The Big Picture
- Marketing for the Ahsoka series emphasizes continuing the stories of Star Wars: Rebels characters. But the one character we haven't seen is the clone Captain Rex, who shared a profound history with Ahsoka.
- Captain Rex's loyalty, courage, and self-sacrificial impulses, along with his sarcasm and strategic mind, make him the perfect soldier and a dependable ally to Ahsoka.
- Ahsoka and Rex's relationship transcends traditional descriptors of friendship and comradeship, as they are family in every earnest and broken way. Rex's inclusion in the Ahsoka series would be a fitting acknowledgment of their bond and the depth of Ahsoka's life.
Marketing for the much-anticipated Ahsoka series has made no bones about its narrative mission: continuing the stories of the characters from Star Wars: Rebels as well as that of Rosario Dawson's titular Jedi-not-a-Jedi. That's all well and good for Rebels fans who waited five long, arduous years for a continuation. However, unless his presence has been kept under wraps (entirely possible), there's one conspicuously glaring omission from Ahsoka's impressive cast list. Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker) and Ahsoka Tano share a profound history. They joined the Star Wars animated universe hand-in-hand, and Rex remained by Ahsoka's side through both her brightest and darkest formative moments. The Jedi commander and the clone trooper witnessed bloodshed and beauty, joy and despair, on a scale few can comprehend. Ahsoka had a Master and a mentor in Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter), an emotional conflagration that's arguably the most important relationship of her life. It's time to posit that Captain Rex, her steadiest shadow, is even greater than that.
Who Is Captain Rex in ‘Star Wars’?
Captain Rex was introduced alongside Ahsoka Tano in the 2008 animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a prelude to the television series of the same name. Like his fellow clone troopers, who serve as soldiers for the Republic in its war against the Separatists, Rex is a clone of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). Anakin Skywalker, the wunderkind king of reckless impetuosity, calls Rex his "first-in-command"; not his second. Those words from a high-ranking general and the Force's prophesied savior are as ringing an endorsement as is cosmically possible (before his unfortunate fall to the Dark Side, of course).
What makes Rex the best person to have at your back isn't his skill with a blaster. It's his intrinsic qualities: his loyalty, courage, strategic mind, empathetic intelligence, and self-sacrificial impulses. Rex prizes honor and defines selflessness. He's the first to valiantly protect the innocent by leaping helmet-first into danger. He leads rescue teams to save one man, and his initial reluctance to bend the rules becomes flexible when he discovers that war isn't black and white. As a bonus, Rex's dry sarcasm more than keeps up with Anakin and Ahsoka, which is a job requirement all its own. He's often radiating that exasperated "I'm the only adult in the room" mood. Pour these attributes into a blender, and Rex is the perfect soldier: a genetically engineered warrior who's unswervingly faithful to the Republic.
But what makes a perfect soldier? Is it someone who follows orders without question, or a person who understands when the rules laid down by a higher authority were broken to begin with? Initially, Rex believes the Republic's propaganda: the clones were created to die in service to the greater good (even as Rex treats each lost life with care). But the more he watches this seemingly endless and nonsensically violent war drag on, and the more his brothers die in droves on the battlefield, the more he questions the war's validity and the morality of his and his fellow soldiers' existence.
For every Anakin and Ahsoka, there's another Jedi who dismisses the clones as expendable and therefore undeserving of basic dignity. Rex knows better than anyone how each trooper is an individual with personalities, opinions, desires, and hopes. "We're not droids," he says. "We're not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions." The Clone Wars recontextualizing its namesake soldiers, especially through Rex's eyes, calls the Republic's righteousness into question. This is no argument in favor of the Empire, but churning out thousands of men just to send them into war zones cut the Republic off at the knees. Is winning the Clone War worth the cost of so many souls? Yet who would deny these clones their right to live?
