What do you need to know about Rebels to understand Ahsoka? With the Star Wars show right around the corner, it's a fair question to ask – the live-action series looks to be a continuation of the animated show, which means you can't go wrong in brushing up on Rebels first.
Rebels, which aired from 2014 to 2018, follows a band of (you guessed it) Rebels who resist the Empire. It's set before the original trilogy, though the epilogue takes place post-Return of the Jedi. It features some pretty major revelations about the Force, as well as crucial plot points that will likely affect the future of Star Wars. In short, Rebels is an essential slice of the saga.
We've got everything you need to know about Rebels below, including an overview of the characters it's worth being familiar with, as well as significant plot points that could be meaningful to the live-action show and beyond. Our handy guide will save you a full Rebels binge-watch, so, if you're short on time ahead of the series' release, this is the place to be. So, yes, there will be spoilers for Rebels below.
If you're looking to get up to speed in earnest, though, start with our guides on what to watch before Ahsoka and how to watch The Clone Wars in order.
What you need to know about the Rebels characters
Ezra Bridger
We're introduced to Ezra as a young, orphaned thief on his home planet Lothal. He meets the Ghost ship crew – that's Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Zeb Orrelios, Sabine Wren, and Chopper – while they're stealing speeder bikes from the Empire. Ezra steals a crate of his own and crashes the operation, which leads to him joining the team. It quickly becomes apparent that he's Force sensitive, too, and he begins to train with Kanan as his Jedi Master.
Tragically, Kanan does not survive Rebels, sacrificing himself to ensure the crew's escape from the Empire in the final season.
As part of the Ghost crew, Ezra runs missions against the Empire and comes up against the likes of the Grand Inquisitor, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and even Darth Vader himself. He also has a brief stint with Darth Maul, but we'll get into that properly later.
The last we see of Ezra, he's disappearing to locations unknown with Thrawn. To finally defeat the crafty Imperial, Ezra summons some purrgils (hyperspace travelling space whales) to take the ship containing both him and Thrawn, then vanish into space. Ezra leaves behind a message for the Ghost crew, however, which sets up Sabine trying to find him.
Ezra has a heart of gold and wants to help everyone, and he's prone to taking huge risks and improvising. He also often receives visions from the Force, which can lead him into trouble.
The young Jedi sees the Ghost crew as his family – and they think the same of him, which is why we can expect Hera and Sabine to be dead set on finding Ezra.
Eman Esfandi will play Ezra in live-action.
Sabine Wren
Sabine is a Mandalorian and a member of the Ghost crew. She has a passion for art and decorates everything from the Ghost ship to stolen TIE fighters and beyond – in fact, she's the inspiration behind the Rebel Alliance logo.
Despite not being Force sensitive, she's fairly adept with a lightsaber after being trained by Kanan to use the Darksaber, which she discovers on Dathomir in Maul's lair. She uses it to help liberate Mandalore from the Empire, but ends up handing it over to Bo-Katan Kryze.
Sabine has a very dark past – she was formerly part of the Imperial Academy, and she designed a horrific weapon that targets Beskar and heats it to the point that the person inside is disintegrated. Sabine created the weapon for a challenge and had no idea that it would be used against her own people. Naturally, it's a source of major guilt for her.
In the Rebels epilogue, Sabine realizes that Ezra's final message for her, "I'm counting on you," means he's hoping she'll come and find him. The series ends with her and Ahsoka preparing to do just that.
Natasha Liu Bordizzo will play Sabine in the live-action show.
Hera Syndulla
Hera is the Ghost's captain and pilot, and throughout Rebels is a dedicated, key figure in the Rebellion. It's apparently in the blood: her father, Cham Syndulla, is shown to be a revolutionary leader on their home planet of Ryloth (and he also appeared in The Clone Wars).
Hera has somewhat personal beef with Thrawn, as, in Rebels, the blue-skinned Imperial at one point shows up on Ryloth, brings Hera into custody, and steals a Syndulla family heirloom (eventually recovered by Kanan, thankfully).
