This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Ahsoka, the upcoming live-action Star Wars series featuring Ahsoka Tano, will debut its first two episodes on August 23, 2023. While folks are undoubtedly excited to see the show, there is a large segment of the Star Wars fanbase that probably isn’t familiar with the character’s extensive history.

This could be due to much of her life being portrayed on animated shows, which some folks stubbornly refuse to watch despite Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels providing some of the franchise’s best stories. That being said, even the shows’ most ardent fans (myself included) will fully admit that they both have lackluster starts. For anyone who’s wasted hours of their life after a friend followed up their show recommendation with “you just have to keep watching,” you can understand why an animated series is a hard sell — especially to a casual Star Wars fan.

For those folks, we’ve decided to create a guide to get you up to speed on things before the Ahsoka series premiere. Despite series creator Dave Filoni’s instance that you don’t need to have any background on the character, there will definitely be plotlines, moments, and characters that have infinitely more meaning if you know the history behind them.

Before getting started, there are a few things that readers should be aware of:

1. This article will assume you have at least a passing familiarity with the live-action Star Wars films along with The Mandalorian.
2. There will be all types of spoilers for those stories along with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, and Tales of the Jedi (duh).
3. While this article will hit many of the key moments in Ahsoka Tano’s history, it is by no means comprehensive. To get the character’s full/detailed history, you’d need to watch all of the aforementioned series (which really is worth it) or read Ahsoka’s novel-length Wookieepedia entry.

This article will also include lots of embedded video clips, which are not necessary to understand things, but definitely provide more context (and are a lot of fun to watch).

Let’s dive into things by exploring what little we know about Ahsoka’s life before she became a teenager.

Childhood Deferred

Ahsoka Tano was born on the planet Shilli, which is the homeworld of the Togruta species. Another well-known Togruta Star Wars character is Jedi Master Shaak Ti. If you’re not someone who watches the animated shows, then you may recognize her as the Jedi who General Grievous killed in a Revenge of the Sith (third prequel movie) deleted scene.

Ahsoka was recognized as being Force-sensitive at an extremely young age. During an outing with her mom, she was captured by a raxshir (basically a giant sabertooth tiger), who she convinced not to eat her by mentally connecting with it. At the age of three, she was discovered by Jedi Master Plo Koon, who took her to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be trained.

During her Jedi training, Ashoka constructed her first lightsaber under the guidance of a centuries-old droid named Huyang, who you may remember from the end of the Ahsoka series trailer.

It’s worth noting that although this is the chronological beginning of Ahsoka’s life, much of it was told in the recently released Tales of the Jedi. Star Wars fans old and new were thrilled to get even more backstory on the character. Even the particularly cynical/grumpy ones widely consider Ahsoka to be one of the franchise’s best characters.

That was definitely not the case, however, when she first appeared on screen.

Snippy Beginnings

Back in 2008, Lucasfilm released Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated film that led into the animated series of the same name. George Lucas decided that in addition to detailing a pivotal moment in the mythology of Star Wars, he would introduce a 14-year-old padawan who was put under the guidance of Anakin Skywalker near the start of the Clone Wars.

To say that the reaction to Ahsoka was “negative” would be a gross understatement. Fan response to the character was so bad, in fact, that it made voice actor Ashley Eckstein cry.

That sentiment obviously/thankfully changed over the years. At the time, however, most folks (myself included) found the child character to be all types of annoying. It also didn’t help that Anakin Skywalker having a padawan made very little sense. While it’s true that Jedi could take on padawans when they were Knights and not yet Masters, Anakin didn’t become a Knight until shortly after the Clone Wars began. There was also the matter of how Ahsoka’s presence would be retconned in a way that made sense due to her not appearing in Revenge of the Sith.

We’ll actually get to that last issue a bit later. For now, let’s focus on Ahsoka’s history in one of the galaxy’s most brutal conflicts.

Regrets Over Ryloth

As stated before, Ahsoka was an irritating character when she first appeared. This was mostly due to her being quite a bit like her master — impulsive, arrogant, and stubborn. Also like Anakin, she was exceptionally strong in Force, a very good fighter, and a skilled pilot.

After experiencing a fraction of the frustration he’d caused Obi-Wan over the years, Anakin gave her the nickname Snips on account of her snippy attitude.

Side Note: DO NOT try this with your spouse or significant other — even if they are a Star Wars fan.

