New interview with Executive Producer Dave Filoni.

Here's an excerpt:

Q: The characters in “Star Wars Rebels” seem to be operating in their own space separate from the “Star Wars” world we know. We see Obi-Wan in a hologram (in the movie) and that’s pretty much it. To what extent are we going to see other characters that we know?

A: Something that I think is very important to the future of “Star Wars” is to take what has traditionally been the Skywalker family timeline and (stretches his hands to the sides) go way over here and way over here. … It is such a rich universe, and there are other possibilities with so many characters.

We were pretty confident that we could create this crew, and people would get invested in following this little family unit, even though they’re not involved in the bigger goings on in the films. … It just gives you more dimension to the galaxy, and breadth to the tale. For our money, we don’t really ever need to cross over with it. We can create our own little thing over here.

Q: Everyone making “Star Wars” is under one roof now. To what extent are you talking to the people making other properties?

A: Quite a bit. It’s a new thing at Lucasfilm to have multiple “Star Wars” projects happening at one time, especially cinematically. There were always books and comics and video games and we’d collaborate with different groups. But this is on a tremendous scale. We always have to watch what we’re doing, and think 30 years down the line. “Is there an implication for that?”

It’s really fun. It’s fun to work with a creative story team. We didn’t have a story team before. It was George. It’s great to have ideas to bounce off people, to give opinions on. And to see other people deal with the pressure – the weight of what it means to take on “Star Wars.”