The Star Wars action on the small screen has provided some of the most epic showdowns, incredible arcs, and mind-blowing plot twists of the entire grand saga. Despite the end of Star Wars Rebels following its fourth season, the action is still ongoing. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is on its way back to TV with a new batch of episodes that will handle some of its characters differently due to the events of Rebels. Fortunately, Rebels and Clone Wars showrunner Dave Filoni spoke with CinemaBlend about how Rebels impacts the new season of Clone Wars, saying this:
You know, that's the interesting thing, when you do these shows and different time periods and cross characters over, but you are laying out a lot of their stories. So now, to be quite honest, no one's asked me this. It's interesting, because Clone Wars affects Rebels and that's progressive, but now I have to look at it in reverse and I have to look at all the things I did with Ahsoka and Rex and say 'Well, now I know these things happen so how does that affect what they were like now that I'm back in Clone Wars?' So I have to do this other time of engineering which I didn't have to do before because Ahsoka in Clone Wars is always forward-moving, and so is Rex. Their futures were undetermined, but now you know something about them, so that's different. That's new for new Clone Wars, so we'll see. Hopefully I can figure it all out.
Naturally, the events of The Clone Wars impacted Star Wars Rebels with everything ranging from characters like Ahsoka and Rex playing a part to the ships and equipment available to the rebels. After all, Clone Wars took place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, while Rebels was set in the final years before the beginning of the original trilogy, so short of Dave Filoni finding a real-life Force portal to change the past, Rebels was never going to change Clone Wars... until Clone Wars went back into production for new episodes to air after Rebels ended its four-season run.
Ahsoka's history between the end of The Clone Wars and her appearance in Rebels' first season finale is largely shrouded in mystery. A novel was released back in 2016 to fill in some gaps, and we know a few details about how she would have played a part in the Siege of Mandalore arc if Clone Wars had remained on the air long enough for that story to make it to TV, but what happened to her after her departure from the Jedi Temple is still largely a mystery. Rebels revealed how Ahsoka changed from who she was at the end of Clone Wars over the years; now, The Clone Wars will have to unfold the events that turned her into the person she became by the time Rebels picked up.
The same is true for good old Rex, as well as Wolffe and Gregor to a certain extent. The clone troopers were still fighting in service of the Republic during The Clone Wars, although some were getting the idea that not everything was as it seemed within the Republic. How did these three troopers go from fighting for the Republic to hanging out on Seelos? When exactly did they remove the chips that would have forced them to betray their Jedi? What happened on their last mission? The trailer for the new Clone Wars episodes teases that Rex was working with Ahsoka at least once more before the rise of the Empire. Clone Wars' return could answer some big Rebels questions, which is very good news for fans already missing Rebels.
Dave Filoni also commented on how not all Clone Wars were Rebels fans back in the early days of the series, mostly due to their lingering loyalties to Clone Wars. He had this to say:
Some of the Clone Wars fans, the fans are amazing in their variety and their loyalty too. I have Clone Wars fans, they love Clone Wars. They are not interested in anything else. Clone Wars is their thing, every day, 'Please save the Clone Wars.' It's really wonderful. But they were like, 'Oh, Rebels, what is this?' They loved Clone Wars! And I get that. 'Who is this new thing?' But when Ahsoka showed up and then Rex, they were like, 'Oh, gosh, now I have to watch it.' I think we've pulled them along and I hope they enjoyed it at the end of the day.
Star Wars Rebels was a fun and engaging series from the very beginning to many viewers, but Clone Wars fans accustomed to the adventures of Anakin and Ahsoka weren't all ready to sign on for a new show when they were still so devoted to the earlier show. Dave Filoni expressed his appreciation for these fans' devotion. If anything, the reaction of Clone Wars fans to the appearances of Ahsoka and Rex on Rebels is further proof that Star Wars is one big saga of connected stories, even if they're not all as major as Revenge of the Sith or The Empire Strikes Back or The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars will return with 12 new episodes on Disney's upcoming streaming service, although no specific date has yet been released. Dave Filoni didn't reveal if we can expect any younger versions of original Rebels characters to turn up, but my fingers are already crossed for young Caleb Dume as a Padawan and Depa Billaba at least making a cameo. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more Star Wars TV news, as there's also a live-action series (that could be very expensive) and Resistance to look forward to. For now, you can find The Clone Wars streaming on Netflix, and the Star Wars Rebels Season 4 Blu-ray is available with a whole bunch of fun special features as well. Be sure to swing by our fall TV guide for some shows set elsewhere than that galaxy far, far away.