During the Battle of Ryloth, Ahsoka was put in charge of her own squadron of clones for the first time. While leading them in an aerial assault of a planetary blockade, they were ambushed and trapped by Separatist forces. Anakin and Admiral Yularen ordered her to retreat, but Ahsoka refused, insisting that she and her fighters could press the attack and break through the blockade. Instead of succeeding, nearly the entire squadron was wiped out, including her wing leader.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the fleet’s capital starships were left unprotected and nearly got taken down, as well.

Ahsoka was absolutely devastated. In addition to losing the battle, multiple troops under her command had lost their lives.

Despite her shaken confidence, Anakin and Yularen showed faith in Ahsoka’s abilities and put her in charge of another risky maneuver. With his padawan’s help (and after committing a war crime), Anakin was able to break the blockade by ramming an empty star destroyer into the Separatist command ship.

In addition to the military victory, the battle provided Ahsoka with a sobering dose of humility followed by some inspiring resilience. It also signaled the start of Anakin and Ahsoka’s relationship thawing a bit from its consistently adversarial state.

Forged in Fire

Even the biggest fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will admit the series gets significantly better as it goes along. One of the show’s watershed moments came in season two when the Republic was forced to retake the planet of Geonosis (the planet where the Clone Wars officially started in the second prequel movie).

Although the animation improved substantially over the years, the initial planetary assault portrayed in “Landing at Point Rain” remains one of the show’s most impressive battle sequences. It also served as an example of how far Ahsoka had come as both a Jedi and military commander. Despite her young age, she bravely led her troops into battle without a hint of fear or hesitation.

In addition to her battlefield acumen, Ahsoka’s disagreements with Anakin morphed from an annoying distraction into the voice of the audience. She was able to pick apart his rash/impulsive decisions while being skilled enough to make sure things still worked out.

Anakin often had tunnel vision with regard to how things should go. Ahsoka, on the other hand, recognized the need to be prepared for unforeseen challenges. Both of them had the skill/talent to overcome almost any obstacle, but it was the padawan who often showed the discipline and preparation that her master should have.

One of the best examples of this was when Anakin, Ahsoka, and their clone troopers were forced to take down a heavily guarded barrier that Anakin didn’t expect to encounter. Ahsoka rightfully gives Anakin hell before helping him destroy the wall like a total boss.

Despite overwhelming odds, the Republic was able to break the Geonosian’s defenses and take up positions around the planet’s droid foundry. For the second part of the campaign, they were joined by Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and her padawan Barriss Offee, who was also an exceptionally gifted force-wielder.

Barriss’ introduction into Ahsoka’s life would end up being more impactful than she could possibly imagine.

Fated Destiny

Luminara and Barriss had what most in the Jedi Order would consider to be a perfect master/padawan dynamic. Unlike Ahsoka, Barriss never dared to question or talk back to her master. Luminara repaid this obedience by putting exponentially more trust in Barriss’ judgment/abilities than Anakin had in Ahsoka.

Other key (and arguably more important) differences ended up being revealed during the mission to destroy the foundry.

While Anakin and Luminara led the clone troopers in a frontal assault, Barriss and Ahsoka were tasked with infiltrating the complex and planting explosives. The pair were eventually trapped, but remained in position to complete the mission at the cost of their own lives.

The padawans managed to set the bombs off and destroy the foundry, burying them beneath the rubble in the process. Anakin was beside himself with concern over Ahsoka’s fate, but Luminara was alarmingly sanguine. In her mind, Barriss’ death would simply be the will of the Force in service to the greater good.

As you can imagine, Anakin was not a fan of Luminara’s attitude. He was determined to save Ahsoka no matter what it took — especially since he knew she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Before the padawans ran out of air, Ahsoka managed to hotwire her comlink, providing a location that the Jedi and clone troopers were able to reach and mount a rescue. In addition to proving the value of Ahsoka’s ability to improvise, the ordeal also demonstrated how much Anakin cared about his padawan and believed in her.

The experience also bonded her and Barriss into a friendship that would be tested only hours later.

Foreshadowed Betrayal

Following the Second Battle of Geonosis (which concluded with the death of the Geonosian Queen) Ahsoka and Barriss boarded a medical frigate to deliver supplies to Mace Windu and his troops on the planet Dantooine. Unbeknownst to them, one of their own clone troopers (Scythe) had been infected by a Geonosian brain worm.

