Disney debuts 'Star Wars: Rebels' 7-minute preview
Get ready for a new space adventure loaded with action, intrigue, and yes, Stormtroopers with this preview of the "Star Wars: Rebels" animated series from Disney and Lucasfilm.
Fans of a galaxy far, far away eager to see impressive spaceships, plucky young rebels, and fantastical creatures now get a glimpse of the new "Star Wars: Rebels" animated series from Disney and Lucasfilm.
Set between Episodes III and IV of the "Star Wars" saga, this 7-minute extended preview of "Star Wars: Rebels" reveals that the Empire has arrived on the planet Lothal, terrorizing the locals. It's the first video embedded below.
Imperials and Stormtroopers alike show an intimidating presence on the planet, enforcing new unfair laws for trade. This means harassing and arresting citizens, even defenseless food cart vendors, who attempt to stand up to them for any reason.
A young, mischievous boy named Ezra comes across a secretive group stealing freight from the Empire. Discovering that whatever may be in the boxes could have significant financial value, Ezra attempts to take it for himself -- and ends up in an exciting speeder bike chase from both Imperials and this trio of thieves who won't give up the cryptic cargo without a fight.
In this preview, we not only meet Force-sensitive Ezra Bridger, but Kanan Jarrus aka " the cowboy Jedi" -- voiced by Freddie Prinze, Jr. We also meet members of his Ghost crew, including Garazeb Orrelios, better known as Zeb, (from the Lasat species, which is based on legendary "Star Wars" artist Ralph McQuarrie's early Chewbacca concepts) and sassy female Mandalorian Sabine Wren.
Zeb is voiced by Steven Blum ("Transformers: Prime"), Sabine's voice is delivered by Tiya Sircar ("The Internship"), and Ezra is portrayed by Taylor Gray ("The Take").
"It's an intimate story," executive producer Simon Kinberg told StarWars.com. "It's really a story about five people on a ship that takes place against the backdrop of this massive galaxy of characters and villains and stormtroopers and battleships. On 'Rebels,' to me the opportunity is to create something for a new generation of Star Wars fans that also appeals to our generation that grew up loving it -- and still loves it."
"Star Wars: Rebels" will officially premiere this October with a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel, and will be followed by a series on Disney XD channels worldwide.
Excited to see more? Here's a look ahead at this season on "Star Wars: Rebels":
Editor's note: A previous version of this article noted that the video clip was not viewable in the UK. This restriction has since been removed and the video is now available.