Star Wars: Rebels has captured the hearts of Star Wars fans across the galaxy. Season 1 finished up in early March and it wasn't until Celebration Anaheim that we saw our first look at Season 2. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the Season 2 premiere. Having said that, this post will not contain plot spoilers from Celebration Anaheim's Season 2 premiere.
It seemed as though Celebration Anaheim's focus was geared towards The Force Awakens in the first half of the weekend. It wasn't until Saturday that the Star Wars: Rebels voice actors showed up. On Saturday morning a Star Wars: Rebels panel took the main stage. This was hosted by James Arnold Taylor and he welcomed other guests such as: Freddie Prinze Jr., Tiya Sircar, Taylor Gray, Vanessa Marshall, Steve Blum, Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg. The guests talked about their experiences working on the show and answered questions from James Arnold Taylor.
Dave Filoni and the cast discuss Star Wars: Rebels.
It wasn't long before the screen went black and the Season 2 trailer was shown. If you haven't seen the trailer, you can see it here:
As you may have noticed, there are some familiar faces that appear in this trailer. Captain Rex and a few other clones return from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Fans in the audience went wild as they heard Captain Rex's voice. Clone Wars also brings in another face you may recognize, Hondo Ohnaka. Dee Bradley Baker and Jim Cummings reprise their respective roles in Rebels. It also appears that Darth Vader and Ahsoka Tano will play a much bigger role in this season. It was at this point that Dee Bradley Baker and Ashley Eckstein joined the rest of the cast on the stage for a quick Q&A with the audience.
Many other panels relating to Star Wars: Rebels occurred over the weekend. One of the most memorable panels I attended was a panel led by Joel Aron. Joel is the CG Supervisor on the show. In his panel, Joel discussed lighting and what goes into making Rebels look the way it looks. Many of Ralph McQuarrie's ideas and designs are used in Rebels. Because many of the images in Joel's slideshow were dark, much of this panel was done with the lights off. Between rendering images, working on lighting, discussing different cameras used and animating characters, Joel discussed a ton in his one hour time slot.
Like many of the conventions around the world, Celebration Anaheim was not lacking fans dressed in costume. Sabine was the popular choice by many of the female fans at this show and parents seemed to enjoy dressing their kids in Ezra costumes. Prior to the Rebels Season 2 premiere, I walked outside and saw something incredible. Two fans from Venezuela made Zeb and Hera come to life with their animated versions of their costumes. It was very apparent that these particular fans took great care into making these costumes. They were so popular that it caught the attention of Dave Filoni.
Many of the Star Wars: Rebels voice actors have been working their way into the convention scene over the last year. The 501st Legion enjoys making sure that these people are recognized for their contributions to Star Wars. Because of this, the 501st Legion holds inductions that allow these celebrities in the Legion as honorary members. I was lucky enough to be present when Freddie Prinze Jr. was inducted on the Saturday of Celebration Anaheim. Freddie voices Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars: Rebels. J.J. Abrams and Vanessa Marshall were also inducted into the Legion over the weekend.
Much like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rebels had their own version of life-size characters at Celebration Anaheim. As many of you may remember, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Rex were all represented with life-size statues at prior Celebrations. Fans were able to stand next to these life-size statues to get pictures with some of their favorite heroes on the show floor.
Stay tuned for more Celebration Anaheim recaps exclusively at Twin Suns Outpost!