'Star Wars Rebels' Not Likely to Connect to Han Solo

One element of Star Wars Rebels that has made it a success is its unique time period, set between Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars, which allows characters from both films to appear in the story, including Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian and Darth Vader. Despite this timeframe, executive producer Dave Filoni doesn't want you to get your hopes up about an appearance from Han Solo.

"I don't know if there's anything Ezra Bridger could really add to the saga of a Han Solo type character," Filoni told Gizmodo. "We already had Lando in our show, but we have to be careful about it being a variety show. We've had a lot of characters come in and out and I always get worried about small galaxy syndrome."

Seeing a recognizable character from the original trilogy has always been exciting in the animated series, but given the size of the galaxy, those appearances have always been in service of the story instead of as Easter eggs.

"You just have to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons and that you really want these characters to cross over," Filoni pointed out.

Fans of the animated series got a treat when seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as the Rebels character Hera Syndulla was mentioned by name, lending credence to her role in the Rebellion. Filoni claimed a Han Solo appearance was unlikely, but were anyone from the Ghost crew to cross paths with the smuggler, it would probably be Hera.

"There is some rationale that, if she should survive Star Wars Rebels, being an ace pilot, it seems more likely that Hera would be the one that knows someone like Han Solo," Filoni pointed out. "I've had rather large arguments about which ship is better, the Ghost or the Falcon, but that doesn't really seem relevant for anything [the Rebels] are doing."

Were that showdown to ever happen, Rebels actress Vanessa Marshall sounds confident in the outcome.

"Well, they're dealing with very different ships that have very different features and I spoke to [Lucasfilm Story Group member] Pablo Hidalgo about this and he said that [Hera] would do a respectable 14 parsecs for the Kessel Run," Marshall revealed to ComicBook.com. "I bow down to Han Solo, but perhaps that's just my fandom getting in the way of my ability to be objective."

New episodes of Star Wars Rebels air on Monday nights at 9:00 PM on Disney XD.

[H/T Gizmodo]