Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Brought Multiple Ships From Animated Series to Final Battle

When Star Wars fans caught their first glimpse of the climactic space battle in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, one vessel looked like it could have been the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels, with creature and special make-up effects creative supervisor Neal Scanlan confirming not only this ship from Rebels, but that eagle-eyed fans could potentially even see a recognizable ship from the animated Star Wars Resistance. From the moment fans saw hints of the sequence in commercials, we began to dissect every ship we saw, with the film’s impending home video release likely resulting in a number of different discoveries of iconic vessels.

“J.J. was very keen on us getting some of that Star Wars history and nods to other series in there, because he loves that stuff so much,” Scanlan shared with Yahoo Entertainment. “The Fireball from Resistance is in there, and there are some other ships from the other animated series. You throw them in the giant fleet, and they get a lost a little bit in the mix.”

This wasn’t the only inclusion of elements from the animated series, as one key sequence included Rey hearing the voices of Jedi who came before her, including Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Kanan from Rebels.

While live-action adventures will likely always be the most popular stories in the franchise, the saga has a long history of impressive animated series.

Launching in 2008, The Clone Wars explored the adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and newcomer Ahsoka in between the events of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Proving that animated series weren’t meant only for kids, the series delivered audiences a number of complex narratives and brought back various iconic characters to enrich the lore of that time period. When Disney purchased Lucasfilm, it deemed the events of that series as canonical, placing their importance alongside the six live-action films.

In 2014, Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni debuted Rebels, set only a few years before Star Wars: A New Hope. This series similarly tackled a number of compelling themes, earning itself a passionate fan base. With the series finale confirming that a number of its characters survived past the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, rumors have emerged that a follow-up series could continue the exploits of that series’ protagonists.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters now.

Did you catch the Ghost and the Fireball on the big screen? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!