As 2013 is about to come to a close and we move closer to 2014, we should start getting more information and updates about Star Wars Rebels in the coming months (Like we did yesterday in the Meeting Greg Weisman video) and one of the places we can expect to get those updates from, will be in the pages of Star Wars Insider. The latest issue has just started hitting some mailboxes, including mine, and it did provide a few new updates for the show in two of it’s articles.

The first is in a section that will now be a regular feature for the magazine called Frontline Update ( A name that will no doubt be familiar to listeners of Frontlines: The Clone Wars Podcast) where Line Producer Athena Portillo will provide updates on Star Wars Rebels exclusively to Star Wars Insider. Here are some of the new Star Wars Rebels updates she provided in the newest issue:

[blockquote cite=””]”We’re still in the early stages of production on the first season, but things are well underway. We’ve completed all our development, and have begun animating our very first script.”

“There is a main cast of characters who will be re-occurring throughout the season. However, you will see some familiar faces, too!”

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Also in the issue was a new interview with Executive Producer Greg Weisman, where he talks about how the series will show the Rebel Alliance form, as well as talking about some of the new characters:

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“What’s fascinating to me is that in our series, we’re going to really show the origins of the rebellion. When our series begins, it’s not the Rebel Alliance yet; we start with a group of rebels. It’ll be really interesting to show the progress of the Alliance forming, so I’m very excited that.”

“We have two strong female leads in the show among our set of characters and we think they are going to be fan favorites very quickly. That’s always been a personal priority for me in all the work I’ve done, to have a strong and diverse cast of characters, both in terms of gender and race. Star Wars has always had a great tradition of female heroes as well as male heroes and our show will have both and that goes the same for villains….)

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Some cool stuff to find out as I was reading the latest issue of Star Wars Insider, as it’s great to know that animation has officially begun on the series, as well as some official confirmation that we’ll definitely see some familiar faces in Star Wars Rebels. It was also cool to get the reveal that two of the main characters will be female. Will one of those female leads be one of those familiar faces Athena Portillo talked about? Maybe a certain older Jedi Togruta? One can only hope, but we’ll find out for sure in the coming months, so be sure to keep checking back here at the Rebels Podcast for all the latest news and updates for Star Wars Rebels!