With the finale of the Star Wars Rebels animated series imminent, fans are already looking ahead to what will come next.

Lucasfilm/Disney have made it clear that on top of annual Star Wars feature films, we can expect a number of TV shows in the next couple of years. And while we can safely assume that at least one of those will be the long rumored live action series, it's also likely that Dave Filoni will be heading up an animated show or two.

The main creative force behind Rebels and George Lucas’ right hand on The Clone Wars, Filoni indicated in a recent interview that he is working on a new project and that it will be announced soon.

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“We have a lot of different ways to convey stories and we choose the best mediums and we are showing no sign of slowing," Filonis stated. "So, the end of one thing always means the beginning of another, and soon people will learn what that other is.”

This statement can be interpreted in a couple of different ways, as he was being deliberately vague. First, he leaves things a bit unclear by mentioning “best medium,” leading us to wonder if the project will be a TV series. The other possibilities include a digital/streaming series, a feature film, or possibly a video game. Considering Filoni’s 20+ year career in animation and his successes with The Clone Wars and Rebels, we're betting his mysterious project will be announced as a CG animated show for Disney's upcoming streaming service. With that assumption, we can look further ahead and venture some guesses as to which characters, time periods, and storylines it may explore.

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While not officially, Rebels is Filoni’s continuation of The Clone Wars. It starts only 14 years after The Clone Wars story ended, and includes a number of fan-favorite characters introduced in that previous series. So, if we take a look at another part of Filoni’s statement where he says, “the end of one thing always means the beginning of another,” precedent would suggest he is being literal. We’re guessing the new series will be set post-Return of the Jedi and deal with the establishment of the New Republic.

We expect there will be a new main cast, but we know Filoni likes to continue developing his favorite creations. We also know at least one original character from The Clone Wars and one original character from Rebels survive until this era: Rex and Hera Syndulla. Filoni has long hinted that Rex and the Alliance soldier we see on Endor with the white facial hair in Return of the Jedi are one and the same, and it looks like in the finale episodes of Rebels, Rex will don the helmet that the Alliance soldier wears. Then, in the Star Wars: Forces of Destiny episode An Imperial Feast we see that Hera is at the celebration after the Battle of Endor. So, imagine a show about a newly formed squadron tasked with driving out Imperial holdouts around the galaxy, with the help of Hera and Rex.

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It’s no secret that Ahsoka Tano is Filoni’s proudest co-creation. And although she survived her fight with Darth Vader in A World Between Worlds, she went back to the time she was pulled from, two years ago. We may very well see her in the finale episodes of Rebels, but Filoni and crew will have to explain where she has been for two years. If she does show up, and manages to survive the looming battle, it's a pretty sure bet Filoni will want to explore her further. Like we said, a new show will likely mean a new main cast, but it would be cool to see Ahsoka and Hera back-to-back, fighting the last remnants of the Empire.

There is one detail about the upcoming animated series that we are absolutely sure of: There will be wolves! Filoni's affinity for the canis lupus is well known among fans; not only did he create Clone Commander Wolffe, his Wolfpack, and their customized armor in The Clone Wars, he also gave us the Force-sensitive Loth wolves in Rebels. Furthermore, he has regularly given credit to Miyazaki and Princess Mononoke as the inspiration for Ahsoka, and has often sketched her on wolfback, or with wolves. You may be asking, if he’s already created a species of space wolf and named a character Wolffe, how can he involve even more wolves? Well, there just happens to be lupine alien species called the Shistavanen Filoni hasn’t used yet. You may remember the Shistavanen from the cantina scene in A New Hope, who was retroactively given the name of Lak Sivrak.

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Another dictating factor of what animated series Lucasfilm/Disney will do next is the two upcoming Star Wars trilogies. Disney will likely want a new show to focus on an era that compliments one or both. Case in point, The Clone Wars was abruptly cancelled when Disney bought Lucasfilm because they didn’t want to have anything to do with the Prequels. Instead, they chose to focus on what made the Original Trilogy resonate so resoundingly with generations of fans, and launch a show in that era — Star Wars Rebels.


Star Wars Rebels' series finale airs Monday, March 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD. It stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Steve Blum as Zeb, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, Taylor Gray as Ezra, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, David Oyelowo as Kallus, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Governor Pryce, Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Warwick Davis as Rukh.