Which Apprentice is in Trouble in Star Wars Rebels Season Finale?

Speculation Engines: Activate!

Star Wars Rebels has its season two finale next week, and it promises to be a huge one. With a double-length episode that will be “all Jedi,” we have the promise of big moments coming for Kanan, Ezra, Ahsoka, Darth Vader, and even Maul.

The episodes are titled “Twilight of the Apprentice part 1 and 2,” which begs the question: which apprentice are they talking about?

We know that Ahsoka and Darth Vader, who was once her Jedi master Anakin Skywalker, will cross blades during the episode. After she sensed him – and he her – in the season premiere, they were on an inevitable collision course.

We also know that Ezra has been on his own course, one that is leading him in the direction of the dark side of the Force. His affinity with animals and creatures, his desperation to keep those close to him safe, and the warnings of the Jedi Temple guards all point to dark times ahead for the only Jedi apprentice in the galaxy.

Of course, with Maul returning – and having never really risen above the rank of Apprentice in the Sith Order (despite taking one of his own for a time), there’s always the possibility that he’s the apprentice in his twilight – it would be much more literal, with him now calling himself “Old Master,” after all.

Knowing the way showrunner Dave Filoni and his crew have been telling Star Wars stories since The Clone Wars, though, it’s probably some combination of the three. It’s Ezra’s twilight, as he’s tempted to – and possibly even turned to – the dark. It’s Ahsoka’s twilight, as she fights with Vader, and that fight can only end a couple of ways: either she loses and dies, she loses and gives up, with some tiny sentimentality of Vader’s allowing her to live in exile, or she is turned to her former master’s cause. Her winning the battle and living to fight another day is only the tiniest possibility: in the end, Ahsoka is not a part of the Original Trilogy at all. Something has to give… it’s the one big downside of her coming out of exile and returning to the forefront of the story on Rebels.

As for Maul, well, he’s a hell of a wild card. With the old Sith at Malachor, a planet that appears to be a Sith stronghold, either exploring or guarding what appears to be a Sith temple, and speaking of his quest for power in the first clip from the show, well, you can’t completely cut him out.

Any way you cut it, the mood going into the season finale is a somber and tense one. In the end, we know that this crew of Rebels don’t appear in A New Hope – there’s need for a new hope perhaps because they aren’t around anymore to help carry on the fight. And that means with a word like “Twilight” in the title, the danger level is impossibly high.

Star Wars Rebels “Twilight of the Apprentice” debuts March 30, 2016 at 9pm on DisneyXD.