Scythe smuggled more brain worm eggs aboard, allowing them to hatch and infect his fellow soldiers. Evil zombie clone troopers would’ve been bad enough, but things became much more dire when Barriss was infected by a brain worm, as well.

Ahsoka eventually learned that the worms reacted negatively to cold temperatures. She then ruptured the ship’s coolant system, causing the temperature to plunge below zero and kill the worms infecting the clones.

Unfortunately, Barriss’ worm proved to be particularly determined, pitting the padawans against each other in the ship’s cockpit. Ahsoka managed to blast her infected friend with a coolant pipe, allowing Barriss a few lucid moments to beg to be killed. Instead, Ahsoka drew the worm out before slicing it with her lightsaber.

Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his troops boarded the frigate to find Ahsoka nearly frozen to death while cradling her unconscious friend. Thankfully, they were able to save the two padawans and the previously infected clones.

As we’ll find out later, it may have been better for everyone if Ahsoka had cut Barriss down when she had the chance.

Glowing and Growing Up

During season three of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ahsoka got some significant clothing and equipment upgrades. Her tube top was replaced with a sleekly designed outfit, which Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni explained was meant to visibly portray how she’d grown since the Clone Wars began.

Ashoka also began duel-wielding two lightsabers. While the lore-based reasons for this aren’t entirely clear, the practical reason is simply that it looked cooler.

As the Clone Wars raged on, Ahsoka earned the trust and respect of the clone troopers under her command — especially Captain Rex, who ended up playing a pivotal role in her life. She also learned that the war and the reasons behind it weren’t as simple as they appeared on the surface.

While assisting Senator Padme Amidala with secret negotiations to potentially end the Clone Wars, she met another Separatist near her age named Lux Bonteri. This friendship, along with her observations of Lux’s people, led Ahsoka to realize that the Separatists weren’t the monolithically terrible enemies they were often portrayed as…

…and they might even have some legitimate gripes against the Republic.

On the Run

Near the end of the Clone Wars, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was bombed by a terrorist (Letta Turmond) who was assisted and killed by someone within the Jedi Order. During an investigation of the attack, Ahsoka was framed for Turmond’s murder and for being her Jedi collaborator.

After being imprisoned, Ahsoka decided to escape and clear her name. Unfortunately, her path was cleared by someone who also killed multiple clone troopers, framing the padawan for another crime.

Despite being pursued by the Republic military and Anakin’s pleas for her to stop, Ahsoka insisted on proving her innocence (while also giving us one heck of a great homage to The Fugitive).

While on the run, Ahsoka turned to Barriss Offee for assistance. Unbeknownst to her, Barriss had become disillusioned with the Jedi Order and decided to take their hubris down a few pegs by bombing their temple. She also proved herself to be a horrible friend by framing Ahsoka for all of her criminal/terrorist activity.

Ahsoka was eventually recaptured by the Republic military. Admiral Willhuff Tarkin (who you likely remember as Grand Moff Tarkin from A New Hope and Rogue One) demanded that Ahsoka be expelled from the Jedi Order and receive the death penalty. The Jedi Council wasn’t thrilled about it, but still agreed to expel the padawan and put her fate in the hands of a military tribunal.

As the trial got underway, Anakin did some digging and discovered that Barriss was behind the bombing and had framed Ahsoka. He captured the rogue padawan and brought her in just before the verdict (which was not looking good for Ahsoka) could be announced.

After her impassioned speech about how lost the Jedi had become, Barriss was originally supposed to die in her prison cell by blowing herself up. Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni instead decided that he “had plans for Barriss” and kept her alive.

Meanwhile, the Jedi Council attempted a massive mea culpa by allowing Ahsoka back into the order AND making her a Jedi Knight. Instead of accepting the offer, Ahsoka decided that she could no longer be part of a group that didn’t have the same faith in her that she had in them.

In one of Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ most heartbreaking moments, a crestfallen Anakin watched as Ahsoka walked away from him and the Jedi Order.

Ahsoka struck out on her own in the lower levels of Coruscant, where she became friends with Trace and Rafa Martez, whose parents were killed in the fallout of a Jedi battle. Witnessing how they’d been seemingly forgotten by the Jedi and the Republic, Ahsoka became even more convinced that the side she’d been fighting for wasn’t as righteous as it believed itself to be.

The Clone Wars would still manage to find Ahsoka in the form of Bo-Katan Kryze, who tracked down the former Jedi to request her assistance in taking back Mandalore from Darth Maul (who at this point simply went by Maul).

