[WARNING: Minor spoilers for Rogue One and Star Wars Rebels ahead!]

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is now in theaters and it seems to safe to say that Disney and Lucasfilm have delivered a hit with the first standalone Star Wars film, pleasing hardcore fans and casual viewers alike. The film uses familiar Star Wars elements but approaches them in a bold new way, which was certainly a risky move given the extreme fondness many have for Star Wars. But as its box office gross continues to grow and more positive reactions flood social media, that risk appears to have paid off big time.

While much has been made of Rogue One's use of classic Episode IV iconography - especially with characters like Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin returning - there's actually quite a bit of Rogue One which has been pulled from other Star Wars properties. The character of Saw Gerrera, for instance, first originated on the animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but has made the transition to live-action in Rogue One thanks to a stirring performance from Academy Award winner, Forest Whitaker. And since he first appeared in animation, his resurgence in Rogue One had fans questioning if the reckless rebel would ever come to their current animated series, Star War Rebels.

Turns out that, yes, he will, and sooner than we had thought. A new poster for the second half of Star Wars Rebels season 3 that was spotted at a Toys 'R' Us (via Rebels Reactions) reveals Saw Gerrera's upcoming stint on Rebels, even including a snippet of Saw's dialogue from Rogue One as its tagline. Check it out below:

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As we saw in Rogue One, Saw Gerrera isn't exactly on the best of terms with the Rebel Alliance, being considered too extreme by leaders like Mon Mothma and no longer having an official affiliation with the organized Rebellion. He does, however, still fight against the tyranny of the Empire, just with his own methods and on his own terms. It's unclear just how the Ghost crew will cross paths with Gerrera (will he already be on Jedha?) and whether or not it'll be on friendly terms. It's also quite possible this meeting will occur before Gerrera has broken with the fledgling Rebellion, maybe explaining what was the impetus for that parting of ways. (Maybe it eve explains the inconsistencies with his hair!?)

Rogue One does include a few sly references to Rebels, but none of the series' major characters appear in the film outside of Chopper receiving a super quick cameo. Their exclusion, while likely necessary for a variety of reasons, does have fans wondering if that means none of the Lothal rebels will survive to see the Rebellion make off with those Death Star plans. Future seasons of Rebels will hopefully continue connecting with the events of the Galactic Civil War that we've seen on the big screen, perhaps even bringing in more characters from Rogue One. At least with the upcoming appearance from Saw Gerrera we have one we know for sure to look forward to.

Star Wars Rebels season 3 will continue January 7th, 2017 on Disney XD.

Source: Rebels Reactions