Hey there, internet friends, it's Andi Gutierrez.
Walking and talking to you for the last time from inside Lucasfilm headquarters.
Wow, now that was a serious finale right?
It had action, adventure, purrgils.
Now join me for the very last time as I sit down with cast and crew to talk about this remarkable show.
This is Rebels Recon.
Alongside old friends, Ezra comes up with a plan to launch the Imperial dome out of Lothal but is thwarted by Grand Admiral Thrawn.
If you truly wish to save Lothal, Commander Bridger,
the only term I'll accept is your immediate and unconditional surrender.
Despite Hera's please Ezra surrenders to Thrawn
is brought before the Emperor himself and is given the opportunity to reunite with his parents.
You'll always be a part of me.
I have to let you go.
With help from the Purrgil, Ezra disappears into hyperspace with Thrawn.
Leaving his home world free of occupation and the rest of the crew to continue to fight with the Rebellion.
It looks like the people are with you, General Syndulla.
Then if the Empire wants a fight, we'll be ready for them.
This week marked the end of the Rebels journey together.
I sat down with cast and crew to talk about why Ezra is so important to everyone he meets,
his interactions with the Emperor,
tying the whole four seasons together, and so much more.
Check it out!
Almost all the friends that Ezra has made since season one come together to help him now.
What makes Ezra such an important person to all these unique personalities?
He's willing to see beyond who they appear to be at first.
Ezra's main skill is his ability to have insight and actually care about other people.
He's able to just kind of connect with things on a deeper level.
And I think that's attributable to how I was raised.
His ability to forge relationships and have friends
and surround himself with good people turns out to be a very good thing in the end.
Honestly we've never had scenes this large before with this amount of characters on screen at one time.
In animation it's always a challenge because the more characters you have,
ships, sets, it makes the scene really heavy and difficult to render.
This is the end.
Like, we're ending the whole thing, we got to go out with a bang.
So everyone was kind of all hands on deck,
trying to just make sure that these episodes were great and that they felt full.
We definitely didn't want you going in feeling that these episode were empty.
So a lot more has been put into some of this stuff to really show that.
What's it like seeing all four seasons of the show starting to get tied together like?
It's kind of amazing to see how far we've come really.
I mean, it just feels like, wow, we've been doing this for a while.
And it's sort of is a reminder that like actually there's been a lot that's transpired in this world.
You can't help but smile.
You can't help but think like, oh, I get to see my friend again who had been in to record a year ago.
Mhmm.
Which is so sick and it's fun. It's kind of putting a nice bow on all of it.
It's the weirdest family reunion ever.
[Laughing]
We are such a weird, big, dysfunctional family.
It's amazing.
There's a lot of nostalgia that comes up with that.
It just brings up all the emotions at once, which I think was the intention.
With the amount of time I have you can only have so many characters and service each one of them well.
And just with a Ghost crew you want to make sure that you're wrapping up each of their individual arcs
and it's a tough thing.
But I think it worked out for the most part and I think some people would be surprised by the role certain people play in.
There were a lot of debates along the way for what was the best thing for every character to do.
Ezra tells Sabine, I know I can always count on you and really trusts her, perhaps more than anybody else.
How has their relationship evolved since season one?
I think the really incredible thing about watching the two of them grow up
together as young people lost in a really big galaxy
is understanding that one of the strengths of their relationship
is actually how they've grown and they've been able to see each other through.
And I think, very much, both taking their lessons from Kanan and Hera, I think, has shaped them into the people that they are.
You may not be able to control the world around you but you can control how you treat other people and how you work with them.
And I think their bond is so strong that there's nobody else that he could rely on quite like her.
It's been a varied thing and I think everybody's knee-jerk reaction is to ship the two.
You know to think that the because the two are similar in age that there's some type of gravity between them romantically.
And I think it's very strong at this point to show boys and girls being friends in supportive of one another.
Everybody has their different relationships and it's just not something that had to be romantically dimensional.
In order to tempt Ezra, Palpatine appears be kindly former senator that we know from the prequel trilogy.
Were there any differences in lighting him?
Yeah, it's the same trick from Clone Wars.
It's the ice back.
