As Star Wars Rebels comes to an end, season 4 will be pushing things ever closer towards the events of Rogue One. In particular, the show will lean into its title and explore how the Rebel Alliance as we know it from the original trilogy is formed. Before that, however, we’ll get a look at two familiar Rebel leaders coming to loggerheads due to their vastly different approaches – as seen in the clip above.
Next week’s episode, “In The Name of the Rebellion: Part One,” sees Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) square up against Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). In Rogue One, audiences were introduced to Gerrera for the first time, though TV viewers had already met him in The Clone Wars. Here, it’s teased that we’ll get to explore exactly why Saw is so estranged from the rest of the Rebels in the recent Anthology film.
The two-minute clip begins as Ezra talks with Kanan about his worry that they’re not fighting the good fight in the right way. Just then, a perfectly-timed hologram of Saw Gerrera appears, lambasting Mon Mothma and her Rebels for not doing enough to combat the Empire. Saw’s thinking is that, because the Empire sees them as criminals, they should act as so. Mothma, however, believes that his attacks on civilians and the innocent makes him just as bad as those they’re trying to stop.
As a young soldier in the Clone Wars, Saw Gerrera was a much more agreeable person. However, the years of facing the horrors of the Empire – including the death of his sister Steela – made him believe that extreme measures were necessary. Even if he is a “terrorist,” it’s understandable why he does what he does. And, as we know, he did sacrifice himself in the end by aiding Jyn Erso and her team in Rogue One.
Here’s the brief synopsis for “In the Name of the Rebellion: Part One,” which was revealed a few weeks ago:
As members of the Rebel Alliance, Ezra and the Ghost crew must accept a mission to spy on an Imperial outpost they would rather destroy.
Be sure to tune in when Star Wars Rebels season 4 continues this Monday on Disney XD.