Ahsoka series premiere opens a mystical portal into Star Wars lore.

On loth-cats, witches, and wizards.

The Short Take: 

Plentiful mystery and mysticism make for a satisfying start. The core character conflict at the center of the series is clear and compelling. And all the action is downright cool. I struggled with this version of Ahsoka more than expected, but still VERY excited to keep watching!

[I know I usually try to do at least partially spoiler-free reviews for series premieres, but, I’m sorry, I just can’t do it this time. I’m too excited. Also some spoilers for the animated series The Clone Wars (especially the Mortis arc) and Rebels (primarily Season 4). Also The Lord of the Rings, if that’s somehow still spoil-able?]

Image Credit: StarWars.com

The Long Take:

When in doubt, always follow the loth-cat.

Longtime readers and friends of mine may assume this opener is simply me being on brand. I love critters, especially mythical ones. I am a crazy cat mom. So it’s no surprise that I love loth-cats. It’s no surprise that I was ECSTATIC that they made an appearance in the new Ahsoka series. 

Give me a moment, as I get this out of my system now: THE LOTH CATS WERE ADORABLE. Their meows sound exactly like those my plush toy from Galaxy’s Edge makes. In the story, one even makes an extended appearance and helps to warn their loving owner, Sabine. Later, Ahsoka uses Sabine’s cat’s unwillingness to reenter their cozy abode to deduce that one of the assassin droids must still be inside. If Sabine leaves on this mission to find Thrawn and Ezra in an unknown galaxy even farther, farther away (and I think she will), I am going to be so worried about whether or not that little chicken-footed scruffle muffin is going to get fed everyday.

Image Credit: Empire

Really, though, I begin with this statement about my favorite fuzzy friends from Lothal because it is what Ezra says to his Ghost crew friends (I think it’s Zeb, specifically, but my memory could be hazy) in Season 4 of the animated series Star Wars Rebels. And he says this because time and time again, when he follows loth-cats — and later loth-wolves — he experiences some kind of inexplicable, Force-loaded phenomenon. He encounters previously unknown ties the Force has to his home planet, Lothal, or discovers something about the history of the Force more generally, realizing it is far vaster than he knows. The idea of following a loth-cat when you are in doubt implies a leap of faith, a surrender to what you can’t control, can’t explain, and can’t yet understand. Trusting the Force to take you somewhere weird and wonderful at the right place and time, even if you have no idea why. 

The two-episode premiere of Ahsoka gives me that same sense of mystery and wonder. That same sense that characters like Ahsoka and Sabine, as well as we, the audience, must all let go and follow the loth-cat. Because only when we let go of the fear of not knowing and bathe in ignorance can we begin to learn. The opening scene for Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka signals this right away because we get very little dialogue, only a lone Ahsoka exploring a temple on Arcana, a planet occupied centuries earlier by the Witches of Dathomir or Nightsisters. She explores the temple and, without any exposition, unlocks an elaborate pillar system, complete with ominous carvings of hooded figures who clutch glowing, spherical maps in their hands. It’s ancient. It’s mystical. It’s Indiana Jones-y in the best way.

Image Credit: Cinemablend

And it keeps going. Later, we learn that Morgan Elsbeth, the tyrannical governor that Ahsoka sought out and fought alongside Din Djarin in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, is a descendent of the Witches of Dathomir. Even if a viewer hasn’t seen The Clone Wars animated series, in which these witches appear in multiple arcs (including one that reveals that Darth Maul’s mother was one), they can see at the end of the second episode of Ahsoka that Elsbeth can manipulate green light to levitate and open the map. And, in the most shocking reveal of all, perhaps, the coveted map reveals that Thrawn’s location is not only in a remote system in the galaxy; it’s in an entirely new galaxy. Colby Mead’s reaction to this on The Colbycast, by the way, is worth the price of admission.

Image Credit: Den of Geek

Apologies if the previous paragraph became a laundry list, but I cluster all those moments and revelations together to emphasize just how much of this series thus far leans into Star Wars’ more mystical side. I have long held the belief that Star Wars is as much space fantasy as it is science fiction, and spooky puzzles made by an ancient civilization, secret maps, and witches with Force magic all shore up that belief for me.

I’m here for all of it because there’s so much for us to potentially learn. Morgan Elsbeth says that the “reflex point” for the map on Seatos was not built by Jedi, but by “an ancient people from a distant galaxy.” How are these ancient beings related to the witches, if at all? Why did they build a superhighway between their galaxy and Ahsoka’s? Where did they go? And where are they now? Is Thrawn with them now? (If yes, he’s probably stealthily trying to become their ruler.)

And we have Director Dave Filoni to thank for these juicy questions. One of Filoni’s greatest contributions to Star Wars has been his expansion and deepening of Star Wars lore, especially through The Clone Wars and Rebels. In the former, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan meet what are essentially Force gods called The Son, The Daughter, and The Father. In the latter, Kanan and Ezra find an enormous, all-powerful bull moose tortoise in the desert who is deeply connected to the Force, yet exists as neither light side nor dark side. Ezra follows a pack of giant Force-sensitive wolves. An owl-like creature with a spiritual connection to The Daughter watches over Ahsoka. Jedi temples swirl in and out of the ground at will, with new doors (and rooms of requirement, at the risk of dragging another magical world into this) opening each time.

And, in the boldest move to date, Filoni created The World Between Worlds, a liminal plane that contains doors to non-linear points in time and space. He has successfully convinced me that the Force is a bottomless well of storytelling, and that rather than falling back on what we already know or what George Lucas established in the Original Trilogy, he and other creators can keep finding new concepts and revelations with which to challenge us. 

From where I’m sitting, Dave Filoni’s two biggest influences in building out Star Wars’ mythology — aside from his own Master, George Lucas — are J.R.R. Tolkien and Hayao Miyazaki. There have been clues from the man himself over the years that this is the case. His own personal sketches that he shares from time to time, making the Internet frenzy like a pool of piranhas, clearly draw inspiration from both. And these references do a lot to make sense of his approach to the Ahoska series.

Image Credit: Dave Filoni’s Twitter account

Image Credit: Dave Filoni’s Twitter account

The “when in doubt, follow the loth-cat” feeling I discussed earlier, for example, reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871). (Okay, fine, Alice in