we heard previously, Forest Whitaker will be voicing Saw Gerrera. Since we don't know much about the background of this character, Rebels will show us how he became more of an extremist, which caused the Rebel Alliance to disavow his actions and distance themselves from his radical perspective. Joining Saw will be his co-pilot Two Tubes, and they'll be cruising around in a U-Wing.

Also coming back will be Mon Mothma, again voiced by Genevieve O'Reilly. Though Mon Mothma is a calm leader in the Rebel Alliance, David Filoni said that we'll get to see her be a little more fiery for once.

Since the trailer also featured the appearance of a Death Trooper, we're betting there will be some other Rogue One characters who end up popping up at some point.

Otherwise, Star Wars Rebels will see at least one new prominent character make his debut into Star Wars canon. Fans of the stories involving Grand Admiral Thrawn will be happy to hear that his bodyguard Rukh is coming to the series.

Return of the Jedi star Warwick Davis will be voicing Rukh, which comes after Dave Filoni promised him a role in Clone Wars. Since that show ended up getting canceled, Warwick Davis gave Filoni a hard time during Star Wars Celebration Europe about not bringing him into Star Wars Rebels, so here we are with the actor getting yet another role in the Star Wars universe.

Rukh is of the alien race Noghri and in the Star Wars Legends, he was the right-hand man to Thrawn, serving as his bodyguard and eventually an assassin for the Imperial officer. Since Rebels isn't taking anything beyond characters from Star Wars Legends so far, it's tough to say how much of Rukh's history in old Star Wars mythology will be used, but it's still cool to see him pulled into canon.

Since this is the final season of Star Wars Rebels, the timeline will be getting closer to the beginning of A New Hope. In addition to Rogue One characters coming into the series, the aesthetic of the show will start to be a little more drab. As time goes on in the fight of the Rebellion against the Empire, some wear will likely start to show on their ships. Plus, the Yavin base won't be the most sleek location, starting to look more like it does in A New Hope.

There have been recent rumblings that Anakin Skywalker's apprentice Ahsoka Tano may return in the fourth season. Her fate after a battle with Darth Vader in a previous episode was left somewhat open ended, and since this is the final season, fans have been hoping for her return.

Dave Filoni decided to mess with fans a bit by wearing a shirt during the Star Wars Rebels panel that said "Ashoka lives?" Then after the first episode screened, he came back out with a shirt that said "Ahsoka lives!" When asked by a fan about the change in his shirt, Filoni simply said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The question is whether this means Ahsoka Tano will pop up again on Star Wars Rebels or maybe another animated series. Even though this is the last season of Star Wars Rebels, Dave Filoni reassure everyone that this did not mean there weren't more animated Star Wars stories to come. Time will tell when and how we see the return of Ahsoka Tano.

Our own Peter Sciretta is on hand in Orlando and caught the season premiere of the show. There he learned that the season will open with a two-part episode, titled "The Heroes of Manadlore." The first part was screened exclusively for those in attendance at Celebration, and it follows Sabine and the Ghost crew on a mission to rescue her father.

Peter says the episode is filled with some great action and has a rather dark cliffhanger episode that not only has repercussions for our heroes but asks some questions of one of our favorites.

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That's all our coverage from the Star Wars Rebels season 4 panel at Star Wars Celebration. We've got plenty of time to kill until the new season premieres sometime this fall, but we'll likely learn even more over the summer leading up to the premiere.