Star Wars Rebels
The Complete Season 1
Blu-ray | DVD
Created by Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, Carrie Beck
Starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Taylor Gray, Vanessa Marshall, Tiya Sircar, Steve Blum, David Oyelowo, Jason Isaacs
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release date: September 1, 2015

As a life-long Star Wars fan, I’ve always kept my ear to the ground for anything new in the universe, especially during those post-Jedi drought years. I would take anything I could get, even an Ewok adventure, if it meant more Star Wars and I devoured the offerings of the Expanded Universe. But, as with many fans like me, I became jaded and partially disinterested after the disappointing prequel films. While the Clone Wars animated series helped reinvigorate my love of the franchise and J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens feature film has given me hope that Star Wars can be restored to its former glory, I didn’t know what to expect of Star Wars Rebels, a new CGI-animated series airing on Disney XD.

After Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the company eventually revealed that all their new Star Wars projects — movies, TV show, books, video games, you name it — would be considered “canon,” with Rebels to be the first new on-screen project to meet this qualification. That means that everything that happens in Rebels would be considered official, sanctioned, true, untouchable, unchangeable — that’s a huge deal.

Let me just put it out there right up front: Star Wars Rebels is awesome and I love it.

Just one day before the Star Wars Rebels TV Movie premieres on Disney XD, the channel announced that the new animated series will be getting a second season. Judging by the massive press tour the cast and crew have been doing, the pilot premiere over at Comic-Con, and the special preview which aired this week exclusively on WATCH Disney XD and other digital platforms. The overall consensus is great, and that it reminds us of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Disney Channels Worldwide President and Chief Creative Officer Gary Marsh made the second season order announcement earlier today.

The series is set five years before the events of Episode IV, years after the fall of the Jedi Order, and will center on a group of bandits who will help spark the revolution against the Galactic Empire.

Hit the jump for more.