The Clone Wars filled in gaps prompted by events brought up in the original films, and was a benchmark in child-appropriate storytelling that was also engaging for adults. Star Wars Rebels took that to a whole new level, providing an alternate look at life under the Empire and introducing us to a batch of brand-new characters that stole our hearts enough to be included in subsequent Star Wars media.
Here are the 10 best characters on Star Wars Rebels—feel free to argue with me about the order in the comments!
SPOILERS for Star Wars Rebels, seasons 1-4.
10. The Grand Inquisitor (voiced by Jason Isaacs)
Every great story needs great antagonists. This former Pau’an Jedi Temple Guard-turned-Darth Vader lackey is compelling because we know that, at one point, he held the same ideals and trained the same way as our Jedi heroes. Were it not for certain significant events or people, the Inquisitor might have been a great ally. But he became a formidable enemy precisely because he had our heroes’ training and knowledge. Even when he meets his end, he performs a great bit of emotional terrorism on Kanan, saying, “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed here today. There are some things far more frightening than death,” before willingly falling into flames. What did he mean?? Wouldn’t you like to know, Kanan?
Also, he was voiced by Jason Isaacs, who’s awesome and should be in everything forever always.
9. Hondo Ohnaka (voiced by Jim Cummings)
There are heroes. There are villains. Then there are the folks in between: the charming ne’er-do-wells who’d constantly show what good hearts they have if they weren’t always distracted by their love of a quick buck and engaging in outlaw shenanigans. Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka is one of those. He ended up being an ally to the Specters in their eventual liberation of Lothal from the Empire, but not before teaching Ezra some hard lessons about maintaining healthy suspicion even as you try to trust new friends when those new friends have a pattern of doing untrustworthy things.
Hondo’s humor and charm are what make him so great, though. He’s the king of one-liners.
8. Chopper (voiced by Dave Filoni)
C1-10P, aka “Chopper,” The Ghost’s astromech droid, starts off kind of annoying. Always complaining via snarky beeps, instigating arguments, and often only helping his crewmates reluctantly, Chopper was very much the bratty little brother of the group in the beginning. However, over four seasons of Rebels, Chopper proved what a valuable team member he was. Suddenly, you realize that it’s actually refreshing to spend time with a droid with such a distinct personality. One who generally doesn’t care about ingratiating himself to organics, but will summon his bravery for the ones that have become his family.
7. Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (voiced by Steve Blum)
Every team needs a grumpypants. Formerly a Captain of the Lasan Honor Guard, Lasat rebel Garazeb Orrelios (known as “Zeb” to his friends) came to the Ghost after surviving the destruction of his homeworld at the hands of the Empire. This fueled his intense desire to fight the Empire with Hera and the rest of the Specters. However, he was also carrying survivor’s guilt, which allowed for one of Rebels‘ most poignant episodes and character arcs.
In season two’s “Legends of the Lasat,” The Ghost’s crew learn about and free two Lasat prisoners being held by the Empire. Zeb is thrilled to meet them, since he’d mistakenly believed he was the last Lasat. But when they tell him they’re on their way to the planet Lira San, described in prophecy as a safe place for their people, he thinks it’s a fairy tale. They end up finding Lira San, and while Zeb doesn’t choose to stay there with his people, he delivers the former prisoners there safely, vowing to guide any other Lasat he meets in his travels to this new homeworld. Watching him grow in faith over the course of the series was one of Rebels‘ great joys.
6. Alexsandr Kallus (voiced by David Oyelowo)
Star Wars: Rebels wasn’t short on complicated characters, and Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau had a truly satisfying journey. He starts as a True Believer in the Empire who was also responsible for the massacre on Zeb’s homeworld that decimated the Lasat people. But gradually, Kallus’ views start to shift as he continues to chase and interact with the crew of the Ghost.
One of the more interesting relationships on Rebels is that between Kallus and Zeb. It was after they became stranded on an ice planet and had to rely on each other to survive in season two’s “The Honorable Ones” that the two started to become friends. As Kallus sees more of the Empire’s injustice, he can no longer support it in good conscience, and he becomes the rebel spy known as “Fulcrum.”
After two more seasons of aiding the Rebellion and helping to free Lothal, Kallus gets a beautiful ending. In the Rebels finale, Zeb takes him to Lira San to show him that the Lasat people still exist and are thriving, and that Kallus was not responsible for eradicating them. He then offers Kallus the opportunity to stay on Lira San, since he wouldn’t be safe in many places as a traitor to the Empire. The Lasat on Lira San recognize that he is Zeb’s friend and has renounced the Empire, welcoming him as one of their own.
5. Grand Admiral Thrawn (voiced by Lars Mikkelsen)
Mitth’raw’nuruodo, known by his core name Thrawn, is an officer of the Chiss Ascendancy, a Grand Admiral in the Empire’s Imperial Navy, and one of Star Wars’ best antagonists. Unlike other villains who are (no pun intended) cartoonish in their pursuit of power, Thrawn has actual ideals. His priority is the Chiss people. Everything he’s done in service of the Imperial Navy was done to gauge whether the Galactic Empire would be suitable allies to the Chiss Ascendancy in their conflict with the Grysk Hegemony.
