Few Star Wars characters have seen their relationship with canon and fandom evolve quite like Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka was not particularly popular when she debuted in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. Longtime fans seriously disliked Ahsoka, with criticism toward Anakin Skywalker's then-retconned alien Padawan ranging from her being a rash, irritating youngster at best and Jar-Jar Binks 2.0 at worst. It would take until at least season 3 of The Clone Wars TV show before fans came around to Ahsoka, gradually recognizing her worth as a powerful Jedi and the key to understanding Anakin's eventual turn to the Dark Side. An appreciation that only grew as Ahsoka (voiced by the wonderful Ashley Eckstein) matured with each new Star Wars entry, from Star Wars Rebels to The Clone Wars' final season, and eventually Rosario Dawson's live-action portrayal of Ahsoka on The Mandalorian.
Ahsoka marks the logical next step for Ahsoka (Dawson), advancing her story post-Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett while adapting several characters from showrunner Dave Filoni's animated library into live-action. An engaging, action-packed thriller in line with the Akira Kurosawa samurai films that inspired Star Wars, Ahsoka's first two episodes tease a show whose quality might rival Andor and early Mandalorian seasons if its daunting narrative threads pay off. But for The Clone Wars/Rebels fans, it's the ultimate reward for standing by Ahsoka these past fifteen years and watching her grow into a mainstream icon.
Contrary to Filoni and Kathleen Kennedy's claims, Ahsoka is not totally standalone. Where Obi-Wan Kenobi just required viewers to be familiar with Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan performance and Andor a basic knowledge of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ahsoka functions like the Rebels season 5 fans never got. It helps to have a basic understanding of Rebels' Ghost crew dynamics, Ahsoka's Mandalorian duel against Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and the search for Imperial strategist Grand Admiral Thrawn before starting the series. And, of course, Ahsoka's complex relationship with Anakin during The Clone Wars and Rebels' TV runs also factors into this new series.
Ahsoka's premiere opens with a title crawl updating viewers on the current state of the galaxy before introducing dark Force-wielders Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson, in one of his final roles) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), who intercept Elsbeth's transport ship and murder her New Republic guards like an extended version of Darth Vader's Rogue One hallway fight. All three are searching for a way to locate Thrawn, which, per Elsbeth's warning, means a confrontation with Ahsoka is inevitable. Ahsoka is already on Thrawn's trail. Fans are reintroduced to the older, ex-Jedi Togruta, who effortlessly navigates an ancient underground temple, solves its intricate tests, and battles a group of assassin droids.
With the exception of Huyang (David Tennant, voicing his Clone Wars character once again), an architect droid as old as the Jedi Order itself, Ahsoka is a loner. Going from place to place, helping wherever possible, but never staying in the same location for too long, keeping in line with her Ronin-inspired nature from Rebels and The Mandalorian. This, fittingly, leads Ahsoka back to New Republic general Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who in turn redirects her to Mandalorian Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). Rebels' series finale ended with Ahsoka and Sabine departing Lothal to track down Ezra's whereabouts, but it's clear that their relationship has grown estranged since then. Amplified by Ahsoka's prior attempt to take Sabine up as her own apprentice, with mixed results. Now, both must reconcile in order to fight Elsbeth and her mercenaries, track down Thrawn's whereabouts, locate their friend, and thwart the Galactic Empire from reinvigorating its splintered military power.
The first two episodes of Ahsoka feel like Filoni taking a stab at a modernized Heir to the Empire story. Timothy Zahn's 1991 book remains one of the most consequential pieces of Star Wars media, simultaneously introducing Thrawn to Star Wars readers and kickstarting the literary Expanded Universe/Legends timeline as we know it. A timeline Disney later erased post-Lucasfilm acquisition in favor of its movie/Clone Wars chronology. Thanks to Rebels, Disney brought back Ahsoka and reintegrated Thrawn. Ahsoka brings this continuity dynamic full circle while showcasing Filoni's evolution as an animator-turned-live-action director, as he seamlessly translates iconography, fight poses, and Easter eggs from his animated stories with real actors and sets.
It helps that Ahsoka's Rebels companions also translate impeccably to live-action. Winstead's Hera is equal parts assertive leader, ace pilot, and compassionate "space mom." Bordizzo imbues Sabine with a rebellious spirit and a keen eye for art but also the guilt of someone unable to save her friend. Chopper, Hera's trusty, eternally cantankerous droid companion, returns and steals every scene he's in. Most surprising, but hardly unwelcome, is Huyang's extended screen time, doubling as both dry comedic relief and an elder mentor figure.
The most "changed" hero, per se, is Ahsoka. Dawson's performance of the stoic, badass warrior belies a woman hesitant to take up a teacher mantle and cagey about revisiting her past, both understandable given the Jedi Order and Anakin's fates. It's hardly an original arc, but certainly a unique one for Ahsoka, now undertaking the responsibilities and hardships her Master once experienced, making the potential return of Hayden Christensen's Anakin in Ahsoka all the more enticing.
Ahsoka's premiere episodes are relatively straightforward. Episode 1 covers Ahsoka's reunion with Hera and Sabine. Episode 2, meanwhile, follows Ahsoka and Hera as they investigate a lead at a Corellian ship factory. The action is phenomenal. Ahsoka's lightsaber choreography is swift, efficient, and formidable, demonstrating Ahsoka's prowess as she dual-wields and subdues droid forces -- plus a mute Inquisitor named Marrok -- with ease. Combined with long stretches of silence during fights and composer Kevin Kiner's score, these sequences feel like Filoni channeling his Star Wars cartoons and Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars micro-series.
It's also a different kind of storytelling than Andor, whose intricate look at the "ordinary" side of George Lucas' galaxy raised the bar for what a Star Wars narrative can be. So while comparisons are inevitable, viewers probably shouldn't make them. Andor used the audience's lack of knowledge about a one-off character to explore his past and darker questions about the war he's drawn into. Ahsoka, by contrast, is about longtime Star Wars heroes doing what they must to prevent that war from starting again before the events of The Force Awakens. The problem is made all the more extreme by the threat Thrawn poses as a military genius.
Ahsoka is the show longtime The Clone Wars fans have been waiting for. It brings Ahsoka Tano back in all her glory, reminds viewers why they fell in with her over the years, and delivers stellar action and character drama. It's another sign that Ahsoka's legacy is alive and well, ready to be embraced by Star Wars fans of all ages. Compared to the cold-shoulder treatment she received in 2008, that might be the greatest victory of all.
New Ahsoka episodes stream Tuesdays on Disney+.