Teen Con-Artist Ezra Is The Young Hero Of STAR WARS REBELS

Please welcome to the group the latest addition to Star Wars: Rebels. Meet Ezra, a “charismatic teenage con artist” and one of the main characters on the upcoming Disney XD animated series. Voiced by Taylor Gray (Bucket and Skinner’s Epic Adventures), Ezra is introduced as a young pickpocket stuck on the planet Lothal. Stealing in order to survive, he is able to use the Force when he’s stuck in a tight situation, although according to producer Dave Filoni, he doesn’t that’s what he’s using.

He doesn’t call it that. He doesn’t know that’s what he’s doing. He thinks he’s got some abilities that are a little strange every now and then, but they help him out. It’s instinctive, it’s reactionary.

Initially, Ezra has no interest in being a revolutionary. He might steal from the Empire at times and “stick it to them,” but he has no interest in fighting them directly. Eventually, however, he’ll soon realize what the Empire is truly capable of. As Filoni told TV Guide, we’ll see how Ezra reacts to Imperial rule.

That becomes a big question: What is imperial rule like? We’ve seen it in the movies with a big rebellion that ends up blowing up the Death Star, but do we just assume that when the Empire took over in Revenge of the Sith it was seen as a bad thing? I would challenge that. It wasn’t this terrible thing that came in and was cruel to everyone all at once. It was slow to build its power base and spread out, and then we get to see the rebel alliance it affects, and the repercussions of that tyranny.

Ezra will also meet Kanan, a Jedi survivor of Order 66, and Kanan will mentor Ezra in the ways of the Force. Together with the crew of The Ghost, they will join the fight against the Empire.

Ezra sounds like a cross between Luke Skywalker and Aladdin. Like Luke, he’s stuck on an Outer Rim planet with no clear direction in life, but unlike Luke, he has an edge to him by stealing and screwing with the Empire in smalls ways. He seems like he’ll be a good character for the younger viewers to relate to.

My issue now is how canon this show will be with the movies. Obi-Wan and Yoda are supposed to be the last two Jedi living by the time Luke starts training. Does this mean that Ezra and Kanan will eventually be killed, or will the show writers eventually work in a way to keep them around by the time we get to the Original Trilogy? That’s some grim foreshadowing for a children’s series.

SOURCE: TV Guide