[This trailer and article contain MILD SPOILERS for Star Wars Rebels season 2.]
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Life is about to get a whole lot more dangerous for the crew of the spaceship Ghost, once the animated series Star Wars Rebels begins its second season in full on Disney XD. An hour-long season 2 Rebels special, titled "The Siege of Lothal", aired this past summer, and it established that the Ghost crew is now formally working with the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire. However, that also places our heroes directly in the sights of the Empire's highest-ranking officers, including Lord Darth Vader himself (James Earl Jones, back in his iconic voice role).
New York Comic-Con 2015 started today (at the time of writing this) and the event brought with it a fresh trailer for Star Wars Rebels' second season. A good chunk of the footage was either include in the previously-released Rebels season 2 trailer or is taken from the "Siege of Lothal" episode - where Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray) and Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) barely escaped with their lives, after they were forced into a lightsaber fight with Vader. However, there's also plenty of fresh material here to get Star Wars fans excited for the show's return.
The Star Wars Rebels NYCC preview teases some pretty juice narrative developments in the cartoon TV show's new season, including: the return of the Star Wars: Clone Wars TV show fan-favorite Captain Rex (voiced once more by Dee Bradley Baker) as well as Commanders Wolffe and Gregor; Sabine (Tiya Sircar) coming face to face with her sister, a bounty hunter who shares Sabine's taste in armor color; and the revelation that Ezra's parents are, in fact, alive and still bringing on the good fight against the Empire's oppressive forces (even though it's forced them to become fugitives).
However, the big revelation of the Rebels NYCC trailer is that Vader has dispatched several Inquisitors across not just Lothal, but elsewhere in the galaxy, in an effort to stamp out as many Force-sensitive individuals (or Jedi, in Kanan's case) as possible. Disney/Lucasfilm has confirmed that Sarah Michelle Gellar will be voicing one especially powerful Inquisitor - known as the Seventh Sister Inquisitor - on Rebels season 2. However, it's now been properly established that the Seventh Sister and the nameless Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs) seen in Rebels season 1 are but the tip of the iceberg, where it concerns the Inquisitor order.
Star Wars Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni - who co-created the series with screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Lucasfilm Director of Creative Content Strategy Carrie Beck - and his production team appear to have stepped up their game on the Disney XD show's second season. The upcoming Rebels episodes look to boast shinier and more sophisticated animated visuals compared to season 1, in addition to cranking up the dial on the action scale - be that with the way in which lightsaber duels are choreographed (animation also provides greater freedom, in that respect) or the scope and design of the various space battles between Rebel and Imperial forces.
Beyond that, Rebels season 2 is following the precedent set by the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars series (which Filoni also worked on) and venturing into more mature storytelling territory, compared to its first season. Between Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) taking on the Inquisitors directly - setting her on a path towards an inevitable showdown with her former master Anakin Skywalker/Vader - and the aforementioned developments involving the Ghost's crew, it seems Star Wars Rebels season 2 will provide some meaty drama to go with all the whiz-bang fun and action you expect from anything Star Wars-related.
NEXT: Star Wars Animated Series Episode Guide
Star Wars Rebels returns with "The Lost Commanders" on October 14th, 2015.
Source: Disney XD/Lucasfilm