Is Star Wars Rebels Canon?

Star Wars: Rebels is one of the most beloved additions to the Star Wars universe which provided us with additional information about the formation and growth of the Rebellion movement. It also catches us up with many beloved characters and sets us up for the rest of the franchise. However, just like with almost every other property in the Star Wars franchise remains whether any of it is actually canonical. So is the show a part of the main canon?

Since the show was first released after LucasFilm was bought by Disney and fully produced by the company, it was a part of the content Disney wanted to produce to further the franchise, which makes it canon.

If you want to know more about the complicated universe of canonical and non-canonical content in the Star Wars franchise and how this amazing series ties into with the rest of the franchise keep reading the article. 

Is Star Wars: Rebels canon?

Star Wars is one of the franchises which have an enormous extended universe. Although most people are familiar with the movies, including the original trilogy, the prequels, and the sequels, however, there are a plethora of different media such as comic books, TV shows, animated shows, and similar.

Although this is amazing since fans get a lot of content all of the time, it gets a little bit complicated when discussing which of these pieces of the Star Wars franchise are canon. This is further complicated by the fact that the canon of the Star Wars franchises seems to constantly be changing.

The original creator and owner of the company which produced the original Star Wars trilogy, George Lucas pointed out on multiple occasions the true Star Wars canon, according to him, consists of the movies alone and the rest of the content simply make up additional content which is not a part of the original content.

Since Star Wars: Rebels is an animated TV show, by that logic, it was no considered canon despite the fact that it takes place during events depicted in the movies and takes place in the established universe.

However, in 2012 a deal was made which made LusacFilm a part of Disney. Since the new owner of the rights wanted to move forward with the franchise it was essential to separate canon from non-canon material to make the new Disney-produced content fit in with the existing properties better.

Shortly after upcoming content was announced Disney issued a statement officially declaring what was canon ad what wasn’t. This framed the official canon which consisted of the existing and upcoming movies and TV shows, all of the comic books and novels with the exception of the pre-2015 works dealing with fighting between the re-established Republic and the Empire Remnants as well as few videogames.

This statement also established that any new content produced by Disney would be considered canon. Since the animated show was first released in 2014, by the official statement, Star Wars: Rebels are official canon and are a part of the established universe.

Is Star Wars: Rebels set after Clone Wars? 

Star Wars: Rebels take place right between the two trilogies sometimes between year 4 and 1 BBY. The Clone Wars animated series takes place between the second and the third movie of the prequel trilogy which is set in the year 21 BBY, however certain parts of the show are set much earlier in the past. This taken into consideration Star Wars: Rebels is set around two decades after the events of Star Wars: Clone Wars.

When does Star Wars: Rebels take place? 

Star Wars: Rebels is an animated TV show which was first released in 2014 which followed a group of young rebel allies who help the members of the existing movement to carry out missions and further establish a group that gets introduced as the Rebellion in the original trilogy.

The story of the show starts with a young boy named Zare Leonis who wants to join the imperial academy and another boy from the same planet called Ezra Bridger who helps a group of rebels steal imperial supplies.

Although we do not have an exact date to determine when the story starts we can with certainty say it happens sometime in the year 4 BBY.

The two boys meet while on their respective missions in the Imperia Academy, but quickly get separated as Zare continues his search for his missing sister. 

The two boys met again after Zane’s sister is retrieved from the Imperial imprisonment and they continue their journey while helping the Rebels, eventually becoming such a big threat that Darth Vader himself is sent to eliminate them.

Their group, now accompanied by Ahsoka make their way to Malachor to figure out a way to defeat the Sith. Once there they are confronted by Darth Vader but they manage to escape after Ahsoka distracts him.

The remainder of the show takes place around 2 years BBY when senator Mon Mothma officially denounces Senator Palpatine and his actions in the Galactic Senate. This marks the moment when she starts to heavily involve herself in the Rebellion and unites many smaller groups into a unified movement.

The series ends at Lothal, where Ezra and his friends are tasked with destroying the factory set to produce a new type of fighter and liberate the planet’s citizens.

 After some other minor mission, Ezra returns to Lothal to lead one last charge against the Empire. His mission is successful and he manages to completely liberate the planet of the Empire’s powers and sends himself and Admiral Thrawn to another part of the galaxy effectively eliminating him as a threat to the movement.

This last event on the show takes place around one-year BBY, making it a sort of prequel to Rogue One.

Is Star Wars: Rebels connected to the movies?

Star Wars: Rebels takes place in between the last movie of the prequels and the first movie of the original trilogy, or more specifically the new addition to the franchise Rouge one. Besides taking place essentially in the middle of the franchise there is also a bunch of direct connections to the moves.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was at the time in exile, couldn’t be featured in the show as much but we still get a few glimpses of the legendary Jedi master. Aside from Obi-Wan Kenobi, another legendary duo makes a cameo at the very beginning of the first season. The protagonists were on a mission and while there they run into everyone’s favorite droid pair, R2-D2, and C-3PO.

As the Rebellion grows stronger we see a glimpse of Bail Organa and other prominent figures that were important during the inception of the rebel movement. Aside from him we also see how princes Leia got involved in politics and her introduction to the Rebellion.

Since we are shown the steady growth of the Rebellion movement we also see Darth Vader, who is at one point tasked with taking care of a certain fraction of the rebellion, as well as Emperor Palpatine and Grand Moff Tarkin.

We also see a return of one of the most memorable Siths in the movie franchise, Darth Maul, who is on the lookout for Obi-Wan Kenobi and seeking his revenge on him.  

The viewers also get a brief moment with the prominent general Saw Gerrera as well as few scenes that act as a direct cross-over with Rogue One, during the movie.

Some other prominent similarities involve other popular characters such as Yoda, a few spaceships which were prominently shown in the original trilogy and the prequels, and lastly a few similar locations.

The last connection has actually not been confirmed, however, it is implied that it is true. During season 3, while the show takes place on Tatooine, where we get a blink and you’ll miss it a scene, where we can see (if you look closely) young Luke Skywalker running towards his home.