Star Wars Rebels Will Take Over Your Galaxy Earlier Than Expected

Star Wars fans, it’s going to be another long year and three months before J.J. Abrams hopefully blows the walls off of theaters with Star Wars: Episode VII. Thankfully, the Star Wars universe is never without new material to sink your Jawa-jaws into, even if it isn’t quite canon. Star Wars Rebels, the upcoming animated Disney XD series, is set to make its debut on Monday, October 6, with a one-hour special called Sparks of Rebellion, but there’s a way that you can watch it as early as tomorrow, September 26. It may or may not involve jumping into a sarlacc pit.

Okay, so it doesn’t involve that at all. What you need to do, first of all, is have Disney XD as part of your cable or satellite plan. (Anybody expecting to watch it in the first place should already have this taken care of.) Second, you need to go to the WatchDisneyXD website or to the mobile/smart TV app and make sure your service provider is compatible. Sorry DirecTV users, such as myself. We’re the redheaded Alderaans in this situation.

The special was already going to be released early, starting Monday, September 29, but I guess they want to give fans the weekend to live in this brand new storyline. And even though it’s a bummer that I can’t watch it then, Disney Channel proper is going to be airing it early on Friday, October 3 anyway. There are enough release dates and platforms to equal all of the franchise's galaxies, it seems.

Check out a trailer for the series below. But don’t use your mouse or touchscreen. Just use the Force.

And if that wasn’t enough for you, check out the “Property of Ezra Bridger” short that was also released.

Star Wars Rebels takes place in between the cinematic trilogies and centers on young hooligan and soon-to-be powerful Jedi Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), who teams up with renegade Jedi Kana Jarrus (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and joins his crew aboard the ship Ghost. Other crew members include the musclebound Zeb Orrelios (Steven Blum), the weapon-ready Mandalorian Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar) and pilot Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall). Together, they must try to survive while taking on the Galactic Empire, with the major threat being the evil Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs), the double-bladed lightsaber-wielder whom is tasked by Darth Vader to destroy all of the Jedi left in the galaxy.

So remember, even if you can’t watch the Star Wars Rebels special early, it will sneak preview on Disney next Friday night before moving to its regular Disney XD spot starting Monday, October 6.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.