How might ‘Ahsoka’ fit into the larger ‘Mandoverse’? (Spoilers)

Star Wars

Sep 21

Episode four, Fallen Jedi, of the new Star Wars series Ahsoka premiered this past week to great critical acclaim among fans, as events in culminated in several huge developments likely to shape the remainder of the series. Despite their most valiant efforts, Ahsoka, Sabine, Hera, and a squadron of X-Wings led by Carson Teva were ultimately unable to derail Morgan Elsbeth’s plans on Seatos to open the star map and travel to another galaxy to find Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Ahsoka lost her pitched duel with Baylan, having been knocked off a seaside cliff. Ahsoka awoke in the World Between Worlds, where she encountered “Anakin”. After threatening to destroy it, Sabine reluctantly gave the star map back to Baylan and Shin, and became their prisoner, ultimately accompanying them aboard Morgan’s ship, the Eye of Sion, which later jumped to their destination, Peridea.

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While this episode started shaping some of the contours of the rest of the series, it also might give us some clues into Dave Filoni’s vision of a shared so-called “MandoVerse” that is expected to eventually culminate in one of three Star Wars films Lucasfilm announced earlier this year.

As of right now, the so-called MandoVerse includes The Mandalorian and its spinoffs, including The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and the upcoming series, Skeleton Crew, set to launch in 2024. While it is too soon to definitively know how all of these shows will work together to form a cohesive narrative that may stretch all of the way to the Sequel Trilogy era, the latest episode of Ahsoka may provide us with some clues as to the future of the series, as well as the direction of the MandoVerse.

The Return of Thrawn

Starting with the finale of Rebels, as well as Ahsoka’s introduction in the second season of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka has been searching for the whereabouts of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and, by extension, Ezra Bridger, who were both catapulted into hyperspace by Purrgil (summoned by Ezra) into parts unknown. In the third season of The Mandalorian, there was a secret meeting among remaining Imperial officers and Moffs about Thrawn’s imminent return, which was largely dismissed by Moff Gideon, who seemed more focused on his own agenda. However, Thrawn associate Gilad Pellaeon, was present at the meeting and many of the attendees seemed hopeful about Thrawn’s imminent return. At the beginning of the Ahsoka series, Morgan, who had previously been captured by Ahsoka and questioned about the whereabouts of Grand Admiral Thrawn, was sprung from a New Republic prison by her associates, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati.

After being freed, Morgan immediately resumed her work towards building a large hyperspace ring ship, dubbed the Eye of Scion, that she intended to use to travel to find Thrawn and, presumably return his Star Destroyer, the Chimera, to known space. Her plans seemingly came to fruition during the most recent episode of Ahsoka, with her managing a successful hyperspace launch of the Eye of Sion, with Sabine in tow. Given that we have seen images of Thrawn in trailers for the series, it seems reasonable to conclude that Morgan will succeed in finding Thrawn and, likely, return him to known space. Thrawn’s return will almost certainly herald a conflict between himself and the remnants of the Galactic Empire and the New Republic.

The Race to Find Thrawn

With the only known means to catch up with Morgan and her associates and Sabine gone, Ahsoka and her allies will have to come up with a “Plan B” to intercept them in time. This may be where some fans have speculated that Din and Grogu may come in to help Ahsoka, providing a bridge between the series. As was seen in The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, Grogu, like Ezra, appears to have a strong connection with creatures and has the ability to influence them through the Force. The Purrgils were firmly established as being able to initiate hyperspace jumps, as well as travel through hyperspace in Rebels. Grogu may be able to help communicate with Purrgils through the Force and influence them to help Ahsoka and her allies travel to the location identified in the star map, Peridea. This, of course, would not be the first time that Ahsoka, Din, and Grogu teamed up to help each other.

Given that Carson Teva already has a relationship with Din and Din previously agreed to help the New Republic occasionally with assignments at the end of season three of The Mandalorian, Teva should easily be able to recruit Din and Grogu to help. Finding the coordinates to Peridea is also going to be a major challenge since the map was destroyed. Although some fans have speculated that all or some of the map might have been burned into Ahsoka’s hand when she removed it during her duel with Baylan.

MandoVerse Film

The final Star Wars series announced to date during the same time frame as Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, etc., Skeleton Crew is currently set to launch in 2024. It features a group of children and an adult, possibly a Jedi, played by Jude Law, who are all thrown together on an unexpected journey through the galaxy far, far away. The series was initially pitched as a kid-centric series inspired by 1980s-era Amblin Entertainment films such as The Goonies. As details are scarce, it is hard to determine how this series will intersect with the other series at this time.

Given how The Book of Boba Fett is part of the same time frame, it is possible that we could see Boba Fett and Fennec Shand and his crew from Tatooine again, perhaps aiding the New Republic in a hypothetical conflict between Thrawn and the New Republic, not unlike Talon Kaarde and his smuggling organization did in the original Thrawn Trilogy. Fett also may conclude that he owes Din for his efforts in helping Fett and his crew defend Tatooine against the Pykes and keeping him Daimyo.

As for the rest of the series, it seems like the conflict between Thrawn and his allies against the New Republic may be the likeliest “culminating event” that would be featured in a MandoVerse feature film, particularly since it seems unlikely they will be unable to wrap up a major conflict between Thrawn and the Imperial remnants and the New Republic in the next four episodes of Ahsoka, at least as part of the current season. Such a conflict and its effects could affect all of the storylines and characters of all the different series in different ways.

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