How Star Wars: Rebels Enhanced The Larger Star Wars Universe

Star Wars: Rebels was one of the longest-running animated Star Wars shows. After the success of The Clone Wars, creator Dave Filoni started Rebels as a way to bridge the gap between the events of the Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope movies. Filoni created a new cast of characters that fans will come to know and love for years. And the Star Wars: Rebels mythos grows even more as the Disney+ Ahsoka series is a direct sequel to that show.

So let’s take a look at how Star Wars: Rebels mythos expanded the Star Wars Universe as a whole.

Star Wars: Rebel Mythos Introduced Jedis Who Love And Doubt

In most Star Wars content, the Jedi are as absolute and binary as the Sith they fight against. The prequel movies explore this as they show how the hubris of the Jedi led to their inability to recognize the Sith threat unfolding before them until it was too late. Since the Star Wars: Rebels mythos takes place after the fall of the Jedi, before Luke Skywalker, fans get a different kind of Jedi.

With Kanan Jarrus, audiences see a Jedi whose training ended due to losing his master during Order 66. As a result, he is a more balanced and nuanced hero, who also becomes a Jedi master when he takes Ezra Bridger in as his apprentice. Through Kanan, audiences saw a Jedi who questioned himself, struggled with knowing what the right thing was, and developed feelings and relationships with those close to him. Including experiencing love and a romantic relationship with Hera Syndulla. Even resulting in a son to carry on his legacy. It was a much more nuanced depiction of a Jedi than we’ve gotten in Star Wars prior to him.

How The Star Wars: Rebels Mythos Paved The Way For The Mandalorian

It’s safe to say that without Star Wars: Rebels, there would be no Disney+ The Mandalorian series. While The Clone Wars explored some of Mandalorian culture’s history, Rebels really took it to another level. Through the character of Sabine Wren, fans learned about Mandalore’s complicated history and political machinations.

The Darksaber also reappears in Rebels after its introduction in The Clone Wars. We get a history of the saber, which played a crucial part in the most recent season of The Mandalorian. Not to mention even Bo Katan Kryze gets her own story arc in Rebels, which continues in The Mandalorian. So much of Mandalorian culture was a focus of Rebels, that without it, Filoni would not have been able to create an original show in The Mandalorian, reingiting Star Wars for a new generation. With some help from Baby Yoda.

Darth Maul Gets An Ending

Darth Maul was the main villain of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. After Obi-Wan Kenobi dispatched him in the finale, he resurfaced in The Clone Wars. Maul got a great origin story, along with an amazing arc that saw him acting independently of the Emperor with a truly complicated history and motivations. Maul also took over Mandalore for a certain time, but Ahsoka defeated him and then the Emperor discarded him. The Star Wars: Rebels mythos gives a very satisfying and spiritual conclusion to the Maul storyline, as the conflicted and tragic villain gets a fitting end in the arms of a much older Kenobi, his arch-nemesis.

The Force Flows Through All Of Us

Star Wars’ most unique concept is the Force. Lucas created the concept with the influence of many other philosophies and religions’ ideas of a similar concept. The Force is a mysterious power that the heroes of Star Wars call upon to aid them and give them strength when needed. Yes, I am intentionally ignoring midi-chlorians. However, it’s always been a very vague concept that’s had  limited influence over real-world events. Outside of imbibing Force-users with certain powers, that is.

But the Star Wars: Rebels mythos gives audiences a very different depiction of the Force. We see how Ezra Bridger has a deep connection to all kinds of animals through the Force. We are introduced to a larger concept of the Bendu, an ancient creature that claimed to be at the centre of the Force; choosing neither the light nor dark side. He was a being unlike anything we’ve seen in Star Wars before.

Rebels also introduced other creatures like the Loth-Wolves who were so sensitive to the Force, they could travel from one side of a planet to another, through access to a hidden realm, by using the Force. They may even possibly be spiritual representations of Jedi who are no longer, like Jarrus himself, in the case of one specific Loth-Wolf.

Star Wars: Rebels Showed How The Rebellion Started

One of the more direct ways that Star Wars: Rebels added to the larger universe is by directly showing audiences just how the rebellion in A New Hope began, after the fall of the Republic in Revenge Of The Sith. The slow progression of a few Robin Hood-style mercenaries to liberating a planet and fighting the good fight, into becoming a galaxy-wide rebellion against the Empire. Something that we see play out in the original trilogy, was wonderful to watch.

The seeds planted in Rebels directly affected the events of the original trilogy, including the disappearance of one of Star Wars’ greatest villains, Admiral Thrawn. Who is returning in the Disney+ Ahsoka series And speaking of—

World Between Worlds Introduced In Star Wars: Rebels Mythos

One of the biggest concepts introduced in Star Wars: Rebels was the world between worlds. Earlier in the series, former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka comes face to face with her former Master-turned Sith Lord, Darth Vader. The two had a showdown that ended ominously without audiences ever seeing how it ended. We all thought that Ahsoka was lost in the altercation.

But in season 5, Ezra Bridger entered a mysterious realm, the World Between Worlds which acted as a hub in space and time through which you could go anywhere and any-when. Following Ahsoka’s Morai owl, Ezra came upon that moment when Vader and Ahsoka were duelling. Ezra pulls Ahsoka out at the last moment before Vader could strike her down. Even though Ahsoka returned to that same moment later on, she seemingly survived and was able to meet back up with the Rebels crew later on. The World Between Worlds may play a crucial part in the Ahsoka series.

All seasons of Star Wars: Rebels is streaming on Disney+.

What are some of your best moments within the Star Wars: Rebels mythos? Share them all below in the comments. Or reach out to me on Twitter (X) at @theshahshahid to chat about all things Ahsoka and Star Wars.