‘Star Wars Rebels’ Theories: Who is Ezra Bridger?

The third season of Star Wars Rebels starts on Disney XD on September 24 and the show’s mysterious connections to the mythology of the movies continues to be explored by executive producer Dave Filoni and his crew. One of the biggest mysteries is the very existence of its main character, Ezra Bridger. Is Ezra more important than just another rebel fighting against the Galactic Empire? Does Ezra have a connection to the events in the new Star Wars movies?

We don’t know the answers to these questions, but there are plenty of theories online about Ezra and his future. Let’s take a look at five of them.

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1. Ezra Is Benicio Del Toro’s Character in ‘Episode VIII’

In February 2015, Disney and Lucasfilm confirmed that Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, Sicario) will star in Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII. Of course, the role he will play was not announced.

This leaves us to wonder, could Del Toro play an older Ezra Bridger in Episode VIII? There’s a Reddit threat on it and even YouTube videos on the idea.

Before the studio confirmed Del Toro was even in Episode VIII, The Wrap reported that he was being sought after to play a villain. Then, Del Toro told Entertainment Tonight that even he doesn’t know the nature of the role he got.

“I don’t know if he’s a villain. People are saying that, but it’s like they read a different script than I read,” Del Toro said in September 2015. “It’s nice to keep people in the dark, a little bit of mystery is good. If they want to believe it’s the villain, then good.”

Del Toro already has a relationship with Disney, as he played The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy.

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2. Ezra Is the ‘Other’ Yoda Spoke of When He Said ‘There Is Another’

If Disney doesn’t want Rebels to end with Ezra and/or Kanan dying, they could make it that Ezra is really the “other” Yoda mentions in The Empire Strikes Back. As one theory suggests, Obi-Wan Kenobi shouldn’t need a reminder about an “other” if Yoda meant Leia was the other “hope” for the Jedi. After all, Obi-Wan knows Leia exists and might have thought Leia couldn’t save the Galaxy because she wasn’t trained as a Jedi at all.

We know that Yoda has known of Ezra since season one, but there’s no evidence at this point to suggest that Obi-Wan ever knew of Ezra’s existence. Perhaps Yoda new where Ezra was and assumed that he could call out to him if Luke had failed to bring balance to the Force.

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3. Ezra Is Rey’s Father

There are plenty of theories about Rey’s parents, as The Force Awakens revealed very little about the past of Daisy Ridley’s character in the film. Could Ezra be Rey’s father?

This theory comes from the same fan who suggested that Ezra is Yoda’s “other,” but it’s also been suggested by others. However, this fan suggests that Ezra is dead by the time The Force Awakens rolls around and that Ezra’s relationship to Rey would only be explained by Luke in dialogue. It would help the casual movie-goer who hasn’t seen Rebels learn what they need to know about Ezra without introducing a whole new-to-them character. After all, not everyone can be expected to watch everything related to Star Wars.

Ezra was born on “Empire Day,” the same day that Order 66 happened in Revenge of the Sith. That makes him as old as Luke and Leia.

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4. Ezra Is Snoke

Since Ezra has been tempted by The Dark Side and even unlocked a Sith Holocron at the end of season two, it seems plausible to think that he might be Supreme Leader Snoke. Then again, there are theories that Snoke isn’t a Force-user, which would make this difficult to swallow.

Very little is known about Snoke at this point. In The Force Awakens, he was introduced as the leader of the First Order and as the person who pulled Ben Solo (Adam Driver) away from the Light Side of the Force. We don’t even know if Snoke is as tall as his hologram looks. (Remember, Emperor Palpatine used an oversized hologram of his head to communicate with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.)

There is still much of Ezra’s future that needs to be filled out before we can make the jump to hyperspace and assume that he’s the leader of the First Order. With at least 35 years between the events in Rebels and The Force Awakens, there’s a lot that can go on.

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5. Ezra Is the Creator of the Knights of Ren

This is linked closely to the idea that Ezra is Snoke, since the Knights of Ren are under Snoke’s control. However, it is possible that the founder of the Knights of Ren doesn’t have control of the group by the time of The Force Awakens.

In this theory, it’s suggested that Ezra turns to the Dark Side after Kanan is killed. Darth Maul will be his new master and the two of them will create the Knights of Ren instead of becoming traditional Sith lords.

This theory ends with the idea that Ezra is Snoke and that Episode VIII will include this as a big reveal. Again, this assumes that members of the movie-going audience will know or care about Ezra at all. Everyone interested in Star Wars should be watching Rebels, but there’s no way Disney can assume that moviegoers will know who Ezra is.

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