X-Wings to Finally Appear in ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Season 4

One of the joys of Star Wars Rebels is watching the characters exist in a timeline audiences are quite familiar with, borrowing elements from the original film to help expand upon the setting. We’ve seen a variety of familiar ships, but Season 4 will bring the introduction of possibly the most famous fighter, the X-Wing, according to executive producer Henry Gilroy.

Gilroy previously worked on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which lasted six seasons and introduced some fan-favorite characters into canon, but devout fans of the original trilogy struggled to get invested in.

During an appearance at Dragon Con, Bryan Young tweeted Gilroy’s response to a question about the ships:

He went on to add:

Fans have known about the Clone Wars since the first film debuted in 1977, but didn’t get to see glimpses of the event until Attack of the Clones, which introduced the clone army, in 2002. The prequel film didn’t entirely sit well with fans, making it more difficult to connect with the world of the prequels in the animated series.

While Star Wars Rebels focuses on characters not seen in the live-action films, the story taking place in familiar environments has made the series more accessible to familiar fans.

Since Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012, animated series and comic books have tied directly into live-action films, creating a larger, shared universe of characters and compelling stories.

The second season of the animated series showed the very first B-Wing, a craft beloved by fans, which never got much screen time in the original trilogy. Hera Syndulla was the only character capable of mastering the craft, who was addressed by name in a scene in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The fourth season of the series is set to bring together elements both new and familiar to fans, ensuring the final season will be its most memorable.

Star Wars Rebels Season 4 will premiere later this fall.