Almost since the first hints at the upcoming Disney Plus Star Wars spinoff series Ahsoka, fans have speculated that the show would effectively continue some hanging storylines they've been dying to see tied up. Lucky for them, it looks as though series creator Dave Filoni has some good news.
The animated series Star Wars Rebels concluded on a pretty heavy cliffhanger regarding the fates of Grand Admiral Thrawn and the show's young Jedi star Ezra Bridger. So when Ahsoka cast Eman Esfandi as Ezra, hopes of finally seeing what happened began to rise once again. The fact that Ahsoka will also prominently feature the Mandalorian Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who was also a mainstay on Rebels, didn't hurt that optimism either. But while the show's creator likes seeing the new series as a continuation, he doesn't necessarily view it in the same way as some fans seem to.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Filoni spoke about just that subject, which he naturally had to since he was directly asked about it. "That's an interesting question," he mused when asked if Ahsoka is a new Star Wars Rebels season. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it, because of the epilogue that I did in Rebels. Definitely, all signs are indicating that there's a continuation." That sounds pretty cut and dry at first glance, but it's also clear that it's not exactly how he views the situation.
"For me, when I'm telling those stories, I don't limit things like, 'Oh, well, I did it in animation, so I would do it distinctly different in live action,'" Filoni explained of his process. "There's just the story that it is, and I was telling it in one medium." In other words, to Filoni, the idea appears to be less about continuing the story of Rebels in another show and more about simply continuing the story he wants to tell. The fact that it happens to tie together two different shows in two different mediums may be a technicality.
Star Wars Rebels ended on a cliffhanger where Ezra, with the help of the hyperspace-traveling space whales known as the purrgil, jumped himself and Grand Admiral Thrawn through light speed into the unknown reaches of the galaxy. He did this as a last gambit to sacrifice himself and save the rest of the rebels who would have otherwise likely suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Empire. The show's epilogue saw Ahsoka, herself a rather unconventional Jedi as established in The Clone Wars series, setting out to find Ezra alongside Sabine, which explains why Ahsoka is so hell-bent on finding Thrawn during her first appearance on The Mandalorian.
So while Filoni might not see Ahsoka as a straight continuation of Rebels, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't exactly that. Fans can likely expect to finally see the conclusion they've been hoping for, and probably a touch extra. Sounds like a good deal for anybody hankering for more Star Wars content.
Ahsoka is set to premiere in August 2023 on Disney Plus.
Source: Entertainment Weekly