In the AV Club review for Star Wars Rebel’s Legacy the reviewer made an interesting point, that he doesn’t necessarily buy into the ‘family’ dynamic that has been pushed over the last two season. Other people I admire have made similar points. And I sort of agree with them, as cute as the Space(Blank) appellations are, they don’t exactly reflect the very complicated reality. So I decided to break down, crew member by crew member, how exactly I think the fam works out from their perspective. 

Kanan 

Kanan probably has the most alien approach to family, you can take the boy from the Jedi, but you can’t totally excise the Jedi from the boy. Kanan grew up in a collective environment, with no idea who his parents were. The strongest relationship in his past is with his master, and that wasn’t precisely parental. Very loving, but a mentor-ship that starts in the child’s early teens does not fall into traditional parameters of parenthood. Kanan then spent several years as an itinerant jack of all trades, and it shows in his relationships. Hera is many things, captain, friend, something else I’m presuming they can’t definitively state on Disney channel, but it’s definitely complicated and not entirely codified the way a legal marriage would be. Zeb is definitely not a child to him, despite the jokes, in fact his relationship with him best mirror baby Caleb’s with the clones, a very casual one between a younger superior officer and an older soldier, amped up a little more by the Ghost’s general loose structure and friendly dynamic. With Ezra it’s the simplest, Kanan sees him as a Padawan. Sure, it’s marred by Kanan’s mixed feeling on the matter of having a Padawan, but when he gets past his issues he sees Ezra as an apprentice, not a child, because that’s the type of relationship he knows. Similarly he sees Sabine as a young person, not quite at Ezra’s level of needing to be mentored, but still minor in need of general supervision in the Jedi manner, which means a lot of vague advice and well meaning child endangerment. He may make jokes about “the kids” but when it comes down to behavior Ezra is a Padawan first. In short, he loves his crew a lot, but Kanan would never seriously identify himself as a parent. 

Hera

Hera is a very nurturing, in control individual who clearly comes from a family that had a huge influence on her values and lifestyle. She values family a lot, and is the second or third most likely member of the crew to assign the word family to their situation. She’s the emotional center of the crew, their long term policy maker, and most recently their highest ranked member. She definitely takes on a role of responsibility when it comes to everyone on her ship, and that responsibility is most pronounced with Sabine and Ezra for obvious reasons. She and Kanan are close colleagues with an old relationship, she and Zeb are friends, and even then she’s clearly the authority figure in both relationships. With Sabine and Ezra she’s even more caring, she clearly understands how complicated the teenage brain can be and takes the time to make sure both of the adolescents on her crew are emotionally healthy and making good choices. But it’s important to remember that Hera is only in her twenties herself, no where near old enough to be Sabine and Ezra’s mother, and she’s very focused on the Rebellion. I can’t say with any certainty what she think of their ties, she clearly values the Ghost team a lot and has used familial terminology in the past, however jokingly. While I think she’s aware of how their dynamic comes off, and doesn’t mind joking about it,  I would guess she sees Sabine and Ezra as more younger siblings figures, Kanan as a partner, and Zeb as a slightly immature friend. 

Zeb

Is easy, he’s a military man and he acts it. Forget straight laced soldiers, in truth your average squad of young people in the military can reliably pass for a college party on their off time and often develop strong bonds. There’s a reason you hear phrases like brother at arms. Zeb was probably separated from his people when he was one of those talented but wild young military professionals and in many ways I think that’s the dynamic he falls back on with the Ghost. He knows how to straighten up when he really needs to, but otherwise hides his trauma under general goofiness and a good nature, which isn’t the worst way to handle it. Hera and Kanan are commanding officers, Sabine’s generally an equal, and Ezra’s the rookie. In a lot of ways small groups of soldiers like this can become family, and I think the Ghost definitely qualifies, but even at their strongest that dynamic is never going to mimic a western nuclear family, and I don’t think Zeb thinks of them that way. 

Sabine

Here’s where the Space Family really takes off, because I think Sabine is, however quietly, one of the biggest proponents of the Space Dad/Space Mum style interpretation of the Ghost. Sabine’s Rebel Sketchbook contains gems like, “Hera’s not my Mom!” and joking putdowns of Kanan. Sabine’s background is still mostly a mystery, but we do know she spent a while at the Academy, and probably hasn’t seen any family that she does have since her preteens. She also has a strong anti authoritarian streak, and a need for purpose in her life. By framing the Ghost as a traditional Western family, Mom, Dad, cool older brother and annoying younger one, Sabine distances herself from military style command structures that have hurt her in the past. It also gives her a more permanent and well defined support structure, something even an independent minded teenager might want. But even if Sabine feels this way at times I don’t think it’s something she always wants or has totally accepted, she clearly still nurses trust issues, and tendency towards self supporting. Meanwhile Hera and Kanan see her as much as a soldier as a child. So while I think she does see Kanan and Hera in a parental light at times, their relationship is much more complicated than just that, and she certainly isn’t going to actively voice these feelings. Similarly Zeb is much more than a fraternal figure. I would say that Ezra tends to get pigeonholed into annoying younger sibling in Sabine’s mind, but that also serves a pragmatic purpose in removing any possible romance from their relationship, so I think Sabine is the quickest to accept that pseudo familial bond.

Ezra

Ezra is the only crew member of the Ghost who we know spent his early years in a two parent house hold, he’s the only one for whom we can say that what we think of as family is the default. First coming onto the Ghost he clearly is hesitant to get attached, that mistrust and a teenage crush on Sabine keeps him from actively identifying the crew as his family. As time passes however he becomes more and more comfortable with it. I would argue that he sees Hera and Kanan in the most uncomplicated parental light, he doesn’t have Sabine’s emotional reserve or particular brand of cynicism, and unlike Zeb he is not an adult. But he does still have other parents, and it’s important to remember that. Mira and Ephraim Bridger are always going to be his parents first and foremost.  He almost certainly see Hera and Kanan as parental, they do fill some of that role in his life, but they’re also teachers and commanders and they’ll never be able to entirely replace what he lost. As he slowly gets over Sabine he starts to slip into a more sibling-like place with her, again, I think Sabine and Ezra would probably be the most comfortable defining themselves as close to siblings, possibly due to their similarity in age and the fact that “like as sister to me” carries a little less weight than the parental equivalent, possibly because parents are seen as more exclusive. But they still have a way to go before the term entirely fits. With Zeb, Ezra is a bro, that’s the best word for it. He’s clearly younger but generally I think Zeb and Ezra are more friends than siblings. 

Chopper is half murderous cat, half morally bereft teammate. Chopper is always easy. 

To make a long post short, Space Family means different things to every member of it, it’s not cut and dried, but it still qualifies as a family. Family means a lot of things, and it’s not always as simple as SpaceWhatever. These are characters from wildly different backgrounds, fairly close in ages, with lots of trauma in their pasts, so family is always going to be a word that’s a little fraught and a lot complicated.