Ahsoka is a unique show, even for the Star Wars brand. A live-action sequel to not just one, but two animated series — namely Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels — Ahsoka must introduce its cast to a wider audience while also respecting the lore and backstories established in previous media.
In its latest trailer, the series chose to highlight Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren, a character who had an integral presence in Star Wars: Rebels, and who is appearing for the first time in live-action in Ahsoka. The trailer also hinted at Sabine’s prominence in the upcoming series; it’s looking like she will be nearly as important to the narrative as Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) herself.
Who is Sabine Wren?
Sabine was once a member of a fledgling rebellion group led by Hera Syndulla (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Sabine is a Mandalorian, and, while she once had some hesitance about taking on their martial culture, she once wielded the Darksaber herself, before handing it over to Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff). Her true passion, however, lies in her artistic endeavors — the Rebellion’s iconic starbird logo even evolved from one of her designs.
In the trailer, Sabine can be seen staring wistfully at a hologram of Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). The two of them have a long and loving history — the young Jedi was once a member of her rebel cell, and he had a pretty big crush on her for the first few seasons of the show. At the time, however, Sabine was a few years older than him, and she viewed him as a little brother more than anything.
Well, when Ezra disappeared after defeating Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), Sabine chose to stay behind on Ezra’s home planet of Lothal to protect it from the Empire. That’s where Ahsoka finds her: still protecting the planet, despite the Empire no longer being a threat to it. And that’s not all; a conversation featured in the trailer seemingly reveals that Sabine Wren became Ahsoka’s Jedi apprentice after Ezra’s disappearance. While Sabine had previously wielded the Darksaber, there had never been any indication that she could wield the Force, and her skills with a lightsaber weren’t all that great.
But the fact that Ahsoka took her on as an apprentice could have some massive implications for the lore.
Why is it important that Sabine Wren was once Ahsoka’s apprentice?
As we know from the Sequel Trilogy, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) had attempted to restart the Jedi Order, only to be thwarted by Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) once again. Somehow. Luke’s students were killed by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and, by the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey (Daisy Ridley) was seemingly the last Jedi in existence.
Except now we know that might not be the case — at least not from a certain point of view. Ahsoka is providing us with evidence that there are more Jedi out there. The series certainly shows off a number of Force users and Order 66 survivors, including antagonist Baylan Skoll (played by the late Ray Stevenson), who has an apprentice of his own, Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno).
The fact that Ahsoka herself was willing to take on apprentices means that the Jedi way may have survived up to the Sequel Trilogy — it at least opens up the possibility that a different sect did (Ahsoka and Luke seem to have taken different approaches to being Jedi). And the presence of Ezra Bridger also highlights the possibility of more Jedi, unrelated to either Luke or Ahsoka’s lineage, having survived up to that time period.
What does this mean for the sequel era?
For years, fans have speculated about the survival of other Jedi. Though the sequels make it pretty clear that Luke is the last of the old kind of Jedi — the ones who lived monastically on Coruscant — it doesn’t preclude the idea of other sects being around, and fans have latched on to that idea for quite some time. After all, Star Wars is all about the Force, and Jedi are an iconic part of the franchise. The idea that there wasn’t a revived Jedi Order in the sequels upset some fans, who were hoping to see more of the space monks/samurai.
There’s precedence for this kind of soft retconning, too: the Original Trilogy also claims that Luke is the last of the Jedi when Yoda (Frank Oz) passes away in The Return of the Jedi, but we now know that isn’t strictly true. Jedi like Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, and Baylan Skoll had survived even beyond that point.
Now, with the introduction of more Force users who know the ways of the Jedi, the possibility exists that Rey may be running into other Jedi, or at least Jedi-adjacent, characters in her own film. Although the possibility also exists that Sabine, Ezra, and Ahsoka all died before the sequel era without passing on their knowledge, series co-creator Dave Filoni isn’t known for being so bloodthirsty with his characters.
So, while we can’t know for sure that this is where the franchise is headed, we can speculate that it might be something Lucasfilm will be looking into moving forward. It would make for an interesting piece of worldbuilding, as well: how will these Jedi, all with wildly different approaches to the Force, come together to form a New Jedi Order?
And it also helps diversify the sequel era: one of the major complaints fans have about the sequels is that the Galaxy doesn’t seem as vast, or all that different, from what we see in Episodes IV-VI. Fleshing out the era is something Lucasfilm is going to have to do if it wants to continue making films in that time period — otherwise, its efforts may fall flat.
Filoni is the perfect person to spearhead something like this, as well. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was widely praised for fleshing out the prequel era. It was also infamous for certain soft retcons, although these are generally excused due to George Lucas’s immense influence on the cartoon. With Filoni basically being an apprentice of Lucas himself, he’s the perfect man for the job.
