The Expanded Universe is an absolute gold mine when it comes to story ideas in Rebels. From characters to planets to mere concepts, there’s plenty for the taking and tweaking. The Clone Wars already proved how successful that tactic could be with their use of Dathomir. In our continuing series here at Tosche Station, we’re pitching you things we’d like to see make it into Rebels. This week? Bria Tharen.

Before you grab your pitchforks, hear me out. A.C. Crispin introduced Bria Tharen into the Star Wars galaxy with the Han Solo Trilogy during the Bantam era. When readers first met her, Bria was a wealthy young Corellian who’d fallen into a religious cult’s trap where they exploited their pilgrims as slaves in their spice mines. Enter Han Solo and a crazy plan that gets both of them (and friends) off Ylesia followed a sudden lack of purpose in her life. The short version of what follows is that Bria ends up leaving Han behind so he can go to the Imperial Academy and she can go off and break her addiction and find a new meaning for her life. She ends up joining Senator Garm Bel Iblis’ resistance group, eventually becomes the commander of Red Hand Squadron in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and dies in service to the Alliance.

For a show called Rebels, she’s potentially an obvious choice to bring into the new canon. While her story is linked closely to that of Han Solo, it doesn’t need to be in order for her character to be well used in Rebels. The writers can retcon away any mention of the brash pilot and instead condense her backstory down to something easier: she’s a former slave who was freed, joined the Rebel Alliance, and has neither tolerance nor mercy for slavers. Doing so would not only actually help strengthen Bria as a character but also allow the show to tackle several tough topics. Seeing how Rebels is a show that’s already touched on genocide and execution? These probably won’t be too much of a stretch.  Continue reading →