Disney+ Review: ‘Ahsoka’ is for Star Wars superfans

The Ahsoka live-action Star Wars series is finally on Disney+, and with it, fans of both “The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” are finally getting to see some of their favorite characters again.

I got a chance to see the first two episodes a few days early, and being a huge Star Wars fan who’s watched all of “The Clone Wars” and “Rebels” multiple times, here are my thoughts. There’s a lot to talk about (more questions than answers) and mild spoilers ahead, but nothing too far outside of what was seen in the trailers.

Picking up after Ahsoka’s appearances in “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett”, Ahsoka is now working with the New Republic to thwart some new and mysterious figures from finding the whereabouts of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

While the show’s title is Ahsoka, to my delight, the first two episodes were just as focused on another returning character; Sabine Wren from “Star Wars Rebels”. Sometime after the events of Rebels, Ahsoka took Sabine under her wing and began to train her as her Padawan (Does this mean one doesn’t need to be able to wield the force to become a Jedi anymore?), but eventually gave up on her. Why this happened has yet to be seen, but with the possibility of Thrawn’s return, Ahsoka and Sabine must reunite and work together, alongside the lightsaber archivist droid Huyang from Clone Wars, and General Hera Syndulla and Chopper from Rebels. Tons of familiar faces have returned so far, with hopefully more to come! Since the last time we saw Thrawn was the last time we saw Ezra Bridger, Ezra may still be alive!

The largest mystery of the series so far are the new lightsaber-wielding villains, Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati. Both have red-orange Lightsabers, and are working with the Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, who appeared in “The Mandalorian”. Where did these mysterious force users come from, and what do they want with Thrawn? The three also have a mysterious masked Inquisitor at their side, referred to as Marrok. Could the mask be hiding a familiar face? Only time will tell where these villains came from and what their intentions are, but what I do know for certain is they have Lightsabers and with those come some of the best saber battles I’ve seen in a long time!

For casual Star Wars fans who haven’t watched the animated series, this show may not be for you. The lore and characters are almost all returning, and I highly recommend watching some essential Clone Wars episodes, and probably all of Rebels beforehand. Ahsoka is a direct sequel to the events set up in Rebels. It also seems there may end up even being references and returning plot lines from the newer Thrawn novels by Timothy Zahn! This is a show for hardcore fans.

Ahsoka Episodes 1 and 2 will be streaming on Disney+ this evening, Aug. 22, 2023, with the remaining episodes once per week through mid-October.

In The Parks

Fans can meet Ahsoka in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland park, but not at Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

She used to appear in Hollywood Studios during Star Wars Weekends, but they ended many years ago. Here’s at look at Ahsoka, along with Chopper, Sabine Wren, and Ezra Bridger at Star Wars Weekends in 2014:

Here’s an interview we did with Ashley Eckstein at Star Wars Weekends in 2011. She is the voice of Ahsoka in animated form. Below that is a written interview we did with her more recently talking about the history of the character.