Star Wars Rebels Previews Mandalorian-Focused Story Arc

Meet the Imperial Supercommandos. Yes, the Mandalorians have joined up with the Empire, or at least some of them. The next arc of Star Wars Rebels will explore just what the Mandalorians were up to during the "Dark Times" of Imperial reign, a previously untold story in modern canon. Ironically, this wasn't a story that Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni ever expected to tell.

"Just what's been going on on Mandalore was something that I never really thought we'd deal with when we started this series," he revealed to ComicBook.com in a recent interview, though they did include Sabine in the cast to "leave the door open." The way that character, voiced by Tiya Sircar, grew organically in the series and "got more and more interesting" made the team decide to investigate her family.

"Once you deal with her family, you have to say, 'Okay, what's the politics of what's going on there, and how did she wind up an outcast really?' Let's really knuckle down on that. We've said certain things, and we know we have our broad generalizations of it, but what are the specifics of that story?"

A thorough exploration of Sabine's past and the impact of Mandalorians on a galaxy controlled by the Empire has been teased as far back as July, and now we'll finally get to see it. Sabine, of course, has an established past as an Imperial Cadet - something mentioned in the first clip - while also having revealed her family name: House Viszla, a bit of an infamous one in that culture for Star Wars: The Clone Wars fans. Pre Viszla, after all, attempted a military coup of the Mandalorian government during that war, wielding the mysterious and ancient "Darksaber" - a black, thinly bladed lightsaber, and family heirloom (yes, that means Sabine will have it at some point during this story, and yes, that's something we're as anxious to see as anyone else).

The official description of this sure-to-be-exciting new episode follows:

"Having lost contact with the Protectors of Concord Dawn, Sabine, Ezra and their captured leader Fenn Rau investigate, but find the base has been taken over by Imperial Mandalorians.

Fenn Rau returns on the next all-new episode of Star Wars Rebels that airs next SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5 (8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD."

Note the airdate, as there's no new episode on October 29 (likely to avoid conflict with kids trick-or-treating and adults partying for Halloween weekend). That means if you've fallen behind on this season, now's the perfect time to catch up, and be ready to enjoy the new episode in a week and a half.