The Ahsoka Disney+ series is just around the corner, bringing the titular former Jedi back in a new Star Wars adventure. The story will follow Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren as a master and apprentice duo in what has been described as a continuation of Star Wars Rebels, though several years after the show and during The Mandalorian‘s timeline. Many of the animated Rebels characters will be making their live-action debuts, including Sabine, Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, and Grand Admiral Thrawn.
While Ahsoka has appeared prominently in an episode of The Mandalorian season 2 and made a cameo in The Book of Boba Fett, the timeline of these shows has never been solidified. It’s known that The Mandalorian began five years after Return of the Jedi, which took place in 4 ABY. This would mean that Ahsoka’s live-action debut in The Mandalorian season 2 would have taken place during 9 ABY at earliest, with her spinoff series set an unspecified amount of time later.
Ahsoka Show Is Set Around 9-12 ABY In Star Wars’ Timeline
While Star Wars hasn’t confirmed a specific year, based on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, 12 ABY seems about right for when Ahsoka will take place in the Star Wars timeline. The events of Ahsoka and The Mandalorian season 3 run concurrently, explaining Ahsoka’s absence from the effort to reclaim Mandalore. Showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have been tight-lipped about the amount of time between The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian season 3. Din Djarin’s speech in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 5 may have retconned what year it takes place in, though the series’ creators have suggested the events could also be transpiring in the same year of 9 ABY.
However, if each season of The Mandalorian takes place in separate years and Ahsoka is happening concurrently, that would mean it’s been less than a decade since the fall of the Empire. The New Republic is still struggling to establish their government, particularly across the Outer Rim, as Mon Mothma and other officials are unaware of Moff Gideon’s schemes on Mandalore and the pending return of Thrawn. Mothma still being Chancellor indicates that Ahsoka is taking place within the first 10 or so years of the New Republic, as the position requires stability while the controlling interest in the galaxy settles in.
How Long After Star Wars Rebels Is Ahsoka?
Most of Rebels took place between 5 and 1 BBY. The show highlighted the formation of the Rebel Alliance, but never overlapped with the events of Rogue One or the original Star Wars trilogy. However, the epilogue of Rebels, which showed Ahsoka and Sabine reuniting in an epilogue, takes place after the Battle of Endor. At that point, Sabine had a much different hairstyle than she does in the Ahsoka marketing, which features her cutting her longer hair in an homage to Jedi Kanan Jarrus. If Ahsoka does take place around 12 ABY, then it would have been about 14 years since Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger was lost in space after the liberation of Lothal, and the epilogue of Rebels is part of the live-action show’s present-day events.
The current timeline of both Ahsoka and The Mandalorian is still unclear, but clarification may be on its way. Because of Filoni’s The Mandalorian film that will wrap up the era of both shows, it stands to reason that they will take place simultaneously, and the timeline will become clearer as events build towards a culmination. While The Mandalorian season 3 didn’t explicitly state when it took place in the Star Wars timeline, Ahsoka will have more opportunity to do so as it establishes what the familiar characters from Rebels have been up to in the interim.
Episodes 1 and 2 of Ahsoka premiere Wednesday, August 23 on Disney+.
