As you may recall, but perhaps not entirely care or understand, Lucasfilm kind of broke the internet on Friday with their latest episode of “The Mandalorian.” Titled “The Jedi,” the episode finally introduced the long-rumored Rosario Dawson playing fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano—Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan learner who was featured on the animated series “Star Wars: Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels,” series that was co-created and lead by Lucasfilm’s animation chief Dave Filoni.
READ MORE: ‘The Mandalorian’: Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano Rumored To Receive Spin-Off Series
Filoni has since graduated to live-action, is a co-creator, exec producer, and writer/director on Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian,” and fittingly, he wrote and directed “The Jedi” episode that introduced Ahsoka into the world of live-action. We covered some of the story yesterday, but curiously, a piece of Q&A was added after the fact in Vanity Fair’s interview with Filoni and Dawson. It’s a bit nerdy, fair warning, but for fans, it’s a big deal.
So, in the episode, Ahsoka Tano reveals her “larger quest” and mission, “Where’s Thrawn?” she asks menacingly, meaning Imperial officer Grand Admiral Thrawn, last seen being shot into the deep unknowns of space with Jedi Ezra Bridger at the end of “Star War Rebels.” In short, the day had been saved, the war won, but the Rebels lost Ezra (and Thrawn) and were completely unaware where he’d gone. “Star Wars Rebels” ends with an epilogue, Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren (a Mandalorian Rebel), going off in space searching for Ezra Bridger. It’s many years later, and we’re not exactly sure when it is.
Many fans assume that Ahsoka’s appearance on “The Mandalorian” comes after the epilogue, but a cagey Filoni wouldn’t commit to that reading and even suggested her ‘Mando’ appearance could come before the epilogue.
The question is this: “That quest, we learn, is a search for the villain Grand Admiral Thrawn. The last time fans saw Ahsoka was this spring’s finale of The Clone Wars, but in the actual Star Wars chronology, the last time we saw her was at the end of Rebels, venturing off with Sabine Wren to find Ezra Bridger, who vanished along with Thrawn. Where does that scene fit in with where we find her in The Mandalorian?“
The answer is this: “It’s an interesting one… That’s not necessarily chronological. I think the thing that people will most not understand is they want to go in a linear fashion, but as I learned as a kid, nothing in ‘Star Wars’ really works in a linear fashion. You do [Episodes] Four, Five, and Six and then One, Two, and Three. So in the vein of that history, when you look at the epilogue of Rebels, you don’t really know how much time has passed. So, it’s possible that the story I’m telling in The Mandalorian actually takes place prior to that. Possible. I’m saying it’s possible.”
So, that’s no-committal, but he’s definitely raising the possibility. What does it matter? Well, for one, it changes the nature of the quest, even though, it’s ostensibly the same one. If it’s set before, and it may very well be, it probably explains why Sabine is not yet with Ahsoka on her quest. It also may mean something that fans have speculated already: if Ahsoka Tano gets a spin-off series, and it pretty much feels guaranteed as she might, that could be a separate story, and the Sabine & Ahsoka “In Search For Ezra” story could still be finally told in animation, thus honoring the character and all the voice actors who originally brought all these characters to life and satisfying pretty much everyone. Time will tell. See, told you, you wouldn’t care.
The rumor making the rounds these days is that Lucasfilm is expected to launch an official TV wing, and people like Favreau and Filoni are going to get some major official posts. Don’t at all be surprised if it happens.