You light Palpatine regally
and then you go ahead and you light Sidious usually from below to catch the jaw line.
Then from above to put the shadow over the eyes.
Here we just really wanted him to come across as that very genial like your grandfather almost.
So we really had to make sure we played it so like his eyebrows were up a little bit
and trying to keep him sort of more upright.
So whenever he's the Emperor we kind of hunch him a little bit.
So sort of subtle changes just to make sure the audience really knows what they're looking at and which one.
He tries to play on your perceptions all the time.
When he's in the void world and he's listening to Ezra,
he hears Ezra's wish that his life could be different and that he'd like to see his mom and dad.
So he knows the alternate reality that Ezra wishes for.
Because when you're tasked with a great burden and something you have to do
it's normal for you to wish that these things weren't happening to you
and it's normal for you to wish that your life was simpler
and that these challenges fell elsewhere.
And so the whole thing at the end is if the Emperor can offer him that wish
that maybe this kid will take it and thus take himself out of the equation.
Ezra has always had a special connection to the animals that culminates with his plan involving the purrgils.
How does this connection make Ezra unique to other Jedi that we've met in the saga?
I think one of the great things in the length of the show,
we've had the time to really develop how he is in tune with the world around him.
And what comes most natural to him.
And I think different Jedi may have different skill sets.
There might be different things that they are more adept at.
But one of the things about Ezra that I think is so remarkable is the sense of empathy
and how in tune he is with the wildlife of his planet, right?
Not just this planet but the galaxy as a whole.
What I love about the purrgil, if you go all the way back to season 2
and some of that feeling of like, oh, filler.
Right?
And I think hopefully people will feel as we
get to the very end of the season that none of it was filler and none of it was
wasted and establishing this connection for doing Ezra and the world around him
is very much a part of who he is.
The dome that's been in the middle of the Lothal capital has been a ship.
Yes.
This whole time.
Absolutely.
How exactly does that dome work?
They would land this thing in the middle of a city that existed
and immediately the Empire has tremendous presence, tremendous power.
And it also means that once they're done pillaging the place they can leave and just discard it.
I've always thought of it as you know some type of ship.
You just don't know it and I think that's kind of fun.
Whenever you've got something like that you immediately approach it from the same way
they would light or photograph miniatures back in the day.
So you always have those wide shots with the long lens to make everything feel bigger.
Dave was pretty clear throughout the whole season about making Lothal look like it was polluted and dirty, acidic looking city.
So we went for that approach then towards the end when that dome takes off Dave finally mentioned blue sky.
From the beginning of Rebels he's like, "I don't want to see a blue sky, no blue sky".
Until we get to the very end very end, where we finally have that dome kind of coming up above the clouds.
Just to give it that kind of representation that we all know of seeing a large object up in the air.
So can you give us any hints as to where Ezra and Thrawn ended up?
Yeah, I thought a lot about that.
Yeah.
I'm sure you have.
I wonder and it's one of those things where you go, "boy, I'd love to do it end credits scene"
but as tempting as that is I go well if I ever cover that then I want to do it right
and I don't want to commit to things right now because things might change.
So I have a lot of theories about it and what I think happens and where they are.
I'll say this much, they're not dead.
Both of them survived it.
Both Ezra and Thrawn I would say survived it.
[Chopper sounds]
[Spit sound]
[Chopper sounds]
It's strange that people keep asking "who does the voice of Chopper?"
This whole notion that there's a human behind a him is absurd.
[Chopper sounds]
Chop!
Chopper!
[Chopper sounds]
Hang on, buddy.
We must have dozed off there.
[Chopper sounds]
Calm down.
Chopper, Chopper, calm down.
You had a bad dream.
[Chopper sounds]
No, no, don't be silly, don't be crazy.
[Chopper sounds]
No, no, no, you're you, I'm me.
You're you, you're nobody else, you're Chopper.
You have nothing to worry about, buddy.
And none of Chopper Cam was canon.
For four years now I have stalked and interrupted punched my fist through a monitor
and popped up in weirder and weirder places to ask the Lucasfilm's story group's Pablo Hildago your pressing Rebels questions.
And this week is no exception.
