Star Wars: Rebels

Our Review

The bridge between the prequels and the original trilogy — and the emotional heart of modern Star Wars animation. Dave Filoni’s crew of the Ghost (a ragtag rebel cell years before the Alliance exists) starts as a Saturday-morning heist show and matures into war drama: Ezra Bridger, a street kid turned Jedi apprentice; Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi who survived Order 66 by hiding; Hera Syndulla, the best pilot in the rebellion; and Sabine Wren, the Mandalorian artist haunted by the weapons she built.

The middle seasons go to dark places for a kids’ network (the Inquisitors, Darth Maul’s return, and the Twin Suns duel — Maul and Obi-Wan on Tatooine, resolved in three moves and twenty years of grief). Thrawn’s introduction to canon (voiced by Lars Mikkelsen) set up a finale that sacrificed the happy-ending formula to give every character a real fate. Ahsoka’s live-action debut exists because this show made her a legend.

Verdict: Watch it. The best Star Wars story of the Disney era, full stop.