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Captain Rex Brings Nuance to ‘The Clone Wars'
Rex's doubts about the system never cause him to doubt his compatriots. His bond with Ahsoka (Ashley Eckstein), one of those dreaded emotional attachments the Jedi Order loves to brand a weakness, proves to be Rex's utmost strength. Ahsoka only survives Order 66 because Rex resists his inhibitor chip long enough to give her a fighting chance. Emperor Palpatine turning the clones against the Jedi violates not just the clones' minds but their selfhood; they're protectors, not assassins. In turn, Ahsoka uses a combination of the Force, her connection with Rex, and damn good luck to remove his chip and restore his free will.
Which poses the question: who is Rex without his sworn duties? The horrors of war, the slaughter of the Jedi, and the trauma of watching his brethren die could have broken any man. Few would blame Rex for turning bitter, selfish, and reclusive. The Empire doesn't want the clones once they eliminate the Jedi: a moment in the Kenobi series depicts a former trooper as discarded, purposeless, and close to death.
Instead, fifteen years after the Republic's fall, Rex is his same self in Star Wars: Rebels — just wearied, bearing up under a medley of scars. The Empire forced Rex to evolve past his dual purposes (fight for the Republic vs. kill the Jedi). When he joins the Rebellion, it's because he's a good man fighting for a just cause, a goal he was created for and the one he ultimately chose. Although all the troopers were modeled after Temuera Morrison's features, Rex stood out from the start with his blond hair and his armor's personalized designs. Despite being the perfect soldier, Rex proved the most unique clone of all. Without Rex, the clone army, and their complicated ties to the Jedi, The Clone Wars' conflict lacks nuance.
Captain Rex Has Close Ties to Ahsoka
Although Captain Rex is Anakin's right-hand man, Rex's most meaningful relationship — the one that saves his life — is with Ahsoka Tano. He's the Togruta's older brother in all but name. In his way, he helps raise her, putting the Padawan through her combat paces and fighting by her side through certain death and into unknown, desolate futures. There's never a question about Rex's devotion; protecting his Jedi is the right thing to do. Rex only falters once, when the pair are forced to fight his mind-controlled clone regiment during Order 66. Having to kill his own is a reckoning that devastates the usually competent Rex. With utmost tenderness, Ahsoka vows to keep their fellow soldiers alive rather than mow down her former comrades without mercy. She's Rex's anchor at this moment, and he's hers.
Even though survival demands they live separate lives, Rex remains Ahsoka's constant ally and sole loyal friend across decades. The passage of time makes their reunion in Star Wars: Rebels all the more heart-wrenching. Ahsoka is a wizened adult warrior and Rex is a grizzled man aging much faster than an average human (thanks for nothing, Kamino geneticists!). Both are staring down an intimate reflection of their complicated past and impending mortality. Beaming with fond pride, Ahsoka throws herself at Rex for a hug. Too soon after, it's Rex, a side character, who grieves Ahsoka's supposed death more than the main cast. Beneath the armor, the lightsabers, and the vows to the Republic, Ahsoka and Rex's relationship transcends the boundaries of traditional descriptors. They aren't just friends forged through bloodshed or comrades in arms, but family, in every earnest and broken way the term entails.
Given Rex's accelerated aging, there's no guarantee he's still alive in the Ahsoka series' timeline. But, people, this is Star Wars, where rules are re-invented on the fly. If Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano began their corresponding journeys together so many years ago, then Rex deserves inclusion in this next phase of Ahsoka's life. Even if his involvement amounted to a cameo (and even if said cameo depicted his death, which would catapult the fandom into irrevocable anguish), acknowledgment is the least Rex deserves. Imagine the full circle gravitas Temuera Morrison could bring to a live-action Rex! The actor himself deserves proper amends after The Book of Boba Fett sidelined him within his own series. Not to mention, weaving Rex into Ahsoka ensures the series prioritizes the breadth of the woman's life it's named after. Whatever the future holds, Rex should escort Ahsoka into it with a wry grin and a steady hand. Ahsoka said it herself: “The Republic couldn’t have asked for a better soldier, nor I a better friend."