...except that it's the last one but I promise it'll be good.
Let's go.
Hey Pablo, much easier to find you this week.
Do you realize where we are Andi?
The hallway on the way to the cafeteria?
No, this is this is where it all started.
This is where we first did our very first social question.
Oh, that's fitting.
So I have one last one for you.
It's totally different now.
Old Man Miller used to have a field, we'd go there and throw rocks all the time.
Okay.
Jordan asks...
You could really smell the pies on a Sunday too, coming down here.
Umm
Yeah, well, the thing is the Emperor could see what was happening in the World Between Worlds because Ezra entered it.
Ezra was what, who he was focusing on.
And using his sith alchemy he was able to get sort of like a hand grip in but he couldn't actually go in.
So that's what the Emperor is looking for he's looking for, some sort of foothold.
Some sort of handhold, something to grab onto that will bring him into that realm.
That's super interesting, thank you so much, Pablo.
Yeah, you know I have a question for you.
Okay, shoot.
So we've been doing this segment for years and now it's ending.
What's gonna become of this?
I have no idea.
Have questions about the finale or any other Rebels questions you want answered?
Tweet em to @StarWars and we'll answer what we can online because we won't be able to do them on the show anymore.
But now is the time where I would normally show you a clip from next week's episode.
but since the series is over I thought I'd sit down with cast and crew to talk about their favorite memories of making the show.
Enjoy!
What was your favorite moment of season four?
Oh boy, that's a tough one.
Ummm.
That moment when Kanan comes out with a haircut and gets on the kites and takes off.
The way that that was edited, everything about that just it seemed like we were firing on all cylinders.
The interaction between Kanan and Hera right before he died.
They were so good together.
You know just the little bits we got to do, obviously the kiss and everything like that made them seem such a complete thing.
The fact that I could get the outfits in 405 to happen.
Like Kanan looks like the rejected Bee Gee brother.
His outfit is ludicrous for when they escape and hide.
It's always for me the goofy stuff that you can sneak in.
The episode after Kanan's death.
There is this beautiful moment where Hera is debating her next step
and Kanan appears on her shoulder and to me it's just such an important moment
because we see that although Kanan may not be present he will always be there.
Probably the Void world.
The World Between Worlds because it's something I've been thinking about a long time
and I wanted to find a way to bring all of Star Wars together.
To get a sense that these things are influencing and touching each other and that these characters are kind of eternal.
And it was a difficult thing to do because it's so minimalist in a way but by being so minimalist I think it felt really grand in scale.
How about your favorite moment in the entire series?
I think my favorite moment of the entire series was when we did Obi-Wan and Maul.
It got talked about, about like there's gonna be this big epic Jedi fight
and we're gonna do all the stuff and obviously we didn't do it that way.
It was much more sort of samurai and more like in your mind and little foot changes
and different things like that but I thought it really would be how it would happen.
Bringing in Ben Kenobi, the Alec Guinness character, was just a one-two punch.
Especially with the showdown with Maul.
I couldn't think of a better to bring him into the saga again.
For me personally, the season 2 finale.
That moment with Ahsoka and Darth Vader and she finally confronts him and says, "I'm no Jedi"
I still think about it and I get goosebumps.
There's no question.
There's nothing in the show that hits higher than when AP-5 is all alone in space.
AP-5 floating in space singing to himself.
I will remember that more than anything else in the show.
There are a couple of regrets, there was a version of the baby puffer pigs that was designed
but we couldn't do because there wasn't time to build them.
So we ended up just shrinking the grown puffer pig down.
Which still works but the baby puffer pig was this, like, epic thing that just didn't get to happen.
There are definitely moments that stand out to me throughout the season.
I loved in season one that first adventure we got to see Hera and Sabine on together.
I loved seeing the growth of Sabine's character.
I loved seeing Ezra evolve over time.
I was so excited when Ahsoka came into the series.
When Maul came back.
I liked the painting that moves of the Mortis gods.
I've been trying to do a 2D thing like that for a long time and my friends at Ghost Bot did a great job bringing that to life.
I think that Kanan's death is a very powerful moment.
I think that it was a big responsibility to do and a challenging moment and an important moment for the audience.
