Star Wars Rebels: Season 4 Trailer Analysis and Expectations

What can we expect from the final season of Star Wars Rebels?

“It was a simple story, about a boy who was lost and a girl who was broken. They fought along side a survivor, a war veteran and a fallen knight. I’ve lead them into battle against an evil so terrible, it tried to black out the stars. We fought for each other, we fought for those who could not, but we never imagined it would end like this.”

This is how the trailer of Star Wars Rebels season 4 begins. It was released a few months ago during Star Wars Celebration but with time to think about what was shown and as we are getting closer to the season premiere, I think it’s a good opportunity to talk about what to expect this season.

The opening words are narrated by Hera Syndulla as we are shown footage from previous seasons. It’s a very interesting way to start a trailer for a final season and it immediately leaves us with many questions. Does this mean Hera Syndulla is the sole survivor of the Ghost crew (with Chopper)? One thing that seems sure, is that when she is telling those words the story is already over and she is talking about it with some distance. The way it is said, I would love to have this scene with Hera talking about her crew at the very end of the series. I could see something like this — after the final scene, a flashforward with Hera, being older and telling the story to someone, maybe telling her story in front of the Senate of the New Republic, telling the heroics of a group of rebels that changed the Galaxy, that inspired people. It would be a fitting end for the series. It is obviously pure speculation but I don’t think it’s something impossible, we’ll see.

So now about the footage from the trailer that is from season 4. I will divide my analysis in four big parts — Lothal, the Mandalorian Civil War, a Rebel mission and the rest:

LOTHAL

The first shots introduce us to a white wolf. It’s definitely an idea coming from Dave Filoni, for a long time he wanted to have a wolf in Star Wars and now he got one and I got to say, it looks great! If you pay attention to the sequence, you can see some glowing marks on the ground so it is probably near the Jedi Temple of Lothal. There has been speculation that this creature was Ahsoka, a reincarnation but Filoni himself confirmed on Facebook and Twitter that it wasn’t. However, I think it can still be something with a connection to the Force in some ways. Animals have been important with Filoni before, just look at the owl, it has showed up at different places and it’s probably for a good reason, I think there’s a lot of symbolism there. All will be revealed in time.

Ezra is riding the wolf with a female Mandalorian. If you look closely, it definitely looks like Sabine, same haircut, same symbol on her shoulder pad armor except it’s a different color and we know that Sabine loves changing the colors of her armor and of her hair. We’ve also seen her with dark hair in “The Antilles Extraction.” I even believe it could be her original hair color. The more intriguing thing here is that she doesn’t look in good shape, she seems to be unconscious or half conscious. Something bad probably happened. They’re back on Lothal so it could suggest that the Ghost crew will finally be able to take the fight to the planet in the final season and maybe free it from the Empire? If it’s the case indeed, it would be a perfect event for the series finale!

Kanan also gets to meet the wolf. Behind them there are some drawings that remind me of pre-historical kind of drawings but in a star wars-y style. The one on Kanan’s right seems to me like it’s someone from Yoda’s species, the head is just it. I think it gives an idea of how old could be this creature, very ancient?

For their return on Lothal, our rebels will be facing the Grand Admiral Thrawn once again. After all, he’s been a great villain for season 3 and it’s only fair to continue with him in season 4 and finish his story.

He won’t be alone this time. He will have his bodyguard/assassin Rukh voiced by Warwick Davis. In this sequence, he is chasing two people disguised as scout troopers, remind you of something? Both Kanan and Ezra were disguised as scout troopers in “An Inside Man” and it was also on Lothal. This part of Lothal looks similar to the one where we see the Wolf, it looks like a lot will happen in this area.

THE MANDALORIAN CIVIL WAR

We have several shots with Mandalorians throughout the trailer suggesting the Mandalorian civil war will have an important place this season and both Ezra and Chopper will have a role in it. This shot in particular is very interesting. Looking at it, it seems that this place is Mandalore and we are going to see its capital again- Sundari, which in my opinion could be awesome and it could give us more epic battles!

Speaking of epic battles, this shot is a clear call back to the war on Mandalore in The Clone Wars, it’s exactly the same kind of sequence.

Another interesting shot with the Mandalorians is this. Bo-Katan is back, and with her holding the dark saber, it could mean that she is indeed the leader that Sabine was looking for to rule Mandalore. I also think Bo is the best choice to be the leader. She has proven to be a strong character and this way it would also bring back the Kryze dynasty on the throne and I would love to see an homage to the fallen Duchess Satine Kryze.

A REBEL MISSION

The following scene brings once again another vehicle from Rogue One. It really feels like this season will be bridging the series with the movie, which makes sense as Rebels is getting more and more closer to the Rogue One period.

