New York Comic-Con is bubbling over with revelations and here’s one more!  ‘Star Wars Rebels’ is the next chapter of the Lucasfilm franchise, set to debut on Disney XD next year.  At the Con, the show’s major villain was revealed, The Inquisitor!  As described by executive producer Dave Filoni, he is “tasked by Darth Vader to hunt down the remaining Jedi Knights.”

In a video presentation, Filoni stressed that the new series actually showcases the Empire (as opposed to the Republic from the prequels and ‘Clone Wars’) and that the creators, many of whom are veterans of ‘Clone Wars’, were having a good time handling the universe the way they remembered it from when they were kids.  Check out the video yourself below:

The panel was hosted by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, who indicated that ‘Rebels’ takes place about 14 years after the events in ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith:’…

A time in which the Emperor’s rule is secure and the Empire is seeking to expand its power to Outer Rim territories. That leads Imperial forces to Lothal, a poor planet that initially welcomes the Empire on the promise of security and prosperity. It soon becomes obvious, however, that the Empire does not have Lothal’s best interests at heart, as the Imperials exploit its people and begin recruiting young citizens to join TIE fighter and Stormtrooper academies, or to work in the Sienar Fleet Systems factory — which builds TIE fighters — in the planet’s capital.

Hidalgo then showed the audience an Empire recruitment poster along with many concept illustrations that were inspired by the designs from the original trilogy.

These included:

The All Terrain Defense Pod (AT-DP), a ground attack walker based on an early Joe Johnston (the filmmaker who designed Boba Fett’s armor and speeder bikes, and made other major contributions to Star Wars) illustration from 1979; the new AT-DP pilot, which blends designs of the classic AT-AT walker driver from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and the AT-ST walker pilot from Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi; the Imperial Troop Transport, which comes from an early Kenner toy that was actually not based on designs from the films; and the Imperial freighter, a reimagining of an Imperial-style craft designed for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace by concept artist Doug Chiang, featuring a dock to transport TIE fighters from system to system.

So while ‘The Clone Wars’ fleshed out the world of the prequels, it sounds like this series lays the groundwork for the original films.  Are you excited to see the Empire established on the small screen?  Does the fact that so many of this shows creators are ‘Clone Wars’ vets make you more confident in ‘Rebels” quality?

Source ComingSoon