Meet Star Wars’ First Female Fighters In The New Disney Animated Series ‘Rebels’

If you are Star Wars fan, you will know it is hard to find badass female characters in the 17,000 character universe created by George Lucas. Ever since sold Lucasfilm to Disney in October 2012 for $4.05 billion, there have been new happenings on the horizon of the world’s most famous fictional galaxy.

Disney’s XD channel are launching a new Star Wars ‘Rebels’ animated series, and have included 2 prominent female characters, a fighter called Sabine and a pilot called Hera. Sabine’s job is an explosives expert who likes to fight the evil empire with art. She is described as being a tomboy, spunky, feisty, mixed in a with a little bit of attitude. She’s also a Mandalorian, like Boba Fett.

‘Rebels’ executive producer Dave Filoni describes Sabine’s Mandalorian heritage as a fan-exciting prospect “and with that comes great understanding of weapons and arms. She’s definitely one who’s turned against the Empire and that going to be to the Rebels’ benefit.” Tiya Sircar who is the voice of Sabine also provides this interesting angle: “She is very well versed in explosive and she likes to blow things up. She does it with flair because she’s also an artist, so she’s pretty rad.”

Having a leading female character who used her creative skills as a weapon is not something commonly featured in the male-dominated action-heavy Star Wars franchise. Any of the women featured are always wearing dresses, and are not equipped to fight or defend in any way.

So basically if Disney can create an awesome female character in this new animated series, what’s to say they can’t up the ante for their Disney Princess range? Food for thought…

Both Lucasfilm and Disney want Sabine to be an inspiration and hope it will encourage more female viewers in the new series.

Here’s what they said in the press release:

Sabine is a key member of the Ghost crew in Star Wars Rebels. As seen in this special video, featuring early design concepts, animation tests, and final art, Sabine is unlike any Star Wars character – especially in her love for blowing things up and tagging her work with graffiti.

She has a great understanding of weapons and combat like few others, and has turned against the Empire. “She is spunky, she’s feisty, she’s got a little bit of attitude,” says actress Tiya Sircar, who is voicing the character. Additionally, Sabine is an artist, which is reflected in her hair, personalized armor, and graffiti calling cards. After the Ghost crew hits the Empire, Sabine makes sure the Empire knows who did it. Concept artist Amy Beth Christenson says that the Star Wars Rebels animation team has created a library of graffiti tags for Sabine, and is constantly adding to it.

In the end, Sabine is a strong, no-nonsense heroine. As Sircar says, “I think she’s kind of an inspiration.”

The series will also feature actor Freddie Prinze Jr who will voice the character of Kanan. Rebels will be released on Disney XD in the fall of 2014. Sabine is not the only female character in this exciting new series for Star Wars fans. The pilot of the ghost ship is a female named Hera. Having two female characters in a cast of 6 is not bad, hopefully this will continue to expand and inspire more young female fans that they too can be badass freedom fighters!

Both videos on the female characters are below.