Star Wars Rebels: Princess Leia Confirmed To Appear On The Show
By Elaine Tveit
TV Insider has confirmed, the Rebel Alliance princess is coming to Star Wars Rebels January 20th.
Princess Leia will appear in a single episode, “A Princess On Lothal,” January 20th at 9/8 pm CT on Disney XD (via TV Insider). This will be the princess’s first encounter with the Star Wars Rebels cast.
We reported the possibility of Leia coming to the animated show last week. We’re glad to see it’s becoming a reality.
Dave Filoni, director of the show, discusses how Leia will be portrayed in her landmark cameo.
"“We thought we had an opportunity to show her learning to be a leader, experimenting with the personality that becomes the stronger more resolute character you see in A New Hope,” Filoni says. “One of the complex challenges of depicting Leia in Rebels is that we have to remind the audience that at this point she is part of the Empire. She doesn’t believe in the Empire, but she is acting the part, almost a double agent.”"
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Leia joins a prestigious list of cameos from other classic original trilogy characters, such as Darth Vader, Yoda, and Lando Calrissian. Even a few popular The Clone Wars characters, Ahsoka Tano, Rex, and Hondo Ohnaka, have resurfaced, to great enthusiasm from fans of both series.
Filoni talked to TV Insider about bringing such fan favorites back, and what determines who gets a cameo.
"“I get asked by fans about certain characters all the time,” Filoni told us back in September. “We’ve been pretty good at bringing them back, not just because people want them, but because we have an important story to tell with them, and how things cross over.”"
The premise of the episode, per TV Insider, is Leia is sent to Lothal, the home base of the series’ original characters, “on a secret mission to bring ships for the rebel fleet. Unfortunately an Imperial lockdown throws that plan into chaos.”
The Princess will not be voiced by Carrie Fisher, but Julie Dolan, who gave a voice to the princess in Star Wars: Uprising.
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I’m more excited to see Leia than I have been to see any of the other original trilogy characters who’ve graced the show. She’s a fantastic personality, and strong in many more ways than your typical “strong female character.” I can’t wait to see her interactions with the Ghost crew, especially Ezra and Sabine. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ezra has a new crush for an episode. Maybe Sabine will finally pay attention to him after this?