Stars Wars Rebels ended its second season with a double-length episode, and it was definitely pleasing to fans. You can see in the image how Ezra has the lightsaber from The Force Awakens, but he won't be using it, at least not for now. This isn't to say that the episode didn't have a lot of callbacks to The Clone Wars series with Ahsoka, as well as Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace making an appearance. Then Darth Vader shows up at the end, as well as quite a lot of battles. It is going to be difficult for the showrunners to follow-up to that, and this is what is known about Star Wars Rebels Season 3 release date and spoilers.
iO9 reports that Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that Sabine Wren, the artistic and literally explosive demolitions expert with the Boba Fett armor will have a more prominent role. Filoni said that "Sabine's story will grow greatly in importance in the third season and she kind of comes up to stand next to Ezra as far as being an important player on the show. And isn't as much a supporting character which I think is a great transition for her as a character."
ComicBook.com also stated in the final "Rebels Recon" aftershow of Star Wars Rebels Season 2, the cast and crew talked about how there will be "more and more recognizable elements". Filoni states that he will talk about that specifically at the Star Wars Celebration Europe in July, and the Season 3 will focus on elements that will appear in Star Wars: Rogue One (a soon-to-be-released Star Wars film) and elements that have appeared in Star Wars: A New Hope (the original 1977 film).
There are other teases to the future of the series, like Kanan, the older Jedi master, becoming "more reliant on the Force". Apparently, Ezra and Darth Maul are going to most likely meet again.
The issue with Star Wars Rebels is that it is essentially canon in the Star Wars universe, which means that the adventures of Ezra and his companions are all part of the Star Wars story, which was recently purchased fully from Disney a few years ago. Disney has essentially removed the elements of the "expanded universe" that was established by books written after The Return of the Jedi, and have created their own Star Wars future with The Force Awakens, which has been received very well by fans and general audiences.
The biggest problem that Star Wars Rebels Season 3 and beyond will run into is how it fits in the story. This is the biggest problem with prequels is that we already know how the story will end, and there needs to be an explanation as to why all the characters don't appear in the original Star Wars trilogy. It will be interesting to see how this will play out, and if there is a long-term plan for Star Wars Rebels after Season 3.
