Ahsoka’s finale expands the universe, but does it expand too thin?

Lucasfilm Co., Ltd.

Spoiler alert: This story explores the major plot developments in the Season 1 finale of “Ahsoka,” currently streaming on Disney+.

There’s a brief moment in the penultimate episode of “Ahsoka” Season 1 in which characters from at least four different eras of “Star Wars” occupy the same scene. The newest character is New Republic ranger Captain Carson Teva (Paul Seung-Hyun Lee), who first appeared in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian in 2020. Next, General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the focus of this scene, first appeared in the animated series Star Wars: Rebels in 2014, voiced by Vanessa Marshall. Presiding over everything is Chancellor Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), who single-handedly occupied his three different eras of “Star Wars.” She first appeared (briefly) in 1983’s Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, played by Caroline Blakiston, then played by O’Reilly in 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (and briefly) has appeared. after that He appeared in 2016’s “Rogue One” and had an even bigger presence in the first season of the Disney+ series “Andor” in 2022. Finally, he saves the day again with a surprise appearance in Ahsoka: C-3PO (Anthony) Daniels) delivers the first line in Star Wars history in 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope. A loyal protocol droid that speaks the line (“Did you hear that?”).

Huh! Even in this era of legacy sequels and franchise universes, bringing all these characters together is a testament to why Star Wars is one of the most enduring cultural forces of the past 50 years. It’s true proof. I’m not sure if that was the case, but good story — or at least whether that kind of storytelling will keep Star Wars going for another 50 years.

On one level, “Ahsoka” employs the same kind of simple plot that “The Mandalorian” first employed. Throughout the season, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) attempts to stop Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) from returning. While reuniting with her former protégé Sabine Wren (Natasha Lew Bordizo), Sabine reunites with her long-lost best friend Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), who disappeared with Sloane. I long for it. Every episode advances these twin stories in a clear and distinct way, introducing new worlds, creatures and mythology into the “Star Wars” canon, but those elements never overwhelm the central plot. Never. It all culminates in a classic reversal. Thrawn and Ezra escape exile and return to their homeworld, but Ahsoka and Sabine remain trapped on the same abandoned planet where Thrawn and Ezra have lived for decades.

But even with those conditions in mind, “Ahsoka” represents an ambitious strategy. Dave Filoni, the show’s creator and sole writer, built the show on the foundation laid by his two animated shows, which were co-created by the majority of Star Wars fans. I’ve never seen it. The story of Ahsoka’s crowning show is Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which aired on Cartoon Network for five seasons from 2008 to 2013, followed by one season on Netflix in 2014, and a final season on Disney+ in 2020. Mainly quoted from. The storyline of Thrawn, Sabine, and Ezra is based on Star Wars Rebels, which aired for four seasons on Disney XD from 2014 to 2018.

Filoni doesn’t leave “Ahsoka” audiences completely in the dark. The relationships between the characters are detailed enough that even people who have never seen The Clone Wars or Rebels can understand. But that’s all.Deeper emotional background – why Sabine is so deeply attached to Ezra, why Ahsoka is so often lonely, even Thrawn teeth And to find out why his return is such a threat, and how Ezra and Thrawn were exiled to another galaxy in the first place, check out the 208 episodes of The Clone Wars and Rebels. For those who don’t have it, it’s out of reach. (That’s roughly 75 hours of content, compared to his 11 live-action Star Wars movies, which are just under 25 hours long.)

This would be fine if “Ahsoka” itself charged the fee. just As a continuation of those two shows. ‘Ahsoka’ promotes something similar to the way ‘Star Trek’ fandom has operated for over 30 years by serving a specific subculture of the ‘Star Wars’ fanbase may be helpful. Almost everyone has a “Trek” title, but not everyone needs to love, much less watch, every “Trek” title. (Andor, which turned Star Wars into a vehicle for grounded human drama, is a perfect example of this kind of classification. Love But some Star Wars fans feel it’s not for them, and that’s okay. Even healthy! )

However, “Ahsoka” Also A spinoff of “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett,” Lucasfilm announced in April that it would culminate in Filoni’s feature film about the threat looming over the fledgling New Republic. It is part of a broader, interconnected story. So “Star Wars” fans who want to keep up with the story must watch “Ahsoka,” even if they’ve never seen “The Clone Wars” or “Rebels.”

This kind of narrative expansion can feel exciting, embracing the seemingly endless storytelling possibilities inherent in the Star Wars universe. But as Marvel Studios recently discovered, expanding a cinematic universe for its own sake can end up diluting the series dangerously.

Consider the aforementioned Ahsoka scene with four traditional Star Wars characters. I had to find out if C-3PO and General Syndulla ever shared a scene together. They were only seconds apart on the third-ever episode of “Rebels.” But Filoni couldn’t expect the entire Ahsoka audience to know that, so rather than have General Syndulla tell C-3PO something like, “Hey, now you’re on my plane. “I think it’ll make up for the time we spent stowaway on board the ship and inadvertently alerted the Empire to our presence,” they said awkwardly, looking at each other like co-workers at a forced office party. All I could do was stare. All the emotional energy of the scene comes from our external relationships to these characters occupying the same space, and not from their relationships to each other. It’s interesting as fan service, but as a drama it’s a meaningless dead end.

Filoni is much more successful at this kind of interconnectedness in episode 5 of Ahsoka, which reunites Ahsoka with former Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). They meet in the Worlds Between Worlds, a metaphysical nexus of space and time first introduced in “Rebels,” and while unexplained in “Ahsoka,” Anakin brings them together in “The Clone Wars.” Taking us on a tour of our time together, everyone pauses the action to unravel what we’re seeing. That doesn’t matter. Dawson and Christensen bring a palpable spark to the connection between their characters, even though they’ve never played against each other before. They are important to each other and very important. Therefore, they are important to us.

But “Star Wars” can’t prosper if it just keeps reviving the past over and over again. Even “Andor” was created as a preface to “Rogue One,” which itself is a preface to “A New Hope.” Lucasfilm seems to understand this. Disney+’s new series The Acolyte, due out next year, is set 100 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but it’s still possible that a slightly younger Yoda will appear from time to time. Masu. Meanwhile, director James Mangold has revealed that he is planning a feature film set 25,000 years in the past. variety In June, “The Ten Commandments” on the Dawn of the Force will be released.

“Ahsoka” goes even further in its ways, spending its final episode in an entirely different galaxy never before explored in “Star Wars” history. In fact, the most exciting part of the finale (of the series, perhaps of the season) is that Ahsoka and Sabine get stuck there. Of course, they inevitably return home to fight Thrawn, Avengers: Endgame style, with Din Djarin, Grogu, Fennec Shand, and others. I just hope they’re not in a big hurry to get there.