Tano was essentially, resurrected in the penultimate episode of ‘Rebels,’ or at least her fate was altered thanks to a space/time portal—you can read more of that here—but even then it was unclear if she would ever appear. But in this ‘Rebels’ postscript, years later after the Battle of Lothal, Tano mysteriously resurfaces to Wren to apparently try and find Erza.
“He’s out there somewhere,” Wren says.
Is he though? Wouldn’t the Destroyers, on the brink of annihilation, blown up during or right after the jump from hyper space? Apparently not. And in the final “Star Wars Show” episode of Rebels, David Filoni confirmed that both Ezra and Thrawn survived thus keeping the story open ended. The director/writer/producer and ‘Rebels’ architect suggested he’s still trying to determine what exactly their fates are in the chance that he one day is able to explore that chapter.
“I felt a lot about that… It’s one of those things that you go ‘oh boy I love the idea of an end credits scenes,'” he said in the clip you can watch below. “But as tempting as that is but I go, ‘well if I cover that, then I want to do it right; and I don’t want to commit to things right now because things might change. So I have a lot of theories about it and what I think happens and where they are.”
“I’ll say this much,” he added. “They’re not dead. Both of them survive, both Ezra and Thrawn I would say survive it.”
In a separate, but related interview with EW, Filoni suggests the story will continue, but when and how is unknown. “I’ve always felt the best stories end and then other stories begin, and there’s no better way to take two of my favorite characters and have them ride off into the sunset, like I’ve seen so many cowboys over the years, or Indiana Jones,” he said “One thing ends and another begins, and the story continues. That’s a saga.”
An interesting side note worth discussing. Many were surprised to hear that Simon Kinberg, the producer and creative mastermind behind the “X-Men” universe over at 20th Century Fox, was still attached to write a “Star Wars” spin-off film (while never officially confirmed, it was a Boba Fett spin-off movie with “Chronicle” helmer Josh Trank attached to direct, before he was kicked off the project). But Kinberg is one of the original creators of “Star Wars Rebels” and its characters (in fact, he has the second credit after Filoni), so it likely stands he’s part of the larger Lucasfilm family and probably has been given lots of time to write and develop his film idea.
Secondly, and perhaps in another hat tip to the fact that he’s still involved, Kinberg, who hasn’t written or been actively involved in “Star Wars Rebels” since season one, has a writing credit on last night’s finale (as did a few members of the “Star Wars” story group like Kiri Hart and Carrie Beck). So, given that Kinberg helped pen the finale—which sets the stage for new and additional stories—it’s probably not that big of a surprise to learn that this writer/director/producer is still working on a “Star Wars” movie. And, for extra nerd credit, given that there are prominent Maldorian characters on “Star Wars Rebels”—the race from which Boba Fett descends—it’s feasible to think a bigger, connected game plan has been laid out all along. Time will tell…