There’s a reason Ahsoka was often called Rebels Season 5 in the lead-up to its release. Though the series is focused on Ahsoka Tano, she’s grappling with the fragmented family of the crew of the Ghost: Hera, Sabine, and Chopper may be hanging out on Lothal and working with the New Republic, but the rest of the crew is nowhere to be seen.
While the remaining crew members venture to find a possibly alive Ezra Bridger, we may just see a crucial character that seems to be forgotten make a return — especially considering he’s already had his live-action debut.
It all comes down to the recent return of Carson Teva, the New Republic pilot we first met all the way back in The Mandalorian Season 2, in Ahsoka Episode 4. The last time we saw Carson, he was in a New Republic cantina alongside a familiar face: Garazeb “Zeb” Orrellios, the Rebels character who manned the Ghost along the other characters from Ahsoka.
Zeb is a Lasat, a rarely-seen species that slowly colonized Wild Space over the course of millions of years. Because of this, Zeb may possess knowledge that could help Ahsoka find her way to the neighboring galaxy where Thrawn and Ezra may be still alive. While Sabine may have handed over the star map, Zeb may have the knowledge to help Ahsoka circumvent a map at all.
Zeb’s absence in Ahsoka has been a bit conspicuous: even though we know he’s hanging around in the fleets of New Republic ships, he still hasn’t appeared to help his old friends.
There was a persistent fan theory that Zeb would appear in Episode 4 because it was directed by Peter Ramsey, who also directed the episode of The Mandalorian Season 3 where Zeb made his live-action debut. That was not the case, but now that things are looking more dire than they’ve ever been, perhaps Episode 5 will bring him in to save the day while Ahsoka is navigating limbo with Anakin.
If Ahsoka is really Rebels Season 5, it will bring back all the characters we know and love, including Zeb. We know Lucasfilm has the ability to put him on screen, so why not?