Before Kanan's tragic death, he and Hera had a sweet romantic relationship. In season 4, Hera finally confesses her love for the Jedi moments before his heart-breaking sacrifice. In the finale's epilogue, we're introduced to Hera and Kanan's son, Jacen Syndulla. He loves flying, just like his mother, but his name could spell doom (more on that below).
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Grand Admiral Thrawn is the big bad of Rebels and it's looking like he'll be the same for the Ahsoka show. The blue-skinned Imperial is the bane of the Ghost crew's existence throughout the series, and he's a tactical mastermind with a cool and collected demeanour and a massive cruel streak. In short, he's a formidable foe indeed.
The villain is last seen with Ezra Bridger above Lothal. Both of them vanish into space thanks to the purrgil, as explained above. They're still missing, but both are making the jump to live-action in Rebels, so we can assume they'll be back.
Lars Mikkelsen, who voiced Thrawn in Rebels, is returning to play the character in live-action.
Other key characters
Kanan Jarrus is Ezra's teacher and a Jedi who was the Padawan of Depa Billaba. In the show, he's an essential part of the Ghost crew, but tragically sacrifices himself in the final season. Hera later gives birth to his son, Jacen Syndulla.
Chopper, AKA C1-10P is the spirited, rather violent droid owned by Hera. He takes part in the Ghost crew's adventures and is a core member of the team, but is pretty mischievous.
Zeb, AKA Garazeb Orrelios, is the final member of the Ghost crew. He's one of the last of his kind (a Lasat) after the Empire brutally attacked his homeworld of Lasan. Zeb can be bad-tempered, but he can also always be relied upon. We first saw him in live-action in The Mandalorian season 3, but it's unclear if he'll be returning for Ahsoka.
Huyang is a droid that appeared in The Clone Wars, voiced by David Tennant (who is returning for Ahsoka). He's a professor who, for millennia, has taught younglings how to build their lightsabers.
What you need to know about key plot points
Ahsoka Tano
Let's go through what Ahsoka herself gets up to in Rebels. We first met Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars animated movie and followed her adventures with her Master Anakin Skywalker all through The Clone Wars TV show, but her fate post-series was left a mystery until Rebels debuted.
In Rebels, we learn that, after Order 66 (eventually depicted in the belated The Clone Wars season 7), Ahsoka joins the Rebellion and works as the operative Fulcrum. She eventually encounters her former Master in the Rebels season 2 finale; she's presumed dead after an epic battle with Darth Vader, but eventually returns when Ezra rescues her through the World Between Worlds (an inter-dimensional place between space and time in the Force – we'll get into it in a moment).
We last see Ahsoka in a very Gandalf the White outfit, standing with Sabine in front of a mural of the Ghost crew, about to set off looking for Ezra.
The World Between Worlds
A particularly mystical element of Star Wars lore is introduced in Rebels season 4. It involves some explanation, so get ready for a mini deep dive.
To start with, we need to explain Mortis. As seen in The Clone Wars, the realm featured a family with an incredibly strong connection to the Force: the Daughter (the light side), the Son (the dark side), and the Father (the balance). Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka ended up in the realm and had dealings with the mysterious family of gods, which ultimately ended with all three gods dying, but not before Ahsoka also lost her life and got resurrected via the Daughter and Anakin, and the Father tried to get Anakin to take his place (he refused).
In Rebels, we see the Mortis gods again in a mural on the Jedi Temple, along with some Loth-wolves. The paintings move and open a portal for Ezra to enter a mysterious space: the World Between Worlds.
In there, Ezra can hear echoes of voices from the past and future – Yoda, Rey, Kylo Ren, Obi-Wan, and more can all be heard – and he can also see moments from the past through the circular gateways. It's in this way that he manages to save Ahsoka from Darth Vader, pulling her to safety through a portal into the World Between Worlds. The Daughter's bird, Morai, is also found in the strange space and helps Ezra find Ahsoka.
