When it comes to the universe of Star Wars, the franchise plays fast and loose with the rules of the Force and the Ahsoka series is no different.
The latest Easter egg in episode 4 draws a connection to Harrison Ford’s Han Solo in a way that makes us wonder if this is a case of retconning.
In a bit of exposition that seems to expand upon an aspect of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, episode 3 featured Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka explaining to Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren that when it comes to using the Force, “Training and focus are what truly defines someone’s success,” but most people simply don’t have the discipline for mastering it.
This somewhat aligns with what the message of The Last Jedi seemed to imply about the ways of the Jedi — and thus using the Force — being accessible to common people rather than specialized bloodlines. The closing scene in particular featured an orphan staring off into space while clutching a broom handle like a lightsaber. Even though the third installment of the sequel trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, seemed to backtrack on this point by making Daisy Ridley’s Rey a descendent of Ian McDiarmid’s Palpatine — and thus part of a Force-sensitive bloodline — it seems as if Ahsoka is expanding on this abandoned idea nonetheless.
Like Sabine, Evan Whitten’s Jacen Syndulla is another character that seems to have a Force-centric destiny of some kind, especially since his father, Kanan Jarrus, was a Jedi. Not only does the child have outspoken aspirations to be a Jedi himself, but his name appears to be a nod from the alternative Legends timeline where Jacen Solo turns to the Dark Side. So clearly, Jacen Syndulla is being set up as a Force-sensitive character to be reckoned with even if we have thrown that out the window as a distinction.
As a testament to Jacen’s hinted mystical sensitivity, he appears to sense a disturbance in the Force after Ahsoka gets thrown off a cliff by Ray Stevenson’s Baylon Skoll in Ahsoka episode 4. Though he is not near Ahsoka when it happens, Jacen turns to his mom, Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Her Syndulla, to tell her “I’ve got a bad feeling” right when it happens.
The line is very similar to one uttered by Han Solo in the original Star Wars prior to the walls of the trash compactor closing in on him, where he says, “I got a bad feeling about this.” Is the nod in Ahsoka a way of retroactively establishing Han — or frankly anyone who utters that phrase — was actually Force-sensitive this whole time?
Granted, many other characters say a version of this line, including Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and even some droid characters throughout the franchise. But even still, we wouldn’t put it past Star Wars to try and retcon what’s already been established in some way, such as the way it digitally inserted Hayden Christensen as a Force Ghost in the special edition version of Return of the Jedi. After all, Jacen uttering that line, in particular, seems to give it extra significance since it is implied he is experiencing a disturbance in the Force at the time.
Maybe some kind of further explanation about who is supposed to be able to use the Force and who isn’t will emerge when the latest episode of Ahsoka comes to Disney Plus on Sept. 12.
