Star Wars Rebels unofficially kicked off its second season with the TV Movie Siege of Lothal that saw our ragtag band of heroes being forcibly removed from their home planet now that the Empire sees them as a real threat. Having sent out Darth Vader to deal with them, Kanan and Ezra realize they are clearly outmatched and are now retreating with the military that seeks to bring down the Galactic Empire.

We were recently invited to screen the first two episodes of the second season – which brings back some Clone Wars fan-favorite characters like Rex – and sit down with fellow journalists to talk about the upcoming season with creator and executive producer Dave Filoni. Check out the full interview below.

At the 2015 New York Comic-Con on Thursday, Star Wars fans had all their fanboy/fangirl dreams come true, when the Star Wars Rebels Season 2 trailer debuted at the panel, which saw appearances by executive producer Dave Filoni, along with the voice cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar as Seventh Sister, Taylor Gray as Ezra, and Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, her character from The Clone Wars.

See here below for more details from the panel, along with some photos of the stars.

The first season of Star Wars Rebels ended with our Ezra Bridger and the rest of his ragtag Rebel Family saving his best friend and teacher Kanan, who was being held captive by the Empire. It also marked the return of Ahsoka Tano, who hasn’t been seen since the end of Clone Wars. But “Siege Of Lothal” helped establish the setting for Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels by bringing in Darth Vader to help flush out the Rebel forces and force them to retreat. Clearly outmatched, our heroes must now set out on a new path if they have any chance of taking down the Empire.

We got a chance to view a new trailer for Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels today at New York Comic-Con, and now Disney has released it online.

Check it out here below.

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.

Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels launched back in June with the one-hour animated TV movie Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal, but now regular episodes of the season are set to begin airing on Disney XD on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 9:30pm ET/PT, Disney announced today.

Check out a preview clip here below from the first regular episode of Season 2, “The Lost Commanders.”

For this new season, Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar will be a part of the voice cast in an undisclosed role; husband Freddie Prinze Jr. has been voicing one of the main characters, Kanan Jarrus, since the start of the series and will return in these new episodes.

Star Wars Rebels Season 1 will be available on Blu-ray and DVD starting Tuesday, September 1, 2015, and will contain all 15 regular episodes for the first season, along with bonus content, some of which has never been released before.