Now that the "Star Wars Celebration" panel for Disney XD's Star Wars Rebels has wrapped and fans' excitement has settled back down from hitting maximum freak-out levels, let's take a look at what we learned about the upcoming season. Warwick Davis hosted the panel along with Executive Producer and Supervising Director Dave FiloniSam Witwer (Darth Maul) and Tiya Sircar (Sabine). Their chat encompassed the continuity of the shared Star Wars universe, further developing existing heroes and villains, and even introducing some new characters on both sides of the fight.

For the uninitiated, Star Wars Rebels features the title characters Ezra (Taylor Gray), Hera (Vanessa Marshall), Kanan (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), Sabine (Sircar), Zeb (Steve Blum), and the droid Chopper, who viewers get to follow in their rebellion against the evil Galactic Empire. In Season 2, Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), Darth Maul (Witwer) and Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker). Season 3's about to add some very interesting characters, so let's get into it.


Image via Disney XD[/caption]

Since Star Wars Rebels followed after the Rogue One panel the day before, the question of continuity throughout the Star Wars universe was raised. In order to bridge the fashion gap between Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One, all of the main characters got a bit of a redesign. From their hair and clothes, to their armor and weapons, the design tweaks are meant to keep visual continuity throughout the shared stories.

While Darth Maul was confirmed by Witwer to be returning for Season 3, the biggest news to come out of the panel was the announcement of Grand Admiral Thrawn's debut on the show. Thrawn, created by Timothy Zahn and acting as the central villain in the "Heir to the Empire" novel, is of the Chiss species and an Imperial officer renowned for his intelligence and ruthlessness. Since Star Wars Rebels and Thrawn, who will be voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, clearly exist in the same time period, and since the series is considered canon, Thrawn is now canon as well. The Grand Admiral will also be appearing in his own novel from Zahn and publisher Del Rey in April 2017.

Other new additions include the ancient and powerful Bendu, a new type of creature tied into the Force mythology; he'll be voiced by Tom Baker. Also, Wedge Antilles will be making his appearance on the show!  If the clips and trailers shown at the panel are any indication, Sabine Wren's Mandalorian roots will be further explored.

Some other interesting developments that came out of the fan Q&A include the revelations that Ahsoka probably doesn't know how to turn into a Force spirit/ghost should she die, that Mara Jade will definitively not be showing up on the series, but that Maz Kanata showing up would be an intriguing idea, said Filoni. Take a look at some of the reveals from the panel below:

[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/MOVIECLIPS/status/754332443969220608[/EMBED_TWITTER]
[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/FunctionalNerd/status/754332621375696897[/EMBED_TWITTER]

Image via Disney XD / Star Wars Celebration[/caption]

star-wars-rebels-timeline
Image via Disney XD

star-wars-rebels-season-3-poster