The first season of “Ahsoka” wrapped on Tuesday night with enough cliffhangers for another season … and/or a “Star Wars” movie (more on that later).
At the end of Episode 7, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) had finally reunited with Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) on Peridea. While Sabine’s primary goal was to reunite with Ezra, Ahsoka remained focused on stopping Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) from returning from exile.
Read of if you want to find out what happened in the Season 1 finale of “Ahsoka” and where the characters could possibly go from here.
Spoiler alert: This post contains plot points from the season finale of “Ahsoka.” Proceed with caution.
For finding Thrawn (and consequently the Great Mothers), Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) was given a reward. The Great Mothers empowered the Nightsister and forged a Blade of Talzin for her — a sword that glows green with mystical energy.
Meanwhile, the droid Huyang (David Tennant) was able to forge a blue lightsaber for Ezra.
Thrawn dispatched two TIE fighters to take out Ahsoka’s shuttle. Huyang and Sabine were able to destroy them but the shuttle was heavily damaged in the process. Ahsoka, Sabine and Ezra had to hoof it (literally on the backs of the wolf-like howlers) to Thrawn’s fortress.
Thrawn ordered the night troopers and the empowered Morgan to stop them, as his primary objective was to escape the galaxy by interlocking his star destroyer with the Eye of Sion, whose powerful engines allowed Morgan to travel to Peridea in the first place. Morgan understood that Thrawn’s order would leave her stranded but she knew the sacrifice she had to make.
Ahsoka, Sabine and Ezra easily took out the night troopers, but the Great Mothers used their dark magic to resurrect them. Ahsoka then engaged Morgan in a duel while Sabine and Ezra tried to stop Thrawn’s ship.
Jumping ahead — and we do mean jumping — as Ezra was able to catapult himself onto Thrawn’s ship with a Force push from Sabine. Morgan managed to destroy one of Ahsoka’s lightsabers, but Ahsoka killed Morgan.
Huyang repaired the shuttle just in time, and Sabine and Hera leapt on board as Thrawn’s ship destroyed the fortress. They pursued him into space, but Thrawn was able to jump into hyperspace with Ezra on board, leaving Ahsoka and Sabine stranded.
Thrawn’s destination? The planet Dathomir, which was the home of the Star Wars galaxy’s Nightsister clans until they were destroyed during the Clone Wars. The prevailing theory was that the coffins brought upon Thrawn’s ship contained night troopers, but now many believe they contain Nightsister remains. The Great Mothers, who accompanied Thrawn, may be able to resurrect not only those in the coffins, but perhaps the dead Nighsisters on Dathomir as well.
What does that mean? Well, it creates a powerful foe for the New Republic. Thrawn would need such allies to rebuild the Empire. The execution of Thrawn’s plans will surely be explored in a second season of “Ahsoka” (if picked up) and sets up the greater “Mandoverse” movie that director Dave Filoni is simultaneously working on. (Assuming, of course, that it’s not canceled as almost all other announced “Star Wars” films have been in the last 5 years.)
Fortunately, the New Republic is at least aware of Thrawn’s return, as stowaway Ezra eventually reunited with Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
The other cliffhanger involved Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) who are also stranded on Peridea. Abandoned by her master, Shin returned to the raiders native to the planet. Baylan emerged on an outcropping with massive statues that may represent the powerful entity he sensed in Episode 7 (whom some fans believe are The Father and The Son).
However, with Stevenson having passed away in real life, Baylan storyline may be unresolved.
Epsiode 8 ends with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) looking over Ahsoka and Sabine, because, as Ahsoka said earlier, “he always stood by me.”
All episodes of “Ahsoka” are currently streaming on Disney+