After a recent screening of Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Finale, Twilight Of The Apprentice, Dave Filoni answered a few questions from the fans regarding the show and the Star Wars canon in general. While he was tight-lipped about where certain Rebels characters could show up beyond this series, he did reveal something about the fan-favorite Rex that fans have been curious about since the character’s reintroduction.

Some spoilers for Rebels ahead (but not for Twilight Of The Apprentice).

For those not in the know, the theory in question is that the above soldier (named Nik Sant in the Star Wars Legends continuity) is actually an elderly Rex. The theory first popped up right around the time Rex’s redesign was unveiled, with many noting the similarities between the facial hair of Rex and Nik Sant. If we refer to Legends and say that the clone army was made in the same year that The Phantom Menace took place (32 years before the Battle of Yavin), then Rex would be left at the ripe age of 36 (72 in “Clone Years”, due to his accelerated aging) when the attack on the second Death Star took place. (Physically, this would make him older than Han is in The Force Awakens!) So the evidence for the link is there, but there was no confirmation about it… until yesterday, when Dave Filoni outright confirmed the theory.

The one thing that I have toyed with and we’ll see how I feel about this, this is probably a spoiler, Carrie Beck, but I gotta give them something. I’ve said absolutely nothing today. And my wife’s like yeah, it’s just like being home. But I think the one thing I have really thought about is I really do think that Rex is that guy on Endor. I really do. Why else is there a bearded old guy on Endor, Tano? Why? It makes no sense. If you don’t want that to happen, do you know what that means? I’m gonna make that happen. I’m getting like Palpatine, I’m getting power crazy.

So there you have it – a character from The Clone Wars and Rebels actually made their way into the movies, and it happened long before either of those shows were made to boot. Logically, this means that Rex won’t die during the events of the show, (which itself is the spoiler we were warning you about). It might even mean that Rex actually saw the end of the war, meaning he could possibly retire and live out his last few years in peace. Good ol’ retroactive continuity at work, making already-rich shared universes even more detailed. Maybe this could be a good sign for the whole “Maz Kanata was in The Phantom Menace” theory we ran with a while ago.