Rebels Rewind: "Breaking Ranks"

Ezra infiltrates the Imperial Academy, while Kanan and Hera undertake a mission with galaxy-shaking implications...

I still remember watching this episode for the first time.

I can’t say that for most Star Wars Rebels episodes. That’s not a criticism; I’ve rewatched the series enough times that initial reactions to specific episodes tend to get lost in a fog of familiarity with the show. There are exceptions, of course, like special screenings at Star Wars Celebration, New York Comic Con, and Fan Expo Canada. But outside of those, an episode needs to be really good or really bad for me to recall my first viewing.

Fortunately, “Breaking Ranks” falls into the really good category.

The episode, like so much of season one, still holds up even a decade after its initial airing. The dynamics between Ezra, Jai, and Zare are fun, and the look inside the Imperial Academy is as fascinating as it is terrifying. But the moment I remember most was when Hera asks Kanan, “Do you want to stop that Kyber shipment or not?”

I just about leapt out of my seat ten and a half years ago. Ever since we’d first been introduced to Kanan, Hera, Zeb, Sabine, Chopper, and Ezra a few months earlier, I’d been theorizing (like many others) that this would be the crew that steals the Death Star plans. This, I thought, was confirmation. We’d just seen the unfinished Clone Wars episodes where Anakin and Obi-Wan track down a massive Kyber crystal that Sidious was after two months earlier, so the link between the Kyber crystals and the Death Star was front of mind.

Remember, this was November 2014. We knew Gareth Edwards was making a Star Wars spin-off movie, but nothing about the story. The title Rogue One wouldn’t be revealed for another six months. At the time, the rumours were that Han Solo and Boba Fett movies would be the first non-saga films to be made. The idea that the Death Star plans would be front and center for a new Star Wars movie was not on anyone’s radar.

There was another moment, several episodes later, that I believed was a sure sign that the series was building to the Death Star. In “The Siege of Lothal,” Minister Maketh Tua reaches out to Phoenix Squadron, looking to trade intel for amnesty. After the rebels initially deny her request to trade a list of potential allies for passage off the planet, she offers up something else: the true reason the Empire is on Lothal. “There is another reason,” she warns, “known only to a few and ordered by the Emperor himself.”

This plot point is never explicitly returned to. Tua dies later in the episode, taking the secret with her. With the benefit of hindsight, we can surmise that she discovered that the Emperor wanted to use the Jedi Temple on Lothal to access the World Between Worlds. At least, that’s probably what we’re meant to think now. Whether that was the original intention of that moment is another question.

Now, if you’re sitting there thinking, “Uh, Dom, ‘The Siege of Lothal’ aired in June 2015, after we already knew what the plot of Rogue One would be,” you are technically right…from a certain point of view.

Remember a few paragraphs ago when I said I remember seeing certain episodes at Star Wars Celebration? Well, “The Siege of Lothal” was one of those episodes. After taking part in my one and (so far) only red carpet as a member of the media, I got to attend the premiere of “The Siege of Lothal” during Celebration Anaheim 2015. Before the Rogue One plot was first revealed.

When I saw the scene with Tua, I was certain that this series would reveal how the Rebel Alliance stole the Death Star plans. Less than forty-eight hours later, however, I was seated at Gareth Edwards’ panel at that same Celebration where he revealed that his movie would actually tell that story. And, though he didn’t state it explicitly, it was strongly implied that it wouldn’t involve the crew of the Ghost.

It was a moment of whiplash within that thrilling weekend.

I will also point out that, even though I was wrong back then, I was still right…from a certain point of view. “There were some really early on conversations with Rebels about it being about them finding the Death Star plans,” showrunner Dave Filoni revealed in a 2020 interview. “But as Rogue One came about and took shape, it was obvious we weren’t gonna do that story.”

So it was on the table! Rogue One and Rebels were in development around the same time, so it’s not inconceivable that the Rebels team were laying some early groundwork for a Death Star plans storyline before Rogue One was officially greenlit. Then after that, the animated series pivoted to what we have now, though some remnants of the other version still linger in the final product.

They’re easy enough to handwave away, of course. Rebels would still help build up the mystery of the Death Star in this era with its inclusion of Saw Gerrera, even returning to Kyber crystals with Gerrera in season four. And, as we did above, Tua’s comments can be retconned to be about the World Between Worlds.

Filoni, for his part, is glad Edwards and Tony Gilroy took over the Death Star plans plotline. He went on to say in that 2020 interview, “I didn’t wanna do that story, frankly, honestly, with Rebels because I thought I don’t want their whole existence to just serve and hand off to another part of the plot. I want it to be its own story about this kid.”

In the end, Filoni got his way. And we got two very different, but great in their own way, stories of rebellion that each help fill out the mosaic that is the Star Wars galaxy.

Season One, Episode Six, “Breaking Ranks”

Written by: Greg Weisman

Directed by: Steven G. Lee

Air Date: October 27th, 2014 (on demand), November 4th, 2014 (DisneyXD)

Original US Viewership: 0.64 million

Ezra infiltrates the Imperial Academy on Lothal to steal a decoder, allowing Kanan and Hera to disrupt a Kyber shipment. While at the Academy, Ezra befriends Jai Kell, who is also Force-sensitive, and Zare Leonis, who is looking for his “disappeared” sister. Ezra and Zare work together to steal the decoder and break Jai out of the Academy before the Inquisitor can get to him. They are successful, but Zare decides to stay behind to continue his search for his sister.

The Academy

One of the first things we learn about Luke Skywalker in A New Hope is that he wants to go to the Imperial Academy. The young moisture farmer dreams of leaving his Uncle’s farm on Tatooine and sees the Academy as his way out. Sure, he plans to desert eventually and join the Rebel Alliance, but the first step in that journey, as he sees it, is the Academy.

Of course, Luke’s plans are upended by the arrival of C-3PO and R2-D2 and all the life-changing chaos they bring, and any dreams he still harbours of going to the Academy are forgotten as soon as he blasts out of Mos Eisley aboard the Millennium Falcon. And so the Academy remained off-screen, only existing in the minds of viewers.

Until now.

“Breaking Ranks” takes us inside the Imperial Academy on Lothal, giving us a glimpse at life as an Imperial Cadet. Sure, it’s not the flight Academy Luke was dreaming of, and it has more of an “English boys boarding school” vibe than the university vibes A New Hope implied. But it still shows us the terrifying reality of the Imperial thought machine, influencing kids from a young age to become true believers in Palpatine’s cause.