More than a decade after her debut in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, directed by Dave Filoni, Ahsoka keeps returning to Star Wars. From a canon-breaking character in what many deemed as a “kid’s movie” to an audience-favorite Jedi whose Star Wars legacy continues to be built, Ahsoka has had one of the most interesting character progressions in the Star Wars franchise. An argument can be made that Ahsoka has already become as important to Star Wars as original movie characters such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, yet some of her Star Wars appearances were more surprising than expected.
There are not many characters who have lived throughout the Star Wars prequels timeline, the original trilogy timeline, and the post-Return of the Jedi timeline. Ahsoka has been involved in major events in all three main parts of the Star Wars canon, plus there is no confirmation of whether Ahsoka is alive during the events of the Star Wars sequels, meaning that it is entirely possible for Ahsoka to keep returning in future projects. While seeing such an iconic Star Wars character appearing in new shows is always exciting, Dave Filoni has brought Ahsoka back several times now – even when her story was seemly over. As the character’s creator, it makes sense that Filoni would be interested in revisiting her story. However, there are also narrative reasons why Star Wars‘ apparent refusal to let Ahsoka go actually makes sense, with the character effectively bridging the gap between different Star Wars eras and connecting otherwise disparate parts of the saga.
Every Time Dave Filoni Brought Ahsoka Back
Clone Wars season 5, episode 20, “The Wrong Jedi” was the first of three Clone Wars endings. At the time, that was expected to be the last Clone Wars episode ever released, and it was most fitting that it covered Ahsoka’s departure from the Jedi Order. “The Wrong Jedi” finally answered the question of where was Ahsoka during Revenge of the Sith, and it ended with a bittersweet scene of Ahsoka walking toward the sunset. However, once Clone Wars returned for a sixth season on Netflix, popularly known as Clone Wars: The Lost Missions, Ahsoka briefly appeared in Yoda’s visions. A couple of years later, Ahsoka would return in Star Wars Rebels.
At the end of Rebels season 1, a show on which Dave Filoni also worked, the spy Fulcrum was revealed to be Ahsoka. At the same time, Darth Vader arrived on Lothal, thus setting up a confrontation between Ahsoka and her former master Anakin in Rebels season 2. Ahsoka had a lot of screen time in Rebels season 2, to the point the finale “Twilight of the Apprentice” was more focused on Ahsoka’s fight against Darth Vader than on original characters like Sabine, Hera, and Zeb. Ahsoka apparently died after fighting Darth Vader in “Twilight of the Apprentice”, but Filoni would later reveal in Rebels season 4 that Ahsoka was alive.
Rebels’ “A World Between Worlds”, an episode that introduced time travel in Star Wars, showed that Ahsoka had never died fighting Darth Vader but instead time traveled into the future for a few minutes. The time travel gimmick allowed Ahsoka to return to her original timeline after the fight against Vader, thus bringing the character back to Star Wars. Ahsoka would later appear in the Rebels epilogue, which set up a new storyline of Sabine and Ahsoka looking for Ezra and Thrawn. Filoni once again surprised viewers with Ahoksa appearing in the “Mandoverse” – this time in live-action. More recently, Ahsoka was the focus of three Tales of the Jedi episodes.
Why Ahsoka Is So Important To Dave Filoni
Dave Filoni co-created Ahsoka along with George Lucas for the Clone Wars movie and would later write dozens of Clone Wars episodes featuring the character. Although the idea of an Anakin having a padawan was a significant retcon, Dave Filoni wrote Ahsoka into an essential Star Wars character. Therefore, it makes sense for Filoni to be protective of Ahsoka and always continue her story in some way. An interesting example of how important Ahsoka is to Dave Filoni was when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s “All the Jedi” scene suggested that Ahsoka was dead, only for Filoni to reveal via Twitter that she could still be alive during the Star Wars sequels.
The Ahsoka Series Can Fix Star Wars’ Ahsoka Problem
From Star Wars Rebels to The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka has had some surprising Star Wars appearances – many of which saw Ahsoka “stealing the show”. That happened in Rebels season 2, The Mandalorian season 2, and The Book of Boba Fett episode 6. Fortunately, Ahsoka will now have her own live-action TV show as part of the Mandoverse. Given that Clone Wars was an ensemble anthology series, Ahsoka never really had her own Star Wars show, therefore her story would always continue as part of other characters’ journeys. Now, 15 years after the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, Dave Filoni has the chance to tell an Ahsoka-centered story in Disney+’s Ahsoka, without potentially detracting from other Star Wars adventures.
