A Star Wars fan site's report has picked up steam over the weekend claiming that Expanded Universe characters, such as Mara Jade, will be introduced in Star Wars: Rebels and the in production animated series will have strong ties to Episode 7.
Earlier the site, www.starwars7news.com reported, on an anonymous article comment which said:
"It can be said, that Rebels will introduce Mara Jade, into the film canon, sometimes appearing with the Inquisitor and she will be the living mother of Ben Skywalker.
Episode seven takes place, in 30 ABY. Jacen, and Jaina will be to Ben what Han, and Leia were to Luke. Ben is around the same age as his cousins. Chewie will be alive, and this is an all new timeline from 4 ABY forward.
Pablo Hidalgo, and Leland Chee have been consulting with Kathleen, and JJ, on EU elements, and characters from the database.
As of 2015 Books and comics will be part of the same canon, as Movies, TV and Netflix. Rebels has very strong connections to the ST, it will bring EU characters, ideas, and planets into the canon and it introduces two original characters for the ST, one Imperial, and one Jedi."
On Sunday, the site offers an update to this claim:
"After the article was posted we received some more tips that there's definitely some truth in this. It comes from people close to the production. And here's something more - not only Star Wars: Rebels will have a connection with the new trilogy but also some of the new upcoming Clone Wars bonus content... "
This is interesting speculation fodder, and has garnered a lot of interest. It sounds like the studio is trying to find a happy medium between having creative freedom (on the story line) for the new trilogy and appeasing hardcore fans who have devoted years to following Star Wars stories in the Expanded Universe. I would think, however, if they were to (bother to) use the names of these characters in their new film there would be more of an effort to preserve Timothy Zahn's fan favorite Thrawn Trilogy into their new timeline. If these rumors are true, and the new film is set 30 years after "A New Hope," they appear to be moving Ben's birth earlier in the timeline by about a decade or more, as well as Luke's marriage to Mara Jade. If these claims are true, the plan is to excise almost all post "Return of the Jedi" continuity.
The new animated series where this may (or may not) play out is set five years prior to "A New Hope" and will air this fall on Disney XD.
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