Ahsoka Official Ahsoka Series Discussion (Spoilers Allowed)

I think the show needs new characters. Very specifically they’ll need an audience surrogate to help explain everything to the majority of the audience who didn’t watch TCW or Rebels.

 

I generally hate audience surrogate characters, but yeah, that might be necessary for the reason you state. I don't think it'll be enough to explain the backstory through dialogue or flashbacks, because that's no substitute for the emotional investment that comes with actually having watched her journey up to this point. In lieu of that, GA members without knowledge of those two series might need an "in" so they don't end up feeling lost, confused, or uninvolved.

 

Yeah off the top of my head, I imagine it’ll be along the lines of Ahsoka shows up in X characters life because they have some skill or vital piece of info she needs on her journey, character goes along with her as she visits Lothal, picks up Sabine and introduces her to the character, ease the audience into the whole thing.

Because as much as some fans desperately want the show to be pure Rebels 2, that’s not going to fly when you’ve got a vast audience who hasn’t seen and probably has no desire to see 7 seasons of TCW and 4 seasons of Rebels.

 

I imagine Ahsoka's backstory, as stated on the show, will basically be boiled down to "I was Anakin's apprentice, left the Order, joined up with the Rebellion, and now I'm looking for Thrawn and my friend." All the specific weird Force stuff that went on with Malachor and the World Between Worlds will probably be too complicated to explain through exposition and thus won't be referenced in any great detail unless they factor into the plot. Likewise, when there are references to Ezra's disappearance (presuming he's in the series), it'll probably be talked about as "he went missing after the Battle of Lothal" rather than "he summoned a group of space whales that can travel through hyperspace and they wrapped their tentacles around a Star Destroyer and flew off to some unknown part of the galaxy".

 

Sure, but all that is is context. Simply knowing it doesn't make the audience care about any of it, let alone emotionally invest in the journey the way they would if they watched TCW and Rebels. So even if there isn't an audience identification character to latch onto, someone who gets dragged into Ahsoka's story as @SyndicThrass suggested, Lucasfilm has to be smart enough to know they need to find a way to make casual audience members emotionally invest in the story even if they haven't seen those other series. Infodumping isn't good enough.

You can get by with different demographics of the viewership reacting to Ahsoka showing up in season 2 of Mando with "Oh, a Jedi" vs. "OH MY GOD, AHSOKA!", but you can't afford that disparity in investment when Ahsoka's reunion with Anakin happens, or when she finally locates Ezra, because those moments to hold a certain dramatic and emotional weight.

 

Oh I totally agree that they need to get general audiences to care about the characters without relying on knowledge from TCW or Rebels, but I don't think that's as difficult a task as it might seem. It helps that they've gotten Hayden Christensen back, because that's a version of Anakin that most of the audience will already have an investment in, thus providing them with an emotional stake in his relationship with Ahsoka even if they're not familiar with her. Give us a couple of flashbacks to sell their pre-Vader dynamic with banter and a bit of pathos, added to all the time naturally spent with Ahsoka over the course of the series, and boom - their reunion now has emotional weight. Perhaps not as much weight as if you've been following their journey for the past fifteen years, but more than enough to care.

Ezra is trickier, because he's not substantially connected to any character that the general audience will be familiar with. Even Ahsoka was never depicted as having that close a relationship with him beyond being a kind mentor figure. That's why, in my mind, Sabine is so important. If the show can get the audience to care about Sabine, which shouldn't be too hard because she's a generally likeable character with some endearingly fun quirks, then by proxy they will begin to care about the search for Ezra, because Sabine (and Ahsoka) cares about it. The audience's reaction to her (presumably) finding Ezra will be either "I'm happy that Ezra and Sabine are reuniting" or "I'm happy that Sabine has finally succeeded" depending on whether they've watched Rebels or not, but it works fine on both levels.

 

What reunion? Anakin is long dead when the series takes place.

 

Force ghost Anakin.

 

If they make this with the level of quality of Mando, popularity will take care of itself. Spinoffs of Mando will have a good curiosity factor; let's not forget it was at times the most watched show in the world when it was playing if you look at streaming measures. Well known players in the story like Anakin will be peppered in, making it even bigger. We don't want to pretend this is a show starting from scratch, or depending on TCW popularity or old movies. A lot of Mando's known characters came in the second season, and the first season was already huge.

If the show isn't that great, well that is another story. .

I hear many say that Mando was better received than the ST because it didn't have the same fan expectations. While it is true that fan expectation matters, this is a distortion of the reality. Mando was great in terms of quality, and the ST wasn't; that mostly explains the difference in real time.

 

For this reason I'm hoping Ezra's storyline involves force ghost Obi Wan or Yoda, because he's substantially connected to those two. Particularly Obi Wan. Ezra's journey started with finding Obi Wan's message of hope, then it was Obi Wan who guided him back to his true path when Maul led Ezra astray. And Ezra connected to Yoda through the force on two occasions, guiding him on his journey to becoming a Jedi Knight. It would be something of a plot hole if when they became one with the force, they suddenly forget about this other guy, who may not be destined to defeat the Sith, but still has potential to be a great Jedi. That was always the issue with Ezra remaining alive through the OT era.

 

Yes. In other words, Mando was better received because it was...better.

 

You need no Vulcan heritage to follow THAT logic.....

 

I am 100% in on clone Vader.

 

It's simple, though, even without an audience surrogate. In the early scenes (or entire first episode), include a sequence or string of sequences that take place in real time that make you care about Ahsoka. This Ahsoka, not the past Ahsoka. The one in the story that's beginning now. The first episode of Game of Thrones did this masterfully with the Starks. With only an implied backstory, we were introduced to that family through a series of touching scenes that made us care about, and like them, right away. Perhaps it's not that simple, but good writers can pull it off.

 

Poe is going run into the room at the beginning of the series and say, "We’ve decoded the intel.... and it confirms the worst. (sighs) Somehow, Darth Vader returned." (Exit stage right. End of Poe cameo.)

 

^ His voice would be squeakier, though.

 

Vaader?

 

Interesting. Mando season 3 seems more likely.

If Ahsoka's filming has been brought forward, we could be looking at a pretty-early 2023 release date, possibly even in January if the principal photography-to-release schedule follows the same pattern as The Mandalorian (i.e. releasing about 13 months after principal photography begins).

 

I think we could be gettin this just few months after Mandalorian season 3, witch will be december and januar, most likley. So Februar or March.

 

Perhaps they'll keep Mando s3 and Ahsoka fairly close together in the Disney+ schedule (Mando could premiere in November, finish in December, then Ahsoka could start in late Jan/early Feb) and Ahsoka's appearance in the former - if such a thing exists - could directly lead us into her own series.

 

MODified: "Sources on the internet" has confirmed that Ezra, Hera, Sabine and Thrawn will be in this. He also said some of the casting rumors are correct and some are wrong but he’s not allowed to talk about casting just yet.

 

Yeah those seemed the most likley to return.

 

I hope they stick with Lars, as long as he's still Thrawn i be happy with every other changes.