Awesome STAR WARS REBELS mid-season trailer has surprising THE FORCE AWAKENS connection

There are just way too many awesome moments in this newly released trailer for the second half of Star Wars Rebels‘ second season for me to stand in your way with my pesky words, so just stop reading right now and click play below.

Why are you still reading this? Click PLAY. Trust me on this!

Holy poodoo! That was freaking amazing! Since it premiered Star Wars Rebels has been morphing away from the Disney-fied kids show many initially thought it to be, into a great and sometimes surprisingly dark chapter in the amazing Star Wars Saga. And the back-half of season two appears to be continuing that trend with aplomb!

Now onto those surprises, of which there are plenty: Firstly, we get our first look at a young Princess Leia, who was very recently only reported to be making an appearance in the show. It’s uncertain just how much we’ll be seeing of her in the last half of the season, but her inclusion is a great touch to cement just important Rebels has become to filling in gaps in the canon.

And speaking of adding elements to the canon… Yes, Ezra was indeed igniting a crossguard lightsaber exactly like Kylo Ren’s in The Force Awakens, although Ezra’s version appears a lot more stable. We had previously learned that this distinct lightsaber was of an ancient design and since we see a few scenes in the trailer set in an old Jedi temple, I’m assuming that Ezra finds it here.

It is also assumed that while in the temple, Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka are all receiving some kind of Force vision – In Ezra’s case he communicates with (surprise!) Master Yoda, Kanan faces off against some Jedi temple guards (well, their Force spirits, to be precise), while Asohka finally battles her former Jedi master Darth Vader. That last one could possibly be in the Force vision as well as for real, as the trailer shows us Ahsoka will be dealing with her connection to Anakin Skywalker and how he has since become Vader.

And speaking of old masters… The show has previously touched on Ezra’s temptation to the Dark Side, and here we can clearly see him finding a Sith Holocron, followed by an introduction of a hooded figure calling himself Old Master. Who is this Old Master? Well, look carefully at the shawdowy markings on his face and it becomes clear….

Yes, indeed, young Padawans! Darth Maul is back! Now if you’re never seen The Clone Wars animated series then you may be a bit confused right now, as the last time the totally badass Maul was seen, he had become half the man he used to be thanks to a young Obi-Wan’s lightsaber splitting him in two. Since then though, he got better. Well, “better” is a relative term as Clone Wars later revealed that Maul had survived his bisection and had slunk off to a backwards planet where he slowly went crazy and lost his memories for the next decade. I guess having the lower half of your body replaced by some nasty spider-mech contraption will do that.

However he was tracked down by a brother he had thought dead, given much better cybernetic legs, and proceeded to join his brother in wreaking havoc across the galaxy as Sith tyrants, including trying to get some bloody revenge on Obi-Wan. The last time we had seen Maul, him and his brother had taken on the Emperor himself, only to get shut down hard (lethally in the case of Maul’s brother). The Emperor tortured Maul, but revealed that he still had plans for him. Plans that may involve him tempting Ezra Bridger to the Dark Side, perhaps?

Oh and did I even mention that this trailer also shows what appears to be a fourth mysterious Inquisitor? Who are these guys and why do they keep reminding me of the Knights of Ren?

Star Wars Rebels returns on Disney XD on January 20!

Last Updated: January 18, 2016