Credit: LucasfilmThe social media team behind the official Star Wars Twitter (now known as X) account might’ve accidentally caused an uproar online this morning after seemingly making a popular ship from Star Wars Rebels canon — instead of promoting a new Marvel Comics run.
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‘Star Wars’ Has Always Had Love on the Brain
George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away is about family, but at its core, it’s also about love. From Leia Organa’s (Carrie Fisher) unlikely romance with a certain high-flying Rebel scoundrel (Harrison Ford) to the marriage of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Senator Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), which forever altered the course of Star Wars history, relationships — platonic or romantic — are at the heart of this expansive universe.
Over the years, people have expressed their desire to see certain characters together, but it’s not always considered canon. Enter “shipping,” which sees fans pairing couples like Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) from Disney’s Sequel Trilogy, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and pretty much, well, anoyone, or Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and Jynn Erso (Felicity Jones) from Rogue One (2016) across different mediums, including artwork and fanfiction.
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Star Wars Rebels, which aired on Disney XD between 2014 and 2018, certainly isn’t an exception. Aside from the obvious, canonized romance between Jedi-on-the-run Kanan Jarrus (Freddize Prince Jr.) and Ghost pilot Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall), which might go down as the most tragic pairing in franchise history, viewers also shipped Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar) and Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), though they seem to have more of a sibling dynamic in the live-action Ahsoka show.
And you can’t talk about Rebels ships without mentioning one of the most buzzed-about pairings in all of Star Wars: the bromance-romance between Imperial officer-turned-traitor-turned-Fulcrum, Alexsandr Kallus (David Oyelowo) and Lasat Honor Guard, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (Steve Blum).
A Chronicle of “Kalluzeb:” ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Origins and Continued “Shipping”
It’s hard to ignore the chemistry between these two characters, who, on the surface, could not be any more different. Zeb, a free-spirited Rebel with a personal vendetta against the Galactic Empire, is virtually the polar opposite of Agent Kallus, a high-ranking Imperial agent who often collaborates with Chiss warlord, Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen).
When we first meet them, Zeb and Kallus are fierce enemies, with the Lasat blaming the ISB officer for the extinction of his species. But over time — and particularly in the Season 4 episode “The Honorable Ones” — the pair start to realize that they have more in common than they think, with Kallus even betraying Thrawn and the Empire and joining the Rebels as a spy later on in the series.
Kallus and Zeb go from wanting to kill each other to eventually saving the other’s life. And after all’s said and done, with the Empire now in shambles, Zeb takes Kallus to the wild space planet of Lira San, where he reveals that his species, the Lasat, aren’t extinct after all. It’s implied that Kallus settles on the homeworld of the Lasat people, who accept him as one of their own.
As for Zeb, after the war, Ahsoka “Part Seven: Dream and Madness” explains that the former Ghost member has been training recruits for the New Republic Defense Force, though there’s no word of whether or not he’s still with Kallus.
Understandably, Zeb taking Kallus to Lira San got many fans thinking that the pair weren’t exactly just friends. While Lucasfilm has yet to confirm the ship, affectionally dubbed “Kalluzeb,” voice actor Steve Blum has famously been all for Zeb and Kallus’ romance, joking, “I’m already imagining their children” during a 2018 interview with AfterBuzz TV Animation.
Did the Official ‘Star Wars’ Twitter Just Confirm “Kalluzeb?”
In short, “Kalluzeb” is hardly a new phenomenon within the Star Wars community and seems to have online gotten more popular since Zeb’s surprise cameo in Season 3 of The Mandalorian. But now, it looks like the official Star Wars social media team has gotten on board with this pairing, seemingly confirming the ship in a recent post that sent waves across the fandom.
On Wednesday morning, Star Wars took to social media to flaunt new variant covers for Marvel Comics’ 10th anniversary of Star Wars Rebels run, which features fan-favorites like Ahsoka Tano, Ezra and Chopper, Sabine, and Agent Kallus.
The short video, which flips through each of the covers, had some interesting words for Kallus, depicting the character in full Imperial regalia flanked by two Stormtroopers with the caption, “Agent Kallus is on issue #45,” followed by, “His pre-Kalluzeb days:”
This week, @Marvel Comics celebrates the 10th anniversary of Star Wars Rebels with variant covers featuring Ahsoka Tano, Ezra and Chopper, Sabine, and Agent Kallus.
Learn more: https://t.co/EDOsXaiOvI pic.twitter.com/Mp91CaAzKE
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 27, 2023
Most, if not all comments on the post were from overjoyed “Kalluzeb” shippers, with many viewing the video as confirmation of their relationship.
His Pre-Kalluzeb DAYS!!!!!! IM LOSING MY MIND
His Pre-Kalluzeb DAYS!!!!!! IM LOSING MY MIND
— Charles key (@Star_Wars_Hell) September 27, 2023
This fan, who went all-in on the caps-lock, echoed a similar sentiment, writing, “EXCUSE ME??!! PRE-WHAT?”
EXCUSE ME??!! PRE-WHAT?
OMG KALLUZEB REAL COMFIRMED??!
EXCUSE ME??!! PRE-WHAT? 🤩🤩😭🥺🥹😍😭🤩
OMG KALLUZEB REAL COMFIRMED??! 🥹🤩 pic.twitter.com/ymESVn4k9x
— Begoña 💙 (@Bego_447) September 27, 2023
So, does this mean Star Wars is making Zeb and Kallus’ unlikely romance official?
Coming right from the source, it certainly seems so. However, Lucasfilm’s marketing team could also simply be playing into the “Kalluzeb” phenomenon, appeasing shippers who have long wished to see this pair together in canon.
There’s also the chance that in this context, “Kalluzeb” doesn’t necessarily point to a romantic relationship and, instead, refers simply to their friendship/bromance. “Pre-Kalluzeb” could be a nod to “The Honorable Ones,” which acted as a turning point for Kallus’ character arc. In the episode, Zeb shows humanity and compassion to Kallus when trapped on an icy wasteland together, planting the seeds of rebellion into the ISB officer’s mind and thus causing him to part ways with the Empire.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to see if Kallus appears in the Ahsoka show in some capacity, which Dave Filoni himself confirmed was a spiritual successor to Rebels. So far, Zeb has only been name-dropped in the series, but the character already made his “Mando-Verse” debut in full, live-action glory earlier this year.
Seeing these two reunited onscreen, romantic or not, would be a treat for longtime Rebels fans, considering we have no idea what Kallus has been up to since the war’s end. But only time will tell if this duo is, perhaps, a little less platonic than some may think it to be.
The season finale of Ahsoka premieres on Disney+ on Tuesday, October 3, at 6 p.m. PT.
Do you think this tweet was Star Wars’ subtle way of confirming “Kalluzeb,” or are fans overthinking it? Let us know in the comments below.