Star Wars: Rebels Producer Says The Show Will Be More Like The Original Trilogy

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, producer Simon Kinberg shed some light on Star Wars: Rebels, the upcoming Disney XD animated series. Kinberg said that the show would explore the formation of the rebel alliance between Episodes III and IV, something that hasn't been delved into yet in the expanded universe:

"That's where it started — let's tell the story of the formation of the heroes in the original movies. And that put us in a time line between episode III and IV. You don't want to be too close to New Hope so that it feels like it's repetitive, you want to feel like you're watching the earliest seeds of what will sprout into a full-blown rebellion."

He also said that the show would look significantly different from The Clone Wars, and that they actually went back to unused concept art from the original trilogy for inspiration:

"The place we went back to as to a visual template was Ralph McQuarrie, who was one of the original concept artists for the original Star Wars films. His art is softer, a little more figurative, more of a feel of being drawn, less computer generated. The first few movies had a bit of a hand-made quality. We wanted the show to have that… There's places where we've quite literally taken world-creation or vehicles or creatures from his original art that was never used in the films and made that part of show."

He continued to explain the tonal differences between the two animated Star Wars shows, saying that Rebels would have more in common with the original trilogy:

"You're seeing the impact of the Empire, of stormtroopers around the galaxy, abusing and oppressing people. Thematically and politically, it goes to some dark places. But for the tone of the show we took our cues from the original movies, which had fun and adventure and swashbuckling with emotion and grounded human characters…So there are places where we get into darker backstories, there are places we see how cruel and malevolent the Empire can be, but for the most part it's a fun and character-driven story. Again taking our cues from the original films, it's less maybe political than the prequels and more personal."

The more we hear about this show, the better it sounds. Star Wars Rebels is scheduled to debut on Disney XD in Fall 2014.