At New York Comic Con, Hypable spoke to the cast and crew of Star Wars Rebels season 2, where devastating revelations, divided loyalties, and dangerous foes will challenge the crew of the Ghost.

According to showrunner Dave Filoni, the upcoming drama will add dimension to the pantheon of characters populating the Disney XD series. For example, the burley Lasat Zeb will be fleshed out considerably.

“Zeb is an interesting one,” he notes. “We learn a bit more about his history. He’s very challenged this year, Zeb, as far as this conflict he has with [Agent] Callus.”

Callus, the Imperial agent voiced by David Oyelowo, was a key player into the genocide of Zeb’s species. “We really get into a bit more depth of that problem,” Filoni promises. “That will come to direct confrontation at some point this season.”

Kanan too, will find himself conflicted in future episodes.

“Kanan’s very challenged [in that] he’s accepted his role of teacher [to Ezra] in season one,” Filoni says. But “what kind of teacher is he going to be, and what does he believe it means to be a Jedi in this time period, are all up in the air.”

In addition, Kanan will experience some unhappy memories of the final days of the Jedi order. “Seeing the Rebellion militarize right now, and have all these more people and equipment, it starts to remind him a little bit of a war that he already fought,” Filoni says. “And lost.”

Kanan’s relationship with Hera is also something that will continue to percolate – though perhaps not as far as certain fans might like.

“The way I think about it is, Kanan would be the one who would be leaning in, actually, to the relationship,” Filoni muses, in spite of Kanan’s identity as a Jedi.

“That’s not to say that Jedi can’t love people and care very deeply about them, but he just can’t try to possess [Hera],” he says. “He can’t try to make her destiny for her — he has to love her enough to let her go, and let her be her own person.”

For Hera’s part, Star Wars Rebels season 2 will delve into “her great responsibility to this much greater galactic movement,” Filoni hints. “We get into that this year — her conviction to this cause.”

As is often the case for the fearless Twi’lek pilot, the personal is political in nearly all her relationships. The Rebellion “comes up with her father,” who will appear later this season, and “it comes up with Kanan.” Filoni promises. While her feelings for Kanan are real, “In this time, in this moment, is that what’s really on her mind?”

Filoni also notes that the crew of the Ghost will face “a variety of enemies” in Star Wars Rebels season 2. Two new Inquisitors – among them, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Seventh Sister — will be dogging the rebels every step.

Next: Ahsoka’s search, the Dark Side, and Ezra’s greatest challenge

And of course, Darth Vader is a constantly looming threat for the crew. No one feels this more intently than Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano – Anakin’s former apprentice, who is now on the hunt for the powerful Sith Lord.

“Ahosak has questions this season, for sure,” Eckstein says. “She does wonder who this mysterious Sith Lord is, and she’s out to get her questions answered.”

But the former padawan might not be yet be aware of her link to that powerful force of evil.

“So many people, after [the season premiere], thought ‘Ahsoka knows for sure, she knows it’s Anakin,'” Eckstein recalls. “And I was one of the few — and this is just my opinion — I said no, I don’t think she does. I think she suspects something, she felt something. But the fact that Darth Vader could be Anakin Skywalker — literally, she can’t even comprehend it. It’s unfathomable.”

For Eckstein, this uncertainty is part of what makes the story so powerful.

“You can relate it to your real life, even though it’s in a galaxy far, far away,” she says. “So think about it. Somebody that you love so much, to find out that they did something so horrible… I just don’t even think [Ahsoka] thinks it’s even possible. So therefore in her mind, she doesn’t think it’s him. So we’ll see what happens throughout the season, but I think she truly has blocked it out in her mind.”

After all, Eckstein says, “That’s why the say that attachments are the way to the Dark Side. Because when you become attached to someone so much, you don’t want to believe the truth.”

Meanwhile, Taylor Gray (voice of Ezra Bridger) notes that his character will be dealing with his own unexpected attachments. As the preview for Star Wars Rebels season 2 revealed, Ezra’s parents — long thought to be victims of the Empire — are still alive.

“Through the first season, they were brought up a lot,” Gray recalls. “I would ask Dave what happened, and naturally, Dave being Dave, would kind of divert and go around and say ‘We’ll find out.'”

“And it was true,” he says. “Because in the second season, that is addressed, and it gets very deep and dark. We see Ezra getting through [other] situations pretty easily, and kind of in a very cavalier way. This is the one thing that can really hurt him.”

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Gray admits. “But they did tell me before they sent a couple of scripts, they were like, ‘[These] needs to be your best episodes.’ And they were so fun to act out, and we see how that whole storyline plays out, which is gonna be, I think, very cool for fans.”

And the surprises won’t stop with Ezra’s parents. “I’ve gotten every page to every script that we’ve done, except for season 2 finale, the last five pages,” Gray teases. “No one in the cast has seen it. So I am incredibly interested to find out what happened, I have no idea – and it’s a little scary!”

Star Wars Rebels season 2, episodes 3 and 4, “The Lost Commanders,” airs on Oct. 14 at 9:30 p.m. on Disney XD.