Ahsoka's Return To The Jedi Is A Rancor-Sized Plot Hole Disney+ Needs To Fix
After a long wait and several cameos in "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett," "Ahsoka" is finally almost here. The live-action "Star Wars" show is both a successor to the beloved animated series "Rebels" and a continuation of the larger New Republic era storylines, all while praying tribute to Timothy Zahn's classic Grand Admiral Thrawn novels. With Dave Filoni taking the helm and a bunch of popular characters coming back, "Ahsoka" is set to be a hit. However, there's one big issue that the series needs to address in order to succeed.
By the end of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," Ahsoka Tano is fully removed from the Jedi Order. She operates as a rebel throughout the Imperial era, and though she continues to use the Force and her dual lightsabers, she never returns to the old ways. In her battle with Darth Vader in "Star Wars Rebels," which occurs just a few years before "A New Hope," she reiterates that she doesn't consider herself a Jedi. So why does the Rosario Dawson version of the character seem so pro-Jedi in the "Mandalorian" timeline?
Sure, she still may not identify as a Jedi, but she embraces all of the tenets and ideals that defined the old order — resistance to personal attachments, traditional views on training, and a stoic relationship to the world. These traits feel directly antithetical to what Ahsoka has historically been, and the new show needs to explain why she's returned to the old Jedi ways.
Ahsoka's complicated relationship with the Jedi
"Star Wars" fans first met Ahsoka in the "Clone Wars" animated movie, which acts as a prelude to the acclaimed TV series. Over the course of the show, she grows from a plucky, stubborn padawan into a wise and powerful Jedi, only to have it all taken away when she's framed for bombing the Jedi Temple. While on the run trying to clear her name, Ahsoka is officially excommunicated from the order so that she can be tried as a regular Republic citizen. The council offers her the chance to return after she proves her innocence, but she rejects their invitation.
This is a massive moment in both Ahsoka's story and Anakin's ultimate fall to the dark side. The callousness with which the council casts her out — their instant willingness to believe she has fallen — forever changes how she views the Jedi. It adds fuel to the fire that Palpatine stokes when he convinces Anakin to turn against the Jedi, and it sets Ahsoka on a unique course.
That's why it's so weird to see her chumming it up with Luke Skywalker in "The Book of Boba Fett." Ahsoka saw firsthand the corruption within the old Jedi philosophy, but she seems happy to help Luke rebuild the order exactly as it had been. So what happened? What made a proud outcast of the Jedi return to the path after the fall of the Empire?
Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano feels like a different character
Any time you take a character out of one medium and put them in another, changes are bound to happen. It's not surprising that Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano feels distinct from Ashley Eckstein's animated version, nor is it inherently a problem. But the way that Ahsoka has been written so far in "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett" makes her feel like an entirely different character.
Where Ahsoka was once snarky and proud, she's now quiet and reserved. Where she once took risks, she now seems dedicated to doing things the "right" way. And where she used to be a fierce opponent of the Jedi's strict dogma, she now appears to be in full support of it.
Some of these changes can be written off as the result of growing up. After all, Ahsoka is still a kid during the Clone Wars, and people naturally change with time. But even her "Rebels" incarnation feels quite removed from the new live-action version. Ahsoka has no qualms with Ezra Bridger learning the ways of the Force, even though he's already somewhat grown and has numerous personal attachments. The Jedi would frown on that combo in a padawan, but Ahsoka knows that rigid doctrine isn't always right. And yet, when Din Djarin brings Grogu to her in "The Mandalorian," she refuses to train him because of his attachments. She even supports Luke's idea that Grogu needs to choose between his Jedi training and Din.
The Ahsoka show is all about the Jedi legacy
To fans of Ahsoka's original incarnation, Rosario Dawson's version can seem altogether too different. However, there is room for Dave Filoni and his team to make the two iterations of the character make sense as one.
It seems that "Ahsoka" is going to be dealing with the legacy of the Jedi in some major ways. Ezra (Eman Esfandi) is back — a Jedi who was only trained informally and never encounters Luke Skywalker, as far as we know. The trailers have also shown Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) training in the Jedi arts with Ahsoka as her mentor. And of course, Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) has two dark Jedi in his army: Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), who knew Anakin Skywalker, and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Both of these new characters wield orange lightsabers, setting them apart from proper Sith and closer to the Gray Jedi of the old Expanded Universe.
These are all messy areas — parts of the "Star Wars" mythos that are adjacent to the Jedi, but different. That's the in-between zone where Ahsoka has lived since the Clone Wars, and its importance in the new series suggests a deeper look at what it means to be a Jedi. Ahsoka may well have to look inward once again and decide what she truly is. Does she really wish to be a Jedi again? Or is she looking for solace in a nostalgic place of safety, tired of being alone for so long?
How Star Wars could explain Ahsoka's return to the Jedi
Because of the big time gap between "Star Wars Rebels" and "Ahsoka," there's lots of room for Dave Filoni to work in a more detailed explanation for her evolution. We still don't know where she is during the events of the original trilogy, but it's pretty obvious that she's no longer an active part of the Rebel Alliance. Toward the end of "Rebels," Ezra saves Ahsoka from a past encounter with Darth Vader by pulling her into the World Between Worlds — a mysterious realm outside of time and accessible through the Force. It's implied that Ahsoka returns to this strange place to explore it later, potentially giving her the experiences that change her back into a proper Jedi.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Rosario Dawson explained that she and Filoni had talked about her Ahsoka in relation to Gandalf the White from "The Lord of the Rings." The famous wizard is originally known as Gandalf the Gray, but he returns in a shiny new form after being killed and resurrected. His second incarnation is wiser, more powerful, and far more serious, much like Ahsoka's live-action version.
Filoni has a chance with the new show to give Dawson's Ahsoka a backstory appropriate to her new demeanor. He could use the World Between Worlds to do it, or he could simply expand on how the revelation of Anakin's fall changed her. But without some kind of explanation, Ahsoka's return to the Jedi fold just feels like a plot hole.