I woke up this morning and the first thing I saw said
“Grand Admiral Thrawn confirmed for Rebels Season 3”
I could not pull up the live stream fast enough. I’m really looking forward to this season. I’m always up for more Mandos (oya’manda!), the inclusion of Wedge is really cool, and Darktroopers. Besides Thrawn, Darktroopers were something I never thought they would do. Clone Wars era B1 Battle Droids are a very interesting inclusion. Hopefully Matt Wood is back as the voice.
The other replies explain it fine, but to add a little more specific detail:
Wedge Antilles was considered one of the best, if not the best pilot in the Rebel Alliance. His snow speeder wa the one that took down an AT-AT with a cable in Empire Strikes Back. He served in the Imperial Navy prior to Episode IV, but defected after being recruited by Ahsoka (according to the SW wiki). It appears this season will showcase his defection.
Grand Admiral Thrawn was the first main villain in the Expanded Universe, appearing in Timothy Zahn’s trilogy of books in the 1990s. He is beloved by the fanbase for his cold ruthlessness and his mastery of strategy, which includes thoroughly researching his foes and their history in order to know everything there is to know about them. He was also prominent in the old canon because he was one of the few non-human agents of the Empire, which–in the now-uncanon EU–was portrayed as extremely xenophobic. Thrawn’s ascent to Grand Admiral was thus a testament to his effectiveness as a commander, and it’s clear Rebels is going for a similar take on him.
They’re both very interesting characters–don’t worry too much about not recognizing them, though. I’ve seen a bunch of people wondering who Thrawn is in the aftermath of this trailer, and Wedge was never really a main character in the movies, so most of his popularity comes from side material.
I agree–it was very well-edited. I really do think that Dave Filoni and his team should have a greater role in the new canon. They know how to craft great stories that bring in awesome new elements while balancing then with good, old fashioned fan service.
Case in point, we have a ton of new stuff in this trailer–the Imperial Mandalorians and the Bendu among them–along with a ton of callbacks to other SW stories–Kanan resembling Rahm Kota from TFU, the Battle Droids, the Darksaber, and, most importantly, the reintroduction of Thrawn. It’s all done so artistically, and in a way that really hammers home the interconnected nature of the new canon.
Rebels has also made great leaps forward. I’ve been saying since the beginning (though many choose to disagree) that Rebels can easily develop into a show equal to or even greater than TCW. Clone Wars took a few seasons to hit its groove and then took off, but Rebels has improved so greatly in a span of merely two seasons. Every aspect of it has gotten better–animation, character development, and the movement of the story in general. People can moan and groan all they want that TCW is gone, but ignoring and even despising Rebels simply because of that fact is no longer logical, given how the show has improved.
Don’t forget those two Imperial grunts that got beheaded in Season 1–off-camera, yes, but a beheading’s a beheading.
I like it how people think Disney will be overly nonviolent only with Star Wars, but are perfectly willing to overlook Scar being eaten alive, Clayton being hanged by a vine, Frollo falling into molten metal, etc.