I think we did it really well.
What is your favorite memory of working on Rebels?
One of the highlights for me was actually attending Celebration Orlando last year.
It was my first time and we screened several episodes from season four.
And getting to be in the audience with real fans of the show and feel their energy and excitement was so incredible.
To get to be part of a community that I truthfully hadn't been before and was welcomed immediately into.
I think at that point I realized that this was even more special than I thought it might be.
The very first episode when we all kind of came together and were meeting each other
because it paralleled what was happening in the show so well.
One of my favorite memories was one of my first memories is when I met Freddie Prinze Jr.
and he just sat next to me, he's like, "hey man, really looking forward to this, I'm Freddie".
It was really hard not to just instantly like that guy with how enthusiastic and open he was in terms of inviting me into this group.
That was when I knew that the Rebels group was awesome.
I was able to kind of be that real-life Ahsoka to the Rebels cast, which was really cool.
Same with Clone Wars and now with Rebels,
it's all about the people and your Star Wars family that you develop these close relationships that you'll have the rest of your life.
Favorite moment?
When I found out we were green lit and I found out that we were gonna pull together again.
It's like an Ocean's eleven moment,
Because they were brand-new characters there was that sort of hurdle to overcome
because we couldn't sort of get that instant recognition that you get with using an Anakin or an Obi-Wan.
It was a fun challenge to come up with characters that felt like
they could walk through a shot from any of the movies but no one had ever seen before.
Realizing that Rebels does not exist in this one little island
and the connectivity that we were able to forge with Rogue One was just like beyond our wildest dreams.
And everyone was so encouraging and excited to do that.
Put Chopper on the big screen and then to take Forest Whitaker and Genevieve O'Reilly and put them on our animated show.
I think it kind of represents something that only Lucasfilm could really pull off.
What did working on Star Wars Rebels mean to you?
For me, it's a real sense of completion.
We all work really hard on the show and we didn't think we're just making a kids show,
we didn't think we're just making an animated TV show,
I mean we're making Star Wars.
Just to see it come to an end.
It's gratifying but the best part is we actually got to tell the story and end it the way we wanted.
So to see the whole thing from beginning all the way through to the end, it's huge.
Just being invited to contribute at all is a huge, huge honor for me
because this is something that's extremely meaningful to me.
I grew up with it, we all grew up with it, and it never stops being cool.
It never stops being really exciting.
They're so well made, they're so well written and they're so fun to, you know, be a part of these stories.
It's all been just a fantastic ride.
It's been more fun than I can even express.
You are now a member of this enormous community of fans, of participants, of actors, of creators,
who all have one thing in common, is that they enjoy Star Wars.
That's like a really cool thing to me and I'm so glad to be fortunate to be a part of it and it's a lot of fun.
There is a generation of Star Wars fans that was introduced to Star Wars through Rebels.
To really see a new generation loving Star Wars because of Rebels, it makes me so happy.
Working on the show has meant everything and I think the relationships that we've built both on the creative side,
as we worked together for the first time and how significant that was to be a part of this.
When you spend your life doing something every day and we all have a choice,
there's nothing more rewarding than working on something that people care about.
It was an important show coming out of this big change in the company.
And, you know, having George stepping away from Star Wars.
I felt it was really important to maintain the animation division.
I wanted to maintain a pipeline in a way of telling stories that I know he really believed in
and I wanted to tell stories that I feel are very true to his Star Wars
and the Star Wars that he taught me when working on Clone Wars so it was important.
It was important for fans because a lot of fans were wondering what is this gonna look like now?
What's Lucasfilm and Star Wars gonna be?
I think we made something that we can all be very proud of.
I think that we grew as a group and our skills as storytellers and I'm very proud of Rebels.
And yeah, I'm pretty pleased and, you know, it's great to be a part of it.
Thanks for watching Rebels Recon, not only this episode but the whole series in general.
And thank you so much to the crew of Rebels and Rebels Recon for working tirelessly behind the scenes for years to make this happen.
Without them none of this would be possible.
And as always if you want to know more about this episode or about Rebels in general
check out the complete episode guide up on StarWars.com right now.
Thanks again and may the Force be with you.