Did Vader Know That Rex Survived?

This is one of those lingering Star Wars questions that keeps coming up in fan discussions—and for good reason. At the end of the Clone Wars, Vader believes Ahsoka is dead, having found her lightsaber left behind in the wreckage. But what about Rex?

We know Rex didn’t leave his helmet behind with the rest, and that raises a real question—would Vader just assume his second-in-command, someone he trusted deeply, had also died? And if he suspected Rex might have survived… would he have tried to find him?

We eventually see Rex alive and well in Star Wars Rebels, living in isolation with a few fellow clones, long after the rise of the Empire. But that leaves us wondering—did Vader ever find out? Did he know that Rex, one of the clones closest to Anakin Skywalker, had escaped and walked away from it all?

There’s no direct canon answer—but we can piece together the clues.

Vader Would Never Care if Rex Were Still Alive or Dead

We are talking about the end of The Clone Wars final season—an episode that many fans consider one of the best in the entire series. At the end, we all know what happened to Rex and Ahsoka.

After Order 66 was activated, Rex, under the control of his inhibitor chip, was forced to turn on Ahsoka. But thanks to her quick thinking, she was able to remove the chip and bring Rex back to himself. What followed was a powerful and emotional escape, with the two refusing to kill their fellow clones, even as they were being hunted. They crashed the Republic cruiser during their escape and buried the fallen soldiers, marking the end of an era.

Later, we see the rise of the Empire, and a haunting scene where Vader arrives at the crash site. As snow falls around the buried clones, he discovers Ahsoka’s lightsaber lying in the wreckage. However, he doesn’t show any emotion, and it’s unclear whether he believes Ahsoka is alive or dead. And if he doesn’t care about her fate, it’s even more likely he felt the same way about Rex—just another clone trooper who once served under Anakin Skywalker.

It’s easy to imagine Anakin Skywalker mourning someone like Captain Rex. They fought side by side through the toughest battles of the Clone Wars, and Anakin wasn’t the kind of general who saw his troops as disposable. We even saw it when Fives tried to expose the inhibitor chip conspiracy. Anakin listened, took it seriously, and pushed for answers. That moment showed just how much he respected the clones and was willing to trust them, even when the system around them wouldn’t.

But that version of Anakin was gone. Once he became Darth Vader, personal connections—especially to the clones—meant nothing. The friendships, the loyalty, even the truth about what Fives died trying to reveal—all of it was buried under the weight of Vader’s transformation.

To Vader, Rex wasn’t a traitor… but he also wasn’t worth his attention. He wasn’t a Jedi, wasn’t part of the Rebellion, and didn’t pose any real threat to the Empire. Even if Vader did learn that Rex survived and went into hiding, it’s likely he wouldn’t have cared. His mission was to hunt Jedi and enforce the Emperor’s will—not chase down an old soldier who quietly walked away.

Vader Believed Rex Was Already Dead

When we look at the final scene of The Clone Wars, with clone helmets carefully placed in the snow, it feels like a memorial. Someone clearly survived long enough to honor the fallen—but there’s nothing that directly reveals who. And that’s exactly the point. The scene was designed to leave no trail. Rex didn’t leave his helmet behind, and without a body or any identifying gear, there was nothing to suggest he was ever there. From the Empire’s perspective, if Rex had survived and remained loyal, he would’ve returned to Coruscant like any good soldier. But he didn’t. He vanished.

Ahsoka, on the other hand, intentionally left her lightsabers at the site—an emotional but strategic move. To anyone who came looking, it would look like she died there too. And if she was gone, then it was easy to assume Rex died alongside her.

This assumption is reinforced in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3, Episode 7, “Extraction.” When Rex reunites with Commander Wolffe, Wolffe expresses surprise, stating, “I thought you were dead. The reports said you were killed in action.” This indicates that official records listed Rex as killed in action following the Venator’s crash, further supporting the notion that Vader and the Empire had no reason to suspect his survival.

So when the Empire eventually recovered the crash site and filed their official report, Rex was listed as killed in action. That alone would’ve been enough for Vader. If the records said Rex died with the rest of the clones, there was no reason for him to question it.

By the Time Rex Resurfaced, Vader Had Moved On

By the time we get to Star Wars Rebels, Rex is living out in the open with Wolffe and Gregor on the planet Seelos. In Season 2, Episode 3, “The Lost Commanders,” the Ghost crew finds them alive and well, long after the Clone Wars have ended. What’s interesting is that Wolffe had already reported their location to the Empire out of fear, thinking they could get in trouble for helping rebels.

That alone means the Empire was most likely made aware of Rex’s survival. Whether Vader personally read the report or not, Rex was no longer truly in hiding. But here’s the thing: no one came after them.

The Empire didn’t send troops. There was no bounty. Vader didn’t make a move. It’s possible that by this point, Rex was seen as irrelevant—a relic of a war the Empire had already moved past