It’s not long until Star Wars Rebels hits our screens… and it looks as though we should expect some classic Star Wars characters to make an appearance.
In an interview with Yahoo! Movies UK, David Oyelowo – who plays Agent Kallus in Star Wars Rebels – revealed that classic Star Wars characters will appear in the show. And we may have had our first glimpse of a returning character.
“There are very exciting characters that emerge in this, that audiences know and love and they make very surprising appearances within the show itself,” he said. “There’s a definite wow factor.”
Although the main cast comprises of some new faces (including Freddie Prinze Jr. as the rebellious Jedi Kanan) it looks as though we’ll get some guest appearances from other, more familiar characters.
And if you’ve already seen the impressive trailers, you’ll know that Obi-Wan Kenobi makes a brief, holographic appearance.
David Oyelowo voices the imposing chief of the Imperial Security Bureau… and along with Jason Isaacs’ Inquisitor, plays one of the major villainous roles in the new series, which fills in the gaps between Episode III and Episode IV.
“The Empire has a very strong foothold, powerbase-wise and like any dictatorship, they want to make sure that remains the case.”
But how does Star Wars Rebels tie into the upcoming films? It looks as though there might be further reaching connections than we first thought.
“What you’ll get every now and again, just as you’ve said a line or are about to say a line, one of the producers will let slip that this is a huge nugget or a huge seed being planted for something that’s about to happen in the future. But you can even see them catching themselves and going, ‘no, we’ve decided not to tell the actors that, be quiet!’”
“[The show] gives a great amount of context to not just what went on between Episodes III and IV, but these episodes that we’re doing are integrated with the new films and it gives context to things you are going to be seeing in those films,” explains Oyelowo. “The whole idea with the new Star Wars films, the spin-off films as well as Star Wars Rebels is that you’re gaining a lot of context with the ‘Star Wars’ universe both past and what is to come in the future. So there’s a lot to be revealed.”
Of course, we’ve heard for some time that the new TV show will be connected in some way to the movies. But will Star Wars Rebels directly tie into the upcoming sequel trilogy?
“I have to say I don’t know,” said Oyelowo about appearing in Star Wars VII. “Maybe, maybe not.” And he remains tight-lipped when asked if the Inquisitor will make it into the upcoming Star Wars sequel. “I can’t possibly reveal or deny anything with regards to that.”
“I do know that for my character there are some very nice and far-reaching plans,” he added. “He has ravenous ambition.”
Either way, it looks as though we’ve got some interesting years ahead of us… and with a number of spin-off movies as well as the sequel trilogy, I can’t help thinking that Star Wars Rebels will dip in and out of those narratives.
But for now, we’ll have to wait and see.
What do you think of David Oyelowo’s comments? Will any Star Wars Rebels characters make it into the sequel trilogy? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