*Side Note: If you’re wondering how Maul survived getting cut in half in ‘The Phantom Menace’ (the first prequel movie) watch this video for a basic explanation and this video for some highlights. For a quick explanation of how Maul ended up taking over Mandalore, please indulge my shameless self-promotion and read this article I wrote about the history of the Dark Saber.

Reunited and Recharged

After agreeing to help Bo-Katan, Ahsoka made contact with Anakin and Obi-Wan. Anakin was thrilled to see his former padawan, but Obi-Wan was focused on the bizarre circumstances of her request — particularly how a group of Mandalorians (who’d ardently refused to take a side in the Clone Wars) were asking for Republic military assistance. It also didn’t help that the leader of this Mandalorian faction had previously been part of the terrorist group Death Watch.

Bo-Katan explained that she doesn’t have the numbers to lay siege to the Mandalorian capital of Sundari and find Maul. With the Republic’s help, she could help them capture the destructive Sith Lord, which would then allow her to take the throne of her homeworld.

Obi-Wan decided that the decision should be left up to the Jedi Council, which no one was thrilled to hear.

While they waited, Anakin took Ahsoka to see Rex and the rest of her former clone battalion, the 501st. The troops were so excited to see her that one of the platoons painted their helmets with Togruta markings.

Anakin also presented her with a pair of refurbished lightsabers. The gestures weren’t enough to make Ahsoka commit to returning to the Jedi Order, but it certainly moved the needle in that direction.

Before the Jedi Council could make a decision on Mandalore, the 501st received word that General Grievous had attacked Coruscant (which leads to the opening scene from Revenge of the Sith). With no time to spare, Anakin suggested they split off a battalion of soldiers from the 501st (the 332nd Company) to assist Bo-Katan. Rex would be put in command while Ahsoka, who couldn’t officially lead a military operation, would accompany him as an advisor. Obi-Wan reluctantly agreed.

While Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the rest of the 501st joined the Battle of Coruscant, Ahsoka and the 332nd joined Bo-Katan’s soldiers for what would become one of the Clone Wars’ most thrilling campaigns.

During Maul and Ahsoka’s first confrontation, the Sith Lord was initially disappointed that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker hadn’t been the ones leading the assault. He’d also started to piece together Darth Sidious/Palpatine‘s grand plan to bring down the Republic, which was going to happen very soon.

As the siege began its final stages, Maul orchestrated things so that he and Ahsoka would be alone together in the Sundari throne room. After pointing out how they’d both been used as tools of war, he revealed that both the Republic and the Jedi Order were about to fall via Darth Sidious’ machinations. Together, though, they could defeat him. Ahsoka initially agreed to help, but changed her mind when Maul also stated that Anakin would become Sidious’ new apprentice and needed to be killed.

We all know that Maul would end up being right about this. At the time, however, Ahsoka was understandably defensive about someone wanting to assassinate her beloved former master. When she refused to believe Maul’s warning, the pair engaged in what might be the greatest lightsaber duel in all of Star Wars.

Despite losing both her lightsabers during the fight, Ahsoka still managed to defeat Maul, who screamed at his captors to let him die before the galaxy’s power structure went completely catawampus.

The Siege of Mandalore ended with Maul in custody, Bo-Katan taking the Mandalorian throne, and the Mandalorian people living in a police state that was about to get much, much worse. Bo-Katan also found Ahsoka’s lightsabers and returned them to her, which would be one of the last bits of good fortune she experienced for a very long time.

Ordered Chaos

After bidding farewell to the Mandalorians, Ahsoka and Rex boarded the Star Destroyer Tribunal with Maul held prisoner inside a Force-restricting vault. On the way back to Coruscant, Palpatine/Darth Sidious enacted Order 66, which activated a biochip implanted in all the clones that made them identify the Jedi as enemies of the Republic.

Rex fought the order long enough to give Ahsoka a hint about where to find a report made by Fives, a clone trooper who’d discovered the biochip’s purpose and attempted to reveal it before being executed. No one believed Fives at the time, but Rex was suspicious. In his last moments of free will, he sadly realized that his brother had been right despite sounding like Alex Jones on a bender.

Unfortunately, that was little comfort to Ahsoka when the previously loyal/beloved clone troopers began hunting her with her face painted on most of their helmets.

After escaping into the ship’s ductwork, Ahsoka reluctantly freed Maul to create a distraction. She then teamed up with some of the ship’s astromechs to find the report Rex mentioned before he began trying to execute her.

