Disney XD unveiled the trailer for the mid-season premiere of its animated series Star Wars Rebels today, and while it’s certainly notable in and of itself for fans of the show, fans of Star Wars in general would do well to take a look. The trailer previews the further adventures of the Rebels crew, which is a ragtag band of rebellion members working in the growing movement to topple the Empire. The show takes place five years before the events of A New Hope, but this new trailer reveals an object of special importance that shows up in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which obviously takes place decades later.
Indeed, in this trailer we see Ezra pick up a lightsaber that has hilts on it, exactly like the one The Force Awakens villain Kylo Ren wields. We know that Ren fashioned his specific lightsaber himself, based on an “ancient design” per EW, and in this Rebels trailer it appears the show might be delving a bit into the ancient origins of the saber and quite possibly its significance.
The second half of Rebels’ second season finds Ezra—a young Jedi in training—struggling with the truth about his parents’ disappearance and feeling the pull of the Dark Side. In this trailer, he’s greeted by a mysterious figure and there’s another deep voice that sounds a lot like…Snoke? Could we start to get hints about Andy Serkis’ master villain of the new Star Wars film trilogy in the Disney XD animated series? Seeing as how Star Wars Rebels was the first piece of new canon under the new Lucasfilm banner, and is perfectly in step with the events of all the Star Wars films thus far, that’s entirely possible.
Check out the extended trailer for yourself below, which also features Yoda and a young Princess Leia, and sound off in the comments with whether you think that’s Snoke’s voice or just some random baddie. Star Wars Rebels returns to Disney XD on January 20th.