In addition to his devotion to his people, what makes Thrawn a scary adversary is that he’s a brilliant military strategist who is coldly logical while also being extremely refined and cultured. He believes that in order to defeat your enemy, you must know them, and so he’s made it a point to become knowledgeable about his enemies’ cultures. Whereas you’d think that being exposed to a people’s art and culture would encourage vulnerability and tolerance, Thrawn compartmentalizes. He can appreciate a great culture on one hand, while subduing the people who created that culture with the other.
4. Ezra Bridger (voiced by Taylor Gray)
Television protagonists have to be interesting enough to follow episode to episode, but enough of a blank slate both to serve as a point-of-view character for the audience and have room to evolve over several seasons. Ezra Bridger is a well-crafted protagonist.
He starts as a petty thief who, though deeply protective of his homeworld, isn’t really “political.” This is in large part due to his being orphaned when his revolutionary parents, who were imprisoned for speaking out against the Empire, died while trying to escape prison. When he meets the crew of the Ghost, he’s a street kid trying to survive day-to-day, unaware that he’s Force-sensitive.
We watch Ezra grow up, receive Jedi training, wrestle with conflicted feelings about the Jedi and flirt with his Dark Side, and ultimately become a leader in the Rebellion, sacrificing himself to ensure that Thrawn cannot return to claim Lothal for the Empire. Ezra Bridger has a compelling character arc in Rebels that isn’t undone or cheapened by his inclusion in the live-action Ahsoka.
3. Kanan Jarrus (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.)
We’re crying just looking at the above photo. Kanan Jarrus was a Jedi Knight who survived Order 66 during the Clone Wars and remained alive after that thanks to the sacrifice of his Master. After turning his back on the Jedi and living as a fugitive, he meets a hot Twi’lek rebel operative named Hera who ends up being the love of his life and joins her new rebel cell.
Throughout Rebels, Kanan is an intriguing and heartbreaking character as he struggles with his faith in the Force, reluctantly takes Ezra on as a Padawan, is blinded by Darth Maul, regains his sight through the Force, is instrumental in the liberation of Lothal, and ultimately sacrifices himself to save the woman he loved and his family of Specters.
Kanan Jarrus shows there’s no reason “good” characters have to be bland.
2. Sabine Wren (voiced by Tiya Sircar)
You could be forgiven for thinking that Sabine Wren was only created to be the “girl character” on an animated series that would inevitably center the boy. You would also be pleasantly surprised by Sabine not only being a complex character in her own right, but having entire arcs devoted to her, her family, and her Mandalorian upbringing.
Sabine allowed Rebels to deepen Mandalorian culture and politics, which started in The Clone Wars and has continued in several of the Star Wars live-action series. Both an artist and a weapons prodigy, Sabine was a student at the Imperial Academy, a bounty hunter, and dedicated to the Empire. However, after a weapon she created was used against her people, she deserted the Academy and joined the Rebellion.
Sabine grew up alongside Ezra, and while she was often an important sounding board and help to him, she also had her own stuff going on. She always carried the guilt of creating that weapon, and eventually gets the opportunity to make that right. She’s called upon to deliver the Darksaber to the person most worthy of wielding it. By the end of Rebels, she has matured into a young woman who has let go of her troubled past and is inspired to continue fighting for the galaxy’s future.
1. Hera Syndulla (voiced by Vanessa Marshall)
In a show full of brilliant characters, Hera tops the list. Despite Ezra being the protagonist, it’s Hera who has the most profound character arc on the show and is the glue that holds the Specters together.
While we meet Hera through Ezra’s eyes, it isn’t long before Rebels begins focusing on her as a gifted pilot and leader. She’s maternal, tough, feminine, and a skilled pilot and strategist. She balances her emotional needs and her devotion to the Rebellion in a way that’s harder for any of the other Specters, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t sometimes let her emotions get the better of her. In other words, she is a well-rounded, well-written character.
Hera has been a rebel her entire life. Raised by revolutionary Twi’lek parents, Hera never stopped fighting against oppression even as her own father was willing to trust the Galactic Empire and lay down his weapons when the Separatists were defeated. While Hera’s devotion to freedom has never wavered, the circumstances of her life changed as she continued to make room for people in her life. Far from being a sterile, all-about-the-cause freedom fighter, Hera never loses sight of the fact that the Rebellion only matters, because they’re fighting for people. For each other. For the freedom to create their lives as they see fit without the Empire’s boots on their necks.
Hera never closed herself off and always loved boldly even in the face of war, which makes her losing Kanan all the more poignant. Even after that loss, she continued to connect with and mentor others, fight against oppression, and welcome a child that she is raising in love and joy. Hera holding onto her capacity for love fueled both her leadership of the Specters and her leadership within the larger Rebellion and was probably her most revolutionary act.
(featured image: Disney+)