The Emperor wants access to the World Between Worlds, though, luckily, he can't find his way in. As you can imagine, a Sith Lord having access to all of time would be very bad, indeed.
The Loth-wolves
Towards the end of the series, Ezra develops a close bond with large wolves on his home planet Lothal – Loth-wolves. These creatures turn out to be connected to the Force in mysterious ways, and one, named Dume, might even be Kanan himself living on after death; Kanan's real name is Caleb Dume. The wolves help Ezra and his friends multiple times and they have a link to the World Between Worlds.
Ezra and his parents
Ezra is an orphan, and what happened to his parents is explored in Rebels. Ephraim and Mira Bridger would send out revolutionary messages from Lothal, but this ultimately led to them getting captured by the Empire. Since their arrest, Ezra believes his parents to be dead – but, unbeknownst to him, they are alive but imprisoned. When Ezra broadcasts his own revolutionary message, his parents are so inspired they begin a revolt in the prison. Sadly, though, they do not survive their escape attempt.
The Emperor later tempts Ezra with a vision of his parents in the remains of the Lothal Jedi Temple, promising he can have a happy life with them; luckily, Ezra resists and turns down the Emperor's offer.
Ezra and Maul
Ezra encounters Maul in a Sith Temple on the planet Malachor in the Rebels season 2 finale. Maul is weakened and a shadow of his former self, but slowly comes back to the Sith we know and hate to love. He wants Ezra's help in taking a Sith holocron, and Ezra naively trusts him. Unfortunately, this leads to Maul betraying Ezra, Kanan, and Ahsoka – and battling Ahsoka and Kanan in a lightsaber fight that blinds Kanan.
This experience leaves Ezra more susceptible to the dark side, and he even begins to use the Sith holocron himself. He overcomes this eventually with help from Kanan, but Maul isn't finished with Ezra, who he hopes to make his apprentice, just yet.
The unlikely duo end up opening a Jedi and Sith holocron together, which reveals to Maul that Obi-Wan Kenobi is still alive. The holocrons also give Maul and Ezra something of a psychic bond, and they eventually go to Dathomir to take part in a ritual that would reveal the missing pieces of information they seek from the holocrons. This means Maul learns Obi-Wan's location on Tatooine.
Ezra goes to Tatooine to try and help Obi-Wan, but, of course, the Jedi Master requires no assistance. Ezra goes on his way, and Obi-Wan finally kills Maul for good shortly afterwards in a surprisingly emotional moment.
Sabine and Mandalore
Sabine finds the Darksaber during Maul and Ezra's trip to Dathomir, and Kanan gives her training on how to use it properly.
She returns to Mandalore and, with her family, fights against the villainous Imperial Gar Saxon in the Mandalorian Civil War – destroying her own Beskar-targeting weapon the Arc Pulse Generator, nicknamed the Duchess, in the process.
But, Sabine ultimately gives the Darksaber away to Bo-Katan Kryze, believing she is the better candidate to lead Mandalore. If you've seen The Mandalorian, you'll know things didn't go so smoothly for Bo-Katan after that...
The ending
Rebels ends with Ezra and Thrawn vanishing into space together, but some other significant developments occur, too.
Hera, meanwhile, has a son with the late Kanan, named Jacen Syndulla. Significantly, Jacen is the name of Han Solo and Leia Organa's son in the old Legends continuity – and Jacen Solo went bad, ultimately becoming the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. Whether Jacen Syndulla has the same dark path ahead of him remains to be seen.
We last see Ahsoka and Sabine in front of a mural of the Ghost crew, about to set off in search of Ezra.
Ahsoka arrives with a double season premiere on Disney Plus this August 23.
See what else the galaxy far, far away has in store with our guide on all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows – or see our roundup of the best Star Wars movies if you're in the mood for a movie marathon.
