'Star Wars Rebels' Villain Revealed: The Imperial Inquisitor [Video]

The mean-looking gut seen on the right above is the just-revealed villain on Disney XD's new Star Wars animated series, Star Wars Rebels. The show will premiere in 2014, at which point we'll see how this guy is "tasked by Darth Vader to hunt down the remaining Jedi Knights."

That quote comes from Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni, who introduced the character today at a panel during the New York Comic Con. Watch his video about the Inquisitor below.

This video explains, according to StarWars.com, how Rebels picks up roughly fourteen years after the end of Episode III, when

...the Emperor's rule is secure and the Empire is seeking to expand its power to Outer Rim territories. That leads Imperial forces to Lothal, a poor planet that initially welcomes the Empire on the promise of security and prosperity. It soon becomes obvious, however, that the Empire does not have Lothal's best interests at heart, as the Imperials exploit its people and begin recruiting young citizens to join TIE fighter and Stormtrooper academies, or to work in the Sienar Fleet Systems factory — which builds TIE fighters — in the planet's capital.

In addition, the panel today offered info on other new stuff that will appear in the show:

  • The All Terrain Defense Pod (AT-DP), a ground attack walker based on a 1979 design by Joe Johnston.
  • The AT-DP pilot, which features design elements from other Imperial pilots, such as the AT-AT walker driver seen in The Empire Strikes Back and the AT-ST walker pilot from Return of the Jedi.
  • The Imperial Troop Transport, based on the first 1979 Kenner toy that was not a recreation of something in the films.
  • The Imperial freighter, based on "an Imperial-style craft designed for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace by concept artist Doug Chiang, featuring a dock to transport TIE fighters from system to system."