She's gone. Spoiler Probably not dead based on what was said at Celebration, but she won't be reappearing on the show anytime soon.
They wanted to continue Ahsoka's story, and also depict what they felt was a pivotal moment in Vader's history, confronting his old apprentice. I like to think that his helmet getting cracked here was the gateway to the later good in him that Luke felt in ROTJ. Obviously not enough, but still something. Ahsoka was also useful because she was the only one who could go toe-to-toe with Vader and live. It'd be unrealistic and silly to have Vader around for longer than he was because like we saw in Siege of Lothal, he is perfectly capable of wiping out all of Phoenix Squadron in a day. Can't let him look weak like eventually the Inquisitors did. Though I do hear that the Inquisitors will come back and more will be made of that power struggle deal that they rumbled about a lot off-screen but we never saw on-screen.
That's definately the same design as the Ghost, but the Hammerhead is different to the one in the show. I also spy the obscure gunship from ROTJ on the right and maybe the top left as well.
You know I don't see why it woundn't be the Ghost for any reason. It's a ship in the Rebel Alliance and Rebels takes place two years before ANH(though hasn't one year passed already?). If the Rebels are going to make a big push it makes perfect sense for the Ghost and crew to be there. Now I'm hoping we can just get like one shot in the cockpit of crew responding to comms.
OMG! I really hope that's the Ghost, and that we get to hear Hera's voice actor over the coms. However, I'm not gonna get my hopes up for the latter. It's probably just gonna be a visual Easter Egg.
I don't see it being anymore different than how Dash Rendar's Outrider was in ANH SE. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Star Wars movies have a history of showing the various pilots, even when they aren't named. It probably won't happen, but I think there's at least a small chance Hera will make a quick 2 second cameo as the ships all check in prior to the attack.
Honestly, I kinda hope she doesn't have a visual cameo. That way, if they at one point decide to give her a bigger role one of the many, many movies they say they're gonna make, they don't have to worry about the actor they chose for her hypothetical Rogue One cameo not being available, and having to recast her.
It'd still create discontinuity between her live action looks. I mean, she's already a fair bit older than Hera's meat to be. If they decide to give the character a larger live action role in, say, ten years, they'd definitely have to recast her. That said, if would be awesome if she got to play a live action version of the character, even if only for a moment.
