Hey there Rebels fans, Andy Gutierrez coming at you from inside Lucasfilm headquarters.
This week Saw Gererra returned and the results were explosive to say the least.
Now I'm here to show you how it all came together.
This is Rebels Recon.
Joining forces with a larger rebel cell on Yavin IV
the ghost crew embarks on a mission to tap into an Imperial satellite.
We must have patched into the main comm circuit by mistake.
We're intercepting all incoming transmissions.
However when the plan goes awry Saw Gererra shows up and saves the day
but not before recruiting Ezra and Sabine for a mission of his own.
The Empire wiped out a whole population because they were building something.
Something they've hidden away.
Searching for clues aboard a civilian freighter
Saw, Ezra, and Sabine discover a giant Kyber crystal that brings the Rebels
closer to discovering what secrets the Empire has in store.
The Empire is already on the verge of winning a war
most of the Rebel Alliance doesn't believe has already begun.
This week we got to see the Rebels finally arrive on Yavin IV
I sat with the cast and crew to talk about the current state of the Rebellion,
what it was like incorporating this legendary setting in the series,
and took a deeper dive into Saw Gererra's motivations.
Our Rebels have finally connected with the larger rebellion on Yavin 4.
What's the state of the stat of the Rebel Alliance at this time?
Is this the Rebel Alliance or is it still individual cells?
Well, I think there's a lot made of what is the definitive moment
of their being a Rebel alliance in the fan base world.
And everybody likes to think what is that moment.
But as a story for us it's not that important of a moment because
we've been fighting the Empire all along.
We've kind of made it clear that they were on their own in the beginning in this Rebel cell
That in the second season they actually linked up with more groups.
Once Mon Mothma gets involved I guess that's when it's more of an Alliance
because she's declaring them pretty openly.
But as we know from Rogue One,
there is still disagreements as to how they're going to operate.
So that's kind of where we are, we're in between those extremes.
What it takes is a threat like the Death Star
to congeal these disparate groups into the proper Rebel Alliance.
The Rebels finally make it to Yavin IV in this episode...
Yes!
what does it mean for you to be so directly tied into the beginning of the saga?
That hit me on a couple of levels.
I read it in the script
I went and saw Rogue One and so I got another re-energizing for all those feels.
Initially it's really emotional.
Words can't describe how it feels.
Literally when I read the script by myself
I give myself permission to weep openly
so that I can get it together by the time I have to read it in front of a group of people
and then I can sort of be professional.
I mean that's why Star Wars is so sick.
Like everything comes together.
It's cool that everything is in the same world
that's awesome and that's what makes all of it so fun
and why paying attention to every little storyline is cool for fans, I think.
So the Yavin base is obviously an iconic Star Wars setting.
How do you go about creating it for animation?
That was really fun, I actually got to work on Yavin base.
The inner six-year-old in me was like really nerding out when I got to do that.
But that was fun!
It was actually a challenge too because A New Hope they're working on sets and everything and
actually have to kind of physically make it work with 3D models.
It was a lot to figure out actually from reference.
We knew that visually you had to see these things that were iconic
and Star Wars that would immediately make you think of that.
So we didn't stray too much. We used reference as much as possible from the movies.
That last sequence in A New Hope, a type of lighting that you
have around, like, a conference table where everyone's kind of standing.
We did a little bit of that with all the people standing around that same table on the interior.
Yavin IV is obviously a very iconic setting from A New Hope and now Rogue One,
was it always the goal to have the show line up so directly with the films?
No and it's not a goal still.
You know in some ways you almost want to avoid those things
to keep the characters independent of making their own choices
and having their own path and destiny.
Not serving as some footnote on the journey of another character.
When things worked out in talking to Gareth and John Knoll
about the movie Rogue One.
We're like, well it seems reasonable with the scale that you've made the operation
on Yavin that our Rebels would have gone there
because it's much more of a hub.
What I really liked about this episode
is we really got some fire out of Mon Mothma.
Mon Mothma is all about projecting this implacable cool and confidence
and to see a crack in that veneer.
I love what Genevieve did and I love that we were able to take that character there.
We've been following Saw now for half a season,
what's it like bringing that character up to speed to where we see him in Rogue One?
It was so phenomenal to team up with the Rogue One team to bring Saw into our universe.
We recorded Forest Whitaker for this role.
He really cares about this character and he wanted to know what is his backstory,
where is this in the timeline, and it was just such an honor to record him on Rebels.
Here really Sabine and Ezra get witness as to what Saw is willing to do
and finally understand what Mon Mothma and Bail Organa's
position is that this guy's too dangerous and unpredictable for us to
have him as part of our camp kind of thing.
We made a decision back in Clone Wars
that when Steela died it really altered Saw's path.
That he might have turned out to be a different person if his sister had lived.
When George and I have talked about Saw
we wanted to lay groundwork for his future because he was
always going to be someone that was more of an extremist.
It gets into this theme, which is the dark and the light
are things that are not just the area of the Jedi and the Sith.
We all can make dark choices, or selfless choices, selfish choices.
And Saw can't let go of the anger and the hate and the fear he has
over what happened to him when he was very young.
We all have choices to make and that's what drives us
in the end to who we will be in what will contribute to the Galaxy.
[Annoyed Chopper sounds]
What did expect?
R3 is a lot bigger than you.
[Annoyed Chopper sounds]
Let's get you fixed up Chop!
[Annoyed Chopper sounds]
[R3-A3 sounds]
[Annoyed Chopper sounds]
[R3-A3 sounds]
[Annoyed Chopper sounds]
[R3-A3 sounds]
After last week's premiere you had quite a few questions for
the Lucasfilm story group's Pablo Hidalgo.
And as always I delivered for you, the fans, watch.
Hello, Pablo!
Andi, we're doing these again?
Yeah, do you miss me?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I only have two questions for you this week.
It's last season, right?
Yes, so Enoch Robinson asks
No because actually we've said stormtrooper armor
and Vader armor are two different things.
Some of our guidebooks have pointed out
that stormtrooper armor is made out of plastoid
while Darth Vader's armor is made out of durasteel.
So it doesn't seem like the same setting would effect both.
Okay, Curtis Ebanks asks why does Kanan need a
Well, he doesn't but obviously Hera wants to see Kanan
and the easiest way to do that is a standard two way holographic communication.
And besides, we the audience want to see Hera so we we went out in that situation.
Okay, Pablo, thank you.
Alright.
See you next week.
Have questions about In The Name of the Rebellion
or any other rebels questions you want answered?
Tweet them to @StarWars
using the #RebelsRecon
and we'll answer what we can online.
And now, here's an exclusive first look at the Occupation,
one of next week's brand-new episodes.
Look at the sky.
Kanan what have they done?!
Lothal looks like it's dying!
Your home isn't exactly the place you remember, kid.
Better prepare yourself.
Supply ship, Broken Horn, we have a lock.
Transmit clearance codes.
Oh, the things I do for money.
Thanks for watching Rebels Recon.
We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.
But if you need more Rebels info in the meantime,
check out the episode guide for In the Name of the Rebellion
on StarWars.com right now.
Thanks again and may the Force be with you.