Upon learning about the biochips, Ahsoka and one of the droids managed to knock Rex out and bring him to the medical bay, where she got his chip removed moments before a squad of clone troopers burst through the door.

The pair began looking for a way off the ship, but soon realized there were too many troopers to sneak away. They decided that the next best option would be to see if the truce could be reached based on a technicality — specifically that Ahsoka was no longer a Jedi.

Rex marched Ahsoka out to the ship’s docking bay (which was filled with clone troopers) and pointed out the reason Ahsoka should be exempt from Order 66. In response, acting Commander Jesse declared that he’d received special orders from Palpatine to execute Ahsoka anyway. This led to Plan B, which involved the droids messing with the docking bay’s platform controls while Rex and Ahsoka commandeered a shuttle.

Meanwhile, Maul had been wreaking absolute havoc on the star destroyer, which had sent it into crashing toward a nearby moon. He also completely nuked Ahsoka’s plan by running into the hangar and stealing the shuttle. As frustrating as this setback was, it also gave us an incredible escape sequence.

Rex and Ahsoka took a Y-Wing Starfighter they found to the moon’s surface where the Tribunal crashed. Despite their former brothers-in-arms trying to kill them, they still buried everyone and marked their graves. Ahsoka also dropped her lightsabers at the site, burying her life as a Jedi alongside her former friends.

Sometime later, Anakin (now Darth Vader) arrived on the moon and found one of Ahsoka’s lightsabers. As he ignited it, a bird named Morai (who is tied to Ahsoka for reasons that would take too long to explain) soars overhead.

If you watched the preceding clip, then you understand just how devastating this was for Ahsoka. Her most formative years were spent fighting a war that turned out to be an orchestrated plot to destroy the Jedi Order, which she’d left her home/family to join. At the very end, the troops she’d fought alongside tried to kill her.

Nearly all of her fellow Jedi were dead now, too. As far as she knew, Anakin was among the casualties of Order 66. She knew something awful had happened to him, but wouldn’t find out what he’d become until many years later.

Fractured Vision

Ahsoka was approximately 17/18 years old when the Clone Wars ended. There’s still a lot of uncovered ground during the 19 years between then and A New Hope (the first Original Trilogy film). As for what happened to her immediately following the Clone Wars, that used to be clear until very recently.

Before Disney took over the Star Wars franchise, it was common for books, comics, and video games (i.e. expanded universe materials) to contradict the movies/television shows and even each other. Disney proclaimed that under their stewardship, all Star Wars materials would be canon and fit together. Sadly, this has turned out not to be the case.

One of the most glaring examples of this is E.K. Johnson’s novel Ahsoka, which portrayed Maul’s capture and Ahsoka/Rex’s escape from Order 66 in a way that Star Wars: The Clone Wars completely contradicted…which was fine. The meat of Johnson’s story revolved around Ahsoka’s attempt to hide from the Empire on a remote farming moon named Radaa. Fioloni’s outline for that story was then used for Tales of the Jedi, an animated series that told mostly the same narrative while leaving out some key elements.

So until we get a definitive answer on what “counts” and what doesn’t, here’s what you need to know:

• Ahsoka ends up using her Force abilities to save someone.
• Someone else reports this to the Empire, which sends out one of its Jedi-hunting Inquisitors to kill her.
• Because Inquisitors are evil assholes, this one also slaughtered most of the people in the village where Ahsoka had been living and set everything on fire.
•  Because Ahsoka is a stone-cold badass, she defeats the Inquisitor despite not having any lightsabers of her own.

• Ahsoka cleanses the Inquisitor’s corrupted kyber crystals to construct new lightsabers for herself.
• Ahsoka calls Senator Bail Organa and says that she’s ready to stop running and join the fight against the Empire.

At this point, Ahsoka began working for the Rebellion’s intelligence division under the code name Fulcrum.

Rebel With A Cause

Approximately five years before the events in A New Hope, Ahsoka began working with a Rebel group known as the Spectres. This group is also the main cast of the animated series Star Wars: Rebels. Since Dave Filoni has described the upcoming Ahsoka series as a live-action continuation of his story in Rebels, let’s do a quick rundown of the characters.

