Star Wars 9 to Pair Luke in Battle with Surprise Star Wars Rebels Character?

It’s long been rumored that J.J. Abrams plans on tying all of the previous trilogies together withStar Wars 9, which is being described as the ultimate franchise adventure. Now it’s being rumored that the director is pulling in elements from the animated TV shows as well. Recently leaked concept art suggests that Luke Skywalker will be teaming up with a fan favorite fromStar Wars Rebels.

Star Wars Rebelsended with a juicy time jump that showed most of the characters were still alive in the era of the original trilogy. Now it’s being reported thatEzra Bridgerwill join the climactic end fight aboard Maz Kanata’s pirate ship inStar Wars 9. And it sounds pretty plausible, if not a little wonky.

It is confirmed that J.J. Abrams has helped create 8 new characters to bring to the Star Wars universe in the next sequel. All of which will probably become peg warmers at the local Target. This is one crowded movie, as it also plans to bring back the entire cast of bothThe Force AwakensandThe Last Jedi, including most of the characters who have already died, and a whole swath of characters from the O.G. trilogy that began withA New Hope. Now the rumor is they’re also planning to squeeze in some of the TV characters. Why not just add inThe Mandalorianwhile there at it?Star Wars 9is going to look like a clown car.

Perhaps this is why there was a strong rumor thatStar Wars 9would become a two-part movie. There is a persistent rumor that the storyline will be heading into the Unknown Regions asLeia sends Rey, Finn, Rose and Poeon a scouting mission to find new Resistance recruits. This could be how Ezra Bridger is brought into the movie. There have also been plenty of leaked descriptions revealing Maz Kanata’s giant pirate ship, which will be co-piloted byLando Calrissian.

Lando was said to be seated in the gunning station on the pirate ship. Now, leaked art purportedly showsLuke Skywalkeraboard the ship, and he’s fighting alongside a friend. The Drunk Chicken has this description of the scene in question.

“A pair of Resistance fighters on boardMaz Kanata’s ship, fighting off the First Order. Next to Maz is an older man with long wavy hair sporting a green vest. He holds a cylindrical object in his hand which may be a lightsaber. His skin tone is tanned. The next (image) goes over a close up of the character who has blue eyes. He appears to be around Luke’s age from The Last Jedi. This could be Ezra Bridger.”

The description of the character fits Ezra down to those steely blue eyes. But the big give away, according to this latest report, is that the code name for the character is EB. The final Rebels episode showed Ezra disappearing, most assumed into the Unknown Regions. Grand Admiral Thrawn also disappeared, and there have been persistent rumors that he will return inStar Wars 9as well.

According to the timeline, Ezra would be as old inStar Wars 9as Obi-Wan was inA New Hope. Perhaps close to Luke Skywalker’s own age. It will be exciting to see Luke and Ezra fighting side by side. It has been confirmed by none other than Mark Hamill himself that Luke died, and that it was the Force that killed him. Recent leaks suggest that Luke won’t be a Force Ghost. What many speculators seem to forget is that Force Ghosts are already tangible beings.

This was proven inThe Last Jedi, when Yoda hits Luke in the head with his Shillelagh, which makes contact with Luke’s forehead and even makes a noise, Luke obviously pained by the object. This often overlooked moment is actually a big clue to some things we’ll see inStar Wars 9. It means Force Ghosts can make physical contact with humans, and it also means that inanimate objects can also be manifested, which means Luke can manifest his lightsaber as a Force Ghost. This is great news for Youtube Jedi Masters. It means when they pass on, they can manifest their own Force Ghost pie.

In other news, it’s reported that editors are being givenStar Wars 9footage to whittle down and turn into the first teaser trailer. Which means it will arrive in early 2019. This perfectly lines up with reports that the first footage is dropping during the Super Bowl. This report comes fromThe Expresswith intel retrieved from the future by Mike Zeroh.