Or to title this piece more accurately: Why Alderaan, Queen Breha, Leia Organa, and Winter Need To Be In Rebels Too And Bail Organa Needs To Be In It More
Bail Organa in Star Wars Rebels
As the fandom well knows by now, the second episode of Star Wars Rebels ended with a cameo from the one and only Bail Organa, Senator and Prince Consort of Alderaan. This was definitely a great sign for both fans who want to see existing film characters make it into the new show and for fans who want to see other parts of the fledgling rebellion. But hey! Why stop there? We need tons more of Alderaan and the characters who hail from that beautiful planet. Why? I’m so glad you asked.
It gives viewers and fans a sense of familiarity
While we’ve only actually had the chance to visit Alderaan on the screen very briefly, it’s been one of the Star Wars planets that we’ve known the longest. Likewise, Princess Leia was one of the first characters that we met back in 1977 and she’s one of those characters that fans still love passionately to this day. Visiting Alderaan and seeing a young teenage Princess Leia would be an easy way for Rebels to make the show feel even more familiar to fans. After all, what sort of character could be more Star Wars than a Skywalker?
It’s a chance to recanonize some aspects of the Expanded Universe
As of the now, the Queen of Alderaan doesn’t actually have a canon name.* She wasn’t named in either the film or novelization of Revenge of the Sith and didn’t appear in the Clone Wars. If she were to appear in Rebels and be officially named Queen Breha, that would be fantastic. After all, it’s hard to run a planet and probably secretly fund a rebellion when you don’t have a name.
*This was discussed amongst the blogosphere on Twitter several months ago. If we missed something, please let me know.
More than just names could be recanonized though. Having a young white-haired girl standing by Leia’s side in Rebels would go a long way towards making Expanded Universe fans hopeful about seeing some of their favorite characters again. Winter’s backstory was already retconned to fit with the prequels and most of her story comes from beyond the Original Trilogy which means writers wouldn’t have much trouble making it work. Quite frankly, she’s a pretty useful person to have around. Most people wouldn’t give a 14 year old girl a second look much less suspect her of silently remembering everything that she says and hears. Basically she’s the perfect person to have involved in a rebellion. Also she’s one of my favorite characters so pleeeeeeease bring her back.
Finally, there are opportunities outside of the Royal family for recanonizing aspects of the Expanded Universe. I suspect that no one would loudly object if there were a sly mention of Novacom… And if the showrunners want to make Sabé going to Alderaan and tutoring Leia more than just a Legend, I certainly won’t object.
Alderaan is gorgeous
This one is self-explanatory. Lothal is okay with its epic levels of haze but that’s eventually going to get a little boring on the eyes so why not visit a planet as pretty as Alderaan? There has to be some sort of mission that the crew of the Ghost can pull that takes them to the mountains of Aldera and maybe even to the royal palace. Wouldn’t the animators have fun getting to design and expand upon what we briefly saw in the films?
Leia and Winter are the right age for the target demographic
While we certainly could go into an in depth discussion of how Star Wars is marketed to the genders, we’ll refrain for the time being and focus on ages. Rebels is set five years before A New Hope which would make both girls fourteen at the time—the same age as Ezra. Who is clearly meant to be the relatable character for younger viewers. A young teenage princess in space? Could there be a character any more gift-wrapped for Disney here? (The answer is no, by the way.)
This show could use more ladies.
Yes, it is fantastic that 2/5 of the main characters are woman. Despite all of the marketing issues, that’s fantastic and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. However, we still haven’t gotten to see an episode that focuses on Hera or Sabine like we’ve seen for all the male characters and most of the significant supporting characters have been male. If Breha, Leia, and Winter were introduced into Rebels, that would be a great stride forward especially since there would be a good chance that all three of them might appear in the show again.
The Alliance Needs To Actually Be An Alliance
Thus far, Rebels has been hinting at all the potential for there to be lots of other rebels groups. That said, if the plan is to show the start of the Rebel Alliance, we’re going to need to encounter more of those groups. We’re clearly in the early days of the show still but I like to think they’re already considering this. It’s no secret that we at Tosche Station are crossing our fingers for the Corellian Treaty to make it back into canon. How great would it be if that treaty aligned not only the rebellions on Alderaan, Chandrila, and Corellia but also those of the much smaller independent groups who might send a representative to Alderaan on their behalf? (I’m saying the independent groups would send Kanan and Hera.) Clearly that would involve a trip to Alderaan.
The possibilities for Alderaan and its more residents are endless when it comes to the blank slate that is Rebels. With Alderaan though, the showrunners have a chance to seamless include a popular film character, bring others out of Legends status, and just all around give viewers a real treat. Only good can come from including Alderaan and besides, if Rebels won’t show that beautiful planet on screen than no one will.