• Kanan Jarrus. Human Jedi who survived Order 66, but had to watch his master (Depa Billaba) get gunned down by her own troops. Not a fan of clones (obviously). Totally in love with Hera Syndulla. Reluctant Jedi teacher to Ezra Bridger. Has a son with Hera named Jacen. Dies saving his teammates before Jacen is born.
• Hera Syndulla: INCREDIBLE Twi’lek pilot. Brave, intelligent, and fearless. Arguably the leader of the team despite Kanan often being looked to for leadership. Definitely the heart of it. Totally in love with Kanan. Mother to Jacen.
• Ezra Bridger: Force-sensitive human teenager who flourishes as a padawan under Kanan’s evolving skills as a teacher. Dead parents (because that’s how Disney and Star Wars roll).
• Sabine Wrenn: Badass Mandalorian rebel. Brilliant artist and explosives expert.
• Garazeb Orrelios, aka Zeb: Big mean Lasat who serves as the Spectres’ muscle. Can be a story’s comic relief or the part that makes you cry.
• C1-10P, aka Chopper: Crafty and cantankerous little astromech — basically a robot cat that likes to commit war crimes.

During her time working with the Spectres, Ahsoka was able to reunite with Captain Rex…

…and thoroughly kick some Inquisitor’s asses.

But none of that compared to her long-awaited reunion with Anakin Skywalker, who she suspected was Darth Vader before convincing herself it wasn’t possible. The battle took place inside a Sith temple on the planet Malachor. If you want to know why the Spectres and Vader were there, then you’ll have to watch Rebels or find a way to explain to my editor why this article needed to be 20,000 words long.

Here’s what you absolutely need to know:

During the pair’s brutal encounter, Ahsoka hacks off part of Vader’s mask, revealing the horrible truth of what happened to her former master. This scene would later be the inspiration for a very similar/incredible sequence in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. The battle concluded without it being clear what happened, although Vader exited the temple badly injured under the watchful eye of Morai.

At the end of the episode, a figure that looked a bit like Ahsoka is briefly seen at the temple’s entrance before disappearing into the shadows.

Now let’s get to the actual duel, which took place at the end of Star Wars: Rebels‘ second season.

The clip below includes a portion of the duel that wasn’t shown until near the end of the show’s fourth and final season, when Ezra Bridger entered a mystical plane that allowed him to reach back through time and save Ahsoka from being killed.

Seriously.

Stick with me here, people.

The World Between Worlds, which resides in a Jedi temple on Ezra’s home planet of Lothal, is a series of doors that links all points of time and space together via the Force. After noticing a door that showed Ahsoka and Vader’s duel, Ezra pulled her out of the Sith temple on Malachore moments before Vader apparently killed her (!).

Ezra then sees a door that would allow him to rescue Kanan before he died. Ahsoka talks him out of it by explaining that Kanan’s sacrifice is why Ezra and the rest of the Spectres are still alive. Undoing that might cause some Back to the Future time wonkiness that erased them from existence completely.

Whether you think this was the right thing to do or not, it turned out to be a good call. The vision of Kanan was actually a trap conjured by Emperor Palpatine so he could gain access to the World Between Worlds and use it for his own evil purposes. To prevent this from happening, Ezra closed off the entrance so that no one else could enter the World Between Worlds again (HA!).

Meanwhile, Ahsoka looped back around to the scene we witnessed at the end of season two before descending into another portal.

According to a series of in-universe Topps trading cards made by Dave Filoni (seriously), it appears that Ahsoka’s next trip through one of the portals put her on a spiritual journey that very likely explains her absence from the Star Wars Original Trilogy films.

It would also help explain Ahsoka’s strange and unexpected appearance at the end of Star Wars: Rebels.

The Search for Ezra

The Rebels series finale featured a final battle over Lothal between the fledgling Rebellion and an Imperial fleet led by Grand Admiral Thrawn.

If you’ve been watching the Star Wars live-action shows, then you’ve definitely heard this name uttered before. Thrawn was a brilliant tactician who would’ve easily helped the Empire defeat the Rebellion if he’d still been around for the Original Trilogy.

During the battle, Ezra (who managed to get aboard Thrawn’s ship the Chimaera) summoned a pod of purrgil, which are basically giant space whales that travel through hyperspace. You might remember Grogu seeing them in Season 3 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian.

The creatures wrapped their tentacles around the Chimera and zapped it along with Thrawn and Ezra into parts unknown. Without their command ship and their leader, the Empire was dealt one of its earliest defeats.

