One of the most heartwarming moments of Star Wars Rebels' final episode was the revelation that Hera had a child with Kanan - unfortunately following his noble sacrifice.
The finale was brought to a close with a montage of the Ghost crew's whereabouts following the events of Return of the Jedi - but before The Force Awakens. Though Sabine's narration of the montage didn't explicitly state that Jacen was the child of both Hera and Kanan, it was heavily implied - as showrunner Dave Filoni recently told CinemaBlend:
I just talked to Kilian Plunkett, who's been working with me for years now, and I said, well, maybe just picture what their kid would look like and I think he was suggesting that he was perhaps a little green-shaded, and I said that's fine as long as he doesn't look like he's sick flying in the ship. We came at it pretty easily as far as a look. I wanted to make sure that you knew whose kid it was, so there were little clues in the costume if you didn't think the likeness was there.
Yeah, it was fun. A lot of the crew didn't know it until they saw it! We designed it all in secrecy and animated it all in secrecy, even amongst the crew, so it was a pretty fun moment when we all watched it together up at Skywalker Ranch and everybody turned around and looked and me and was like 'What?!'
Filoni told the site that he looked to take elements from Jacen's mother and father whilst designing him - to ensure that you could recognise whose child it was on sight. For example, the young boy clearly has the same eyebrow shape as Kanan. He looks mostly human, but with his green hair and slightly similarly tinted ears, you can easily tell Hera's his mother.
Given the many devestating twists throughout Rebels, its predecessor Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Filoni has built up quite a reputation for himself amongst Lucasfilm - as he explained:
I talked with Kiri Hart about it and Carrie Beck, and I said, 'I'm thinking of adding this child here. What do you guys of that?' We had this discussion about it. We all liked the idea. They are funny because they said 'That's so nice, that's such a nice thing to do' and they were surprised I was doing it. I don't know why that is. I have a reputation for, I don't think I'm that shocking but I guess after Ahsoka walking away from the Jedi Order and different things that are maybe somewhat melancholy...
They kept saying 'Which rebels are going to die before the end of the season?' And I thought, 'Wow, what a morbid thought! I like these characters. Why would I want them to die?'
Hopefully we'll get to see Jacen's character progress further - perhaps through Star Wars Resistance, Filoni's upcoming animated show which follows the events of Rebels.
What do you think about Filoni's comments? How do you think Jacen's story will progress?