Star Wars: Rebels Introduces Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Jedi Character, Kanan
This article is more than 2 years old
With only eight months until it’s released, anticipation for Star Wars: Rebels is high. As we wait for the series premiere of Rebels, Lucasfilm is slowly introducing Star Wars fans to the animated series’ cast and characters. Now USA Today has premiered the latest addition to Rebels: a former Jedi named Kanan, voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr. Kanan was forced to go underground after Order 66, which wiped out much of the Jedi order in Revenge of the Sith. Since then, Kanan only uses a blaster and has to keep his lightsaber under lock-and-key so the Galactic Empire doesn’t discover him.
Kanan’s look is impressive and he seems like a Han Solo type. He’s described as a “Jedi Cowboy,” so it seems that he’s going to have the training and discipline of a Jedi, but ethics and mindset of a scoundrel. Kanan is the third Rebels character who’s been introduced so far, with the first being the series’ villain, The Inquisitor, and the second being the astromech droid Chopper (C1-10P).
it was rumored that Freddie Prinze Jr. would be joining the voice cast of Rebels a few months ago, possibly as one of the show’s two pilots, Ezra Bridger and Zeb. Instead it seems that Kanan is going to be the link between the budding Rebel Alliance and the Jedi Knights.
Freddie Prinze Jr. is best known for playing Fred in the live-action Scooby-Doo movies and playing the awkwardly popular Zack Siler in the ’90s teen movie She’s All That. Prinze currently works for the WWE as a writer, producer, and director.
It was recently revealed that Lucasfilm might release Star Wars: Rebels sooner than expected this summer. Rumor has it that the company will launch the series with an animated movie that would air on The Disney Channel, then the series itself would premiere on Disney XD this October. This was the same strategy Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. used when they released Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2008. The only difference is that Rebels would not get a theatrical release like its predecessor.
Star Wars: Rebels takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, a few years before the start of Episode IV. The Galactic Empire is taking over planets in the Outer Rim, and a band of teenage renegades start to sabotage the Imperial stranglehold on the planet Lothal. The TV series will also follow the very early stages of the Rebel Alliance.
