Star Wars: Rebels Concept Art Channels Ralph McQuarrie
Get a better look at the world of Star Wars: Rebels.
This article is more than 2 years old
Over the weekend, WonderCon went down in the City of Angels (okay, it was Anaheim, but who is really keeping score?). Over the course of a couple of days we learned all kinds of fun information about some of our most anticipated upcoming movies and television shows. We saw a new clip from Disney and Lucasfilm’s animated series Star Wars: Rebels, and hot on the heels of that little tidbit, the studio has released a ton of new, never before seen concept art from the ostensible replacement for the now-cancelled Clone Wars.
Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni said that the look and feel of the new show will draw heavily on the work of Ralph McQuarrie. A designer and illustrator, McQuarrie, who passed way in 2012, was instrumental in creating the overall appearance of George Lucas’ legendary original trilogy. Take a quick scan of these images, some of which come from Filoni himself, and you can’t help but notice the influence of his work on Episodes IV-VI.
The most finished pieces in this collection are the wide shots that show views of various settings, like landscapes, cityscapes, and wide panoramas of deep space. You also get a nice look at some of the spacecrafts you’ll be seeing once the episodes of the show premiere later this year. There are star destroyers and fleets of TIE Fighters, but after six movies those are old hat. We also have a few looks at the Ghost, the newest addition to the Star Wars fleet. The craft bears a resemblance to the Millennium Falcon, and from the description, it sounds like it will share a similar purpose and serve as a kind of central mobile location.
And speaking of the Ghost, you can see the evolution of her pilot, Hera Syndulla (voiced by Vanessa Marshall). The Twi’lek is described as strong-minded and as the person who keeps everyone together, keeps them from losing their shit when things get tough.
We know that J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII takes place more than 30 years after Return of the Jedi. Rebels, on the other hand, serves to fill in the gaps between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, and intends to show the Empire tightening its oppressive grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last remaining Jedi Knights, as well as the beginnings of what will ultimately become the Rebel Alliance.
Star Wars: Rebels will debut sometime this October with a one-hour special on the Disney Channel, before moving to its regular home on Disney XD.