The series then jumps forward a few years to the Empire’s defeat after Return of the Jedi. As Sabine gazes at a mural she painted of the Spectres, Ahsoka arrives looking like she’s been through some serious Gandalf-type stuff. The pair then head off to find Ezra and bring him home.

The next time we would see Ahsoka was in season two of Star Wars: The Mandalorian. Her search for Ezra had taken her to the planet Corvus — specifically the city of Calodan, which was ruled by Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (who we’ve also seen in the Ahsoka series trailers).

During her battle with Morgan Elsbeth, Ahsoka demands that she reveal Thrawn’s location. We never get to hear her answer, but it’s still a really cool scene.

Sabine is conspicuously absent from this event, as is Ahsoka’s Gandalf cloak/look.

We next see Ahsoka in the Book of Boba Fett on the planet Ossus, where Luke Skywalker was constructing a new Jedi temple (the same one that would be destroyed years later by Ben Solo/Kylo Ren). We don’t learn anything about her search for Ezra, but we do get to see that she and Luke finally got to know each other.

The last mention of Thrawn we have comes from season three of Star Wars: The Mandalorian. During a meeting with Imperial Remnant commanders/warlords, Captain Gilad Pellaeon (one of Thrawn’s most loyal adherents) insisted that the legendary admiral would be returning soon to restore the Empire to its former glory.

Moff Gideon dismissed Captain Pellaeon’s faith in Thrawn, pointing out that the Grand Admiral had been flaking on them for quite a few years by that point.

As we now know thanks to the Ahsoka trailers, Captain Pellaeon’s faith was not unfounded.

So where does all this leave us before the Ahsoka series premiere on August 23? Let’s take a look at some of the big questions we have going into the first two episodes.

What happened between Ahsoka and Sabine?

Based on the trailers, it appears that Ahsoka attempted to train Sabine while they were looking for Ezra. Ahsoka tells Herra Syndulla about walking away from Sabine and Sabine refers to Ahsoka as her “master.”

This could mean that Sabine turned out to be Force-sensitive at some point, but it’s much more likely that Ahsoka simply trained her how to fight with a lightsaber — the same thing Kanan Jarrus did for her during Rebels with the Darksaber.

Whatever the case, the pair clearly had a falling out at some point and went their separate ways. We’ll likely see some flashbacks explaining this along with Sabine’s solo efforts at finding Ezra and Thrawn.

Is Ezra still out there?

Even though he only appeared as a hologram in the trailer, it’s a safe bet that Ezra will appear during the Ahsoka series at some point. The real question is what he’ll be like after so many years away and in the presence of Thrawn, who inspires fierce loyalty from those in his command.

I’m not saying Ezra turned evil, but I’m also not discounting the possibility that he and Thrawn bonded during their time in the Unknown Regions.

Will the World Between Worlds show up again?

Considering that the World Between Worlds appears to be where Ahsoka and Baylan Skoll (one of the series’ bad guys) have a major fight, I’m pretty sure it will be. If that isn’t enough evidence for you, the World Between Worlds is also part of the background for the Ahsoka series title card (which is at the top of this article).

Although time travel can make things messy from a narrative standpoint, the World Between Worlds would give us the opportunity to see Ahsoka’s reaction to key moments in Star Wars history that she wasn’t present for.

It’s also worth noting that creator Dave Filoni insists the World Between Worlds isn’t a magic time travel dispensary. Pulling someone through it can actually destroy the balance of time and space, thus part of the reason Ahsoka had to go on her spiritual journey instead of jumping right back into the present to help the Rebellion.

So if you’re worried that the World Between Worlds will simply be a plot device for Ahsoka to find Ezra and pull him away from the Chimaera before the purrgils zapped him and Thrawn away, that’s not going to happen.

Hopefully.

Will Barriss Offee show up?

The Ahsoka trailers and media info revealed that the series will feature a former Inquisitor named Marrok, who remained active after the fall of the Empire and was hired as a mercenary by Morgan Elsbeth. Before this character was named, a lot of folks were guessing it would be Barriss.

That could definitely still be the case. It’s not like Barriss would go around using her real name.

There have also been unconfirmed reports of a leaked Funko POP figure solicitation of Barriss Offee as she appears in the Ahsoka series. Whether this particular tidbit turns out to be true or not, Ahsoka would be the perfect time for Dave Filoni’s plans for Barriss to finally be revealed.

The two-episode series premiere of Ahsoka is August 23 on Disney+.