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We’ve seen plenty of tie-ins already between ‘Star Wars Rebels’ and the cinematic universe but the third season is going to have a surprise direct tie-in to ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’! Now, we’ve already seen characters from ‘A New Hope’ show up in ‘Star Wars Rebels’ so that shouldn’t be too surprising. Interestingly enough what we actually see is a line that Tarkin states in the movie and how the world he describes came to be.

According to executive producer and showrunner Dave Filoni, here’s his inspiration for what we’ll soon watching:

“A lot of [Season 3] is centered on one line [in A New Hope]. Tarkin tells Vader the fire of the Jedi has gone out of the universe. So you have to start to enter this period where it seems like the rule of the day isn’t people who wield the Force but it’s more people that are controlling military might and starfleets. They seem to be the ones in control by the time of A New Hope.”

Honestly, this is a piece of canon that we can start to see in the prequel trilogy and even the Clone Wars but the time period of ‘Star Wars Rebels’ is really where it can be in the spotlight. Vader has removed most of the Jedi at this point and the idea of them is clearly becoming more of a myth than something that people could see and accept as reality.

One piece of this puzzle that I am clearly looking forward to is the introduction of Grand Admiral Thrawn who is one of the more memorable players prior to Disney kicking most of the old content to the curb and his introduction here is something to clearly be excited for.

When talking about Thrawn he was clearly not wanting more Jedi to be who helps send the Rebellion further into hiding. It wouldn’t make sense if they were still active by the time ‘A New Hope’ comes so it had to be military and Thrawn is the perfect antagonist to use here:

“We didn’t just insert another Force-wielder here. We didn’t just create another kind of lightsaber. You can only go to that well so many times. Now it was time for the Imperial Military.”

Personally, I feel that this is a brilliant way to not only tie the series more into the direction of the films but also a great reason to introduce Thrawn. Well, played Filoni, well plays indeed.

Are you looking forward to the course change coming up in ‘Star Wars Rebels’? How do you think that more of a military and less of a Jedi presence will resonate with younger viewers? Share your thoughts below!

‘Star Wars Rebels’ will return to Disney XD on Saturday, September 24, 2016 at 8:30 p.m. ET

Source: io9

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Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!