There's a new villain in the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars: Rebels, the first television effort for Lucasfilm since it was acquired by Disney last year, is set to launch next fall, but we're already getting a few tantalizing glimpses of what's in store for us with the animated adventure. Executive producer Dave Filoni -- who also served as supervising director on Lucasfilm's acclaimed Clone Wars animated series -- was at New York Comic Con over the weekend to promote the show, and unveiled a key player in the Rebels story: the Inquisitor.

Flanked by stormtroopers, carrying what looks to be a double-bladed lightsaber and wearing very Darth Vader-like attire, the Inquisitor is an "intimidating figure" (according to Lucasfilm) who is tasked by Vader with the job of hunting down the remaining Jedi in the years after Revenge of the Sith.

Rebels will reportedly be set 14 years after Revenge of the Sith and will follow the adventures of a group of rebels "in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape."

But its place in the Star Wars timeline isn't the only thing that'll set Rebels apart. According to Filoni, he and his team opted for a storytelling format different from what they did on Clone Wars.

“Rebels will be different from The Clone Wars in a couple ways, and one is the decision to stick with one story and one main group of characters," Filoni told Hero Complex. "We wanted fans to get to know the new characters and what they are fighting for. Each episode has its own unique story, while still fitting into the much larger picture of what is going on in the Star Wars universe. Rebels will tell the story of a group of characters, in this way it is more like the original trilogy which followed Han, Luke and Leia, where the prequels showed us the grand scale and political as well as personal."

So we've got a new group of heroes, a new format and a new, very intriguing villain. What do you think? Is the Inquisitor going to work, or is he too close to being a Darth Vader copy?

Star Wars: Rebels premieres with a one-hour special on The Disney Channel in fall 2014.

(Via THR)