It was a continuation of a clone wars thing. It didn't come out of nowhere.
In season 3 of clone wars, Anakin, Obi-wan, and Ahsoka visit Mortis and encounter the three force celestials (the Father, Son, and Daughter) who try to take Anakin as their successor. This story was from Lucas himself, and the original plot for the last three movies was supposed to involve the force gods and the resolution of their conflict. Luke was supposed to go there and it would finally explain the whole balance the force prophecy thing.
Anyway, towards the end of Rebels, Ezra enters their realm. Morai, a form or familiar of the daughter, leads him to Ahsoka.
One of the things Rebels establishes is that force users are potentially capable of being so much more than just spoon bending precogs with laser swords. A strong enough force user can do 40k eldar shit like creating webways.
In short, Filoni was working from Lucas's materials for VII-IX as they were when Lucas sold the company to Disney, and Rebels was setting the stage for those movies.
It was a continuation of a clone wars thing. It didn't come out of nowhere.
In season 3 of clone wars, Anakin, Obi-wan, and Ahsoka visit Mortis and encounter the three force celestials (the Father, Son, and Daughter) who try to take Anakin as their successor. This story was from Lucas himself, and the original plot for the last three movies was supposed to involve the force gods and the resolution of their conflict. Luke was supposed to go there and it would finally explain the whole balance the force prophecy thing.
Anyway, towards the end of Rebels, Ezra enters their realm. Morai, a form or familiar of the daughter, leads him to Ahsoka.
One of the things Rebels establishes is that force users are potentially capable of being so much more than just spoon bending precogs with laser swords. A strong enough force user can do 40k eldar shit like creating webways.
In short, Filoni was working from Lucas's materials for VII-IX as they were when Lucas sold the company to Disney, and Rebels was setting the stage for those movies.