Slight spoilers ahead for Star Wars Rebels.
This is an exciting time to be a fan of Star Wars TV thanks to Season 1 of The Mandalorian, the upcoming revival of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the other two live-action series, the climax of Star Wars Resistance, and my persistent hopes for more callbacks to Star Wars Rebels. On that last note, Star Wars Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni -- also a writer, director, and executive producer for Clone Wars, Resistance, and The Mandalorian -- celebrated the holidays with a reminder that Ahsoka lives, and I am more hyped than ever for Clone Wars.
Now, I was admittedly on board the "Of course Ahsoka is dead!" train after Star Wars Rebels Season 2 seemingly ended with Ahsoka's death at the hands of Darth Vader, simply because it seemed impossible that Ahsoka could survive that encounter with Vader and Vader would just leave her there alive. Rebels Season 4 managed to tie up those loose ends to even my satisfaction, and Dave Filoni's comments to CinemaBlend about Ahsoka's return and the world between worlds settled the matter even further.
So, why does the reminder that Ahsoka lives -- which Dave Filoni had already hinted at several times (even via t-shirt) and was confirmed way back in the Rebels finale in early 2018 -- have me hyped for Clone Wars, which takes place well before her debut in Rebels? First, take a look:
Well, for one thing, it's just fun whenever Dave Filoni takes to Twitter to share something he created about one of his shows. Admittedly, sometimes (such as the image of Hera looking at Kanan from Rebels in the distance) the images feel more foreboding than fun, but others (like a mind-blowing unproduced Ahsoka scene) are worth revisiting for the pleasure of it.
This new image, posted by Dave Filoni on Christmas Day 2019, is obviously not an unproduced scene or glimpse at a secret corner of Star Wars canon, as it shows Ahsoka hanging out with Gandalf and bonding over both having reports of their deaths greatly exaggerated. Somehow I don't see this as a grand reveal of an upcoming Star Wars/Lord of the Rings crossover!
For another thing, the reminder that Ahsoka lives coming only a couple of months before she returns to the small screen with the Clone Wars revival could be a sign that viewers are in for an intense ride that could leave Ahsoka's life in jeopardy... if only diehard fans didn't already know courtesy of the Ahsoka novel and events of Star Wars Rebels that Ahsoka survives the end of The Clone Wars.
Order-66 may be coming with the activation of the clones' chips, Anakin's turn may be coming, and the rise of the Empire may be on the way in Clone Wars' place in the timeline, but Ahsoka will survive, and the good guys will triumph over the Empire in the end. (Many of them, anyway.)
Then there are other recent reveals in the Star Wars galaxy far, far away to consider when it comes to Ahsoka. Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In a climactic scene in the final film in the Skywalker saga, Rey reaches out with the Force and makes contact with Jedi from days gone by, and we hear via voiceover from Qui-Gon Jin, Obi-Wan Kenobi (both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor versions), Hayden Christensen, and Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, among others.
Now, on the one hand, this seems to suggest that Ahsoka died sometime after the end of Rebels' series finale but before Rise of Skywalker. On the other hand, could Dave Filoni's drawing be a hint that Ahsoka is actually still alive circa Rise of Skywalker? The movie did prove that at least one thing from Rebels is still in the mix, after all, and Filoni hasn't held back from dropping hints that Ahsoka lives when she really was still alive in the past! End Rise of Skywalker spoilers.
So, does the post from Dave Filoni mean that fans have a lot to look forward to on the Ahsoka front with The Clone Wars soon returning for its final season, Ahsoka is still alive, Ahsoka will be revisited in another Star Wars TV project, or something I can't even imagine at this point? Honestly, the only thing I'm confident of is some exciting Ahsoka developments courtesy of Clone Wars, but I'll take any that I can get.
What The Mandalorian And Rise Of Skywalker's Big Force Twist Means For The Clone Wars' Revival
The wait for Clone Wars is finally coming to an end. The 12 episodes of the Disney+ revival will debut on the new streaming service in February 2020. For folks missing The Mandalorian by that point, Clone Wars could hit the spot and deliver a much-needed Star Wars fix. For now, you can catch the earlier seasons of The Clone Wars (and Star Wars Rebels, for that matter) streaming on Disney+. More TV options for the new year can be found on our 2020 winter and spring premiere schedule.
