Rebels debuts their third season Saturday with the one-hour ‘Steps into the Shadow’ at 8:30 p.m. on Disney XD. Get prepped with another Dave Filoni interview on io9, where he talks about how this season riffs on Tarkin’s line “the Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe.” He also talked to Blastr, /Film, Teenplicity and Comicbook.
Lucasfilm has released a new clip featuring Ezra and the Sith holocron:
And a special Rebels Recon preshow, featuring interviews with cast members Vanessa Marshall, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Dee Bradley Baker:
Rebels’ biggest (sizewise) new addition is getting some it over at USA Today. They interview Tom Baker (best known as Doctor Who’s Fourth Doctor) on his addition to Star Wars as the character called Bendu.
Meanwhile, there’s a two partinterview with Dave Filoni on StarWars.com looking back at Darth Vader and Ahsoka Tano in season two.
Christian Simpson on the search for the original voice of Nien Nunb, Kipsang Rotich, on StarWars.com in two parts. Spoiler: They find him, and he reprises the character’s voice in The Force Awakens.
Season 2 of Rebels will feature a character voiced by none other than Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. She does have an ‘in:’ her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., voices Kanan, but… She’s Buffy. Isn’t that enough?
Now begin the debates as to who she’s voicing… (Probably not Buffy.)
You can hear more about the show’s story conferences in Rebel Report’s interview with writer Brent Friedman. And actress Jaime King talks about her Lost Missions role with Coming Soon.
Newsarama’s Lucas Siegel has the first interview with one of the Rebels crew: Vetern voice actress Vanessa Marshall, who plays the ship’s pilot, Hera. I think it’s safe to say she’s into it:
…When I got the call for Star Wars Rebels, that I booked Hera, I hyperventilated, fell to the ground, I think I was sobbing, and my agent then asked if she should call an ambulance. (laughs) Truly, of all the roles I’ve ever played, this is by far the most epic. I look forward to the long-term implications of interacting in the Star Wars universe. It’s really, really thrilling.
She also has a few things to say on our latest issue:
You know, it’s interesting – I would say from a marketing standpoint, I know how it serves them to target an audience, whether it’s male or female. I do know there are a ton more female sci-fi fans – there always have been, but perhaps now they have a greater visibility, so I predict that some of that stuff will change.
I will say that in a greater sense, I’m not so sure that there’s a stigma for the people who are buying those toys. In a real way, I think that George Lucas kind of destroyed the stigmas as far as gender is concerned, and raised the bar for future filmmakers. The fact there are female Jedi straightway levels the playing field. There are so many alien races that gender is sort of the least of the issues (laughs).
You look at Princess Leia, and Mon Mothma, Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress – even to go to the games and EU [Expanded Universe – the Star Wars stories that are told in novels, comics, and video games], Jan Ors or even Mara Jade – the women in the Star Wars Universe just kick butt, in a way that transcends gender. And each in their own way.
I’ll say, even the female characters in Rebels each have their unique strengths – it’s another reason I’m so excited to be a part of this show. Just to get into Hera a bit again, she’s strong-willed, but she’s also nurturing. She really knows how to bring out the best in her team. She leads with humility. Her agility and physical skills are admirable; she can pull just the right punch at just the right moment and get the job done, and that’s how she delivers. Her very personal reasons for rebelling against the empire, I think, are things viewers are going to delight in uncovering each season.
Anyway, believe it or not, that’s only a tiny bit of the interview, so head over to Newsarama and read the whole thing.
Chancellor Palpatine returns to The Clone Wars in the final episode of the season with Tim Curry taking the role over after the passing of Ian Abercrombie. Bryan at Big Shiny Robot has the scoop on how Dave Filoni selected Tim Curry and has an exclusive preview clip that has Palpatine presiding over the trial of Ahsoka Tano, with Admiral Tarkin as prosecutor, and Padme as defense counsel. Apparently, there aren’t any trial lawyers in The Clone Wars.
Tim Curry is probably known best for his role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but has been doing a lot of voice work in the past twenty years, including on The Wild Thornberrys and Young Justice.
The info was first revealed at the Lucasfilm screening of the season five finale last Friday, but was one of those secrets asked to be kept. We’ll have more tidbits from the screening Q&A after ‘The Wrong Jedi’ airs on Saturday, wrapping up the finale story arc.
Ex-Doctor Who star David Tennant voices the droid Huyang, who helps the young Jedi on their lightsaber quest in ‘A Test of Strength.’ After watching IGN’s exclusive clip, I’m surprised no one guessed this one at Celebration!
Tennant is best known for playing the Tenth Doctor on Who, but may also be familiar to genre fans from his turn as Barty Crouch Junior in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Christian Simpson on the search for the original voice of Nien Nunb, Kipsang Rotich, on 
Looking for theories about The Clone Wars sketches that 
Chancellor Palpatine returns to The Clone Wars in the final episode of the season with Tim Curry taking the role over after the passing of 