Star Wars Rebels Season 3: 5 Ways It'll Connect To Rogue One

Season 3 has been off to a flying start, jam-packed with exciting episodes and intriguing storylines. We’ve had Imperial Commandos, the last of the Separatists, the merging of two Holocrons and of course Grand Admiral Thrawn taking the step from Legend to canon. With the season break over, the second half of the season has kicked off in style with Ghosts of Geonosis.

Pablo Hidalgo previously said that “by the time we get to the second half, the world will have seen Rogue One and we’re going to be able to talk more freely about certain elements that are in that movie and how it connects to Rebels.”

Rebels can continue to build into the story that ultimately brings us back to the original trilogy.

Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed the numerous nods to the TV series in Rogue One, with the surprise appearance of the Ghost during the battle over Scarif, a cameo appearance made by Chopper on Yavin 4, and a reference to Hera Syndulla herself.

The current season of Star Wars Rebels is only two years behind the events of A New Hope, and now Rogue One. These crossovers begin to connect the cinematic universe of Star Wars to its small screen counterparts, and looking at what lies ahead for the rest of the season, Star Wars Rebels is ready to return the favour.

Yes, the original rebel himself, first introduced back in The Clone Wars and more recently appearing in the first spin-off film, Rogue One, Saw Gerarra has now made his way onto Star Wars Rebels and voiced by none other than Forest Whitaker himself.

How exciting is it to have Whitaker himself coming back to voice the animated outing for his character? It seems he is committed to making this version of Saw just as intriguing as his on-screen counterpart. It’s lovely and inspiring to hear that Whitaker was sure to watch all of Saw’s episodes from The Clone Wars series and probed Dave Filoni for details concerning the character he has brought to life, and why wouldn’t he? Saw is, at the base of it, a really intriguing character.

He fought during The Clone Wars, fighting with the Jedi and the Republic (including Captain Rex) to liberate his home planet of Onderon, and lost his sister in the fight against the Separatists. Following a successful liberation, Onderon rejoined the Republic, which in turn becomes the Empire. Now Saw is fighting again, except this time, it’s the faction that he once fought alongside.

By the time we meet him in Rogue One, he is worn, weary and battle-scarred, demonstrating a level of extremism that the Alliance/Rebellion do not agree with. Between The Clone Wars and Rogue One, there is a lot of time and history that until now has been unaccounted for. His name does get a mention in last season’s The Honourable Ones (which also concerns the planet Geonosis), about how Agent Kallus came into contact with one of his militias, but here, Rebels has the best chance of giving its audience the best insight into what Saw ultimately becomes.

Will Rebels show us how Saw looks the way he does in Rogue One? Will we see why he broke ties with the Alliance and went out on his own?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see to find out.