They are not just bringing vehicles from the movie but also characters. We saw Death Troopers in the season 3 finale and in season 4 we will see them again and this time we will see the Death Troopers specialists as well, which in my opinion are even more badass. I just love troopers with pauldrons.

The corridor from this shot appears to be a ship and it’s a place we see a few times in the trailer.

This shot of Hera and Zeb seem to be taking place in the same ship. Both are in disguise. Hera’s disguise of the basic civilian Twi’lek civilian outfit from The Clone Wars. Thinking about it, this has me linking this sequence to another one. Saw Gerrera is also seen kicking some stormtroopers in a very similar interior. It all seem to be part of the same episode/story arc.

I think it could be possible that the ship in question is this one and this also links to other parts of the trailer. If you pay attention to the left, you can see Imperial space stations.

It’s the same space stations and appear to be the same planet there with the U-Wing. There is another sequence in the trailer taking place around these space stations with Hera piloting a ship going into hyperspace.

It seems that the rebels will launch an operation here and things don’t seem to go that well. It surely look like to be an action packed story!

Considering there is Saw Gerra on the ship, I could maybe link it to that other shot of Saw and behind him there is something that looks like a Kyber crystal. So my guess is that the rebels are attacking this place to find out more about Imperial operations. They are able to this crystal, while others won’t know much what the Empire can use it for, Saw will believe it’s for an Imperial weapon and I think it could be there that Saw parts way with the Rebellion. His break-up with the Rebellion is something I really want to see in season 4, it would complete Saw’s story and link everything perfectly.

At the beginning of the trailer, we see what seems to be a new planet where the Ghost is attacked by Tie Defenders. Ezra and Sabine are free falling in the sky, probably heading to land on some place for a mission. This planet appears later on in the trailer here:

You can spot a U-Wing, which will make their first appearance on the show! If you have read the Rogue One Ultimate Guide, you’ll know that Bail Organa is the one who brought them to the Rebel Alliance. Bail is one of the characters I really want to see again in season 4 and a lot more than before, he is one of the founding fathers of the Rebels, he deserves to be there. I would love to see some Bail Organa — Mon Mothma scenes like we saw in Rogue One, giving it’s a series they could have more time for this and them interacting with Hera. This planet seems to have an Imperial outpost and the Rebels are attacking it. If you look at the antenna exploding in the middle, it’s the same design as the one from the Imperial bunker on the moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. This makes me think, it could very well be the planet that we see from the space with the Imperial space stations and all of this could be on big story arc. Time will tell but I think it’s not too much of a stretch, it makes sense.

THE REST

Now there are other shots in the trailer where it doesn’t really fit in either of those arcs so that’s why I’m making a fourth part to talk about it. As we suspected at the end of season 3, we are going to see Yavin IV! It’s something I’ve been waiting for and it gives opportunities to meet characters from Rogue One like Cassian Andor, K-2SO, Bistan, Pao even if it’s just in the background for a cameo.

On Yavin, we will see a brand new Kallus with a new outfit and new haircut that suits him quite well! I think we can all agree it suits Hot Kallus!

The last shot we see of Yavin in the trailer is rather intriguing — damaged Y-Wings going down. They’re back from a mission. It could belong to one of the two rebel story arcs I mentioned above or be something from a totally different story.

We are going to get another sweet Kanera moment, which will make the fans happy. I think it’s interesting to have just during that moment, Mon Mothma saying this:

“This is a time of difficult choices. Sometimes impossible ones.”

Kanan and Ezra are going to have to make choices this season. They can’t remain in the Rebellion if they remain on the Jedi path. This just makes me think once again that Kanan has to die for continuity reasons but his death will be a sacrifice for Ezra or for the Rebellion — to show he has really embraced his Jedi side.

There is no context to the scene but it feels like they’re saying good luck to each other and that kind of moment could come just before an important mission and it would be nice to see them share a kiss before Kanan’s death.

The final sequence I want to talk about of the trailer is the X-Wings! We are finally getting the iconic rebel ship and Hera will be piloting one of these! We have seen blue X-Wings in Rogue One and here we will be seeing Green one, most likely belonging to the Green squadron.

From the trailer, I see 3 big story arcs taking place this season — the Mandalorian Civil War, the battle of Lothal and the Rebel operation with Saw. There are 15 episodes for the final season, it’s a shorter season. I could see these 3 stories taking around 8 episodes, leaving 7 more to tell other stories.

My hopes for season 4 is to give us a satisfying closure to the series and to see more of the bigger Rebellion, really to get inside the rebel alliance and see how they all work together, the problems they face to unite … One thing is sure, I can’t wait for season 4!

May The Force Be With You