‘Star Wars Rebels’ Series To Fight Evil Empire Prior To ‘A New Hope’

Last week at San Diego Comic-Con, Disney announced a new series, Star Wars Rebels, which will tie in the story lines of both existing trilogies. As the latest installment Star Wars Episode VII of the franchise continues with its production, the studio is pulling out all the stops to ensure that viewers will flock to movie theaters in December of 2015.

Set between the events of Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope, the new series will explore what takes place in the years following Episode III and will give some continuity to fans of the franchise. Star Wars Rebels will focus on a group of characters that are brought together by one goal: to destroy the evil Empire.

The goal for Disney is to bring this generation into what has become one of the most successful franchises in movie history. Millions of fans — starting in the 1970s — have enjoyed George Lucas’ creations and his iconic characters. In addition to the new trilogy, several spin-offs have been announced, as well as interactive games, to introduce today’s audiences to the timeless story.

With the Star Wars Rebels series, Disney hopes to update loyal fans and those who may not be so familiar with the written pieces set in a galaxy far, far away. Ever since acquiring Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney has been prepping for this, and Star Wars Rebels is their latest efforts. The series is set 14 years after Revenge of the Sith and five years prior to A New Hope.

A star studded cast will voice the Star Wars Rebels new characters, including Jason Isaacs as The Inquisitor, Freddie Prinze Jr. as the Kanan, and David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus. The series will also feature voice actors, including Steve Blum as Zev, Taylor Gray as the young Ezra, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, and Vanessa Marshall as Hera, all of whom have to survive during a time in which the Empire is rapidly expanding.

Star Wars Rebels series creator and Episode VII consultant Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) want to bring back that special feel of the original Star Wars trilogy:

“It’s really about five people on a ship that takes place against the backdrop of this massive galaxy of characters and villains and Stormtroopers and battleships—but it is ultimately a little story.

“It’s not as political in terms of government politics as the prequels, it’s more political in the sense of morality, like the original movies.”

Kinberg likens the actions of this small group of Star Wars Rebels to the American Revolution. Following Revenge of the Sith, the Jedi are in hiding and Chancellor Palpatine has successfully lobbied for Order 66, instructing the extermination of all Jedi officers, “acting against the interests of the Republic.”

“You had this tiny little group of people rebelling against an empire that had basically colonized most of the known world. The insanity of that! The notion that a people could turn into a bunch of people, a bunch of towns, and eventually actually take a country back.”

In Star Wars Rebels, the Empire has convinced people that the Jedi are terrorists who have betrayed them. Watch the trailer for this exciting new Disney series which debuts in October, with an hour long episode:

[Image via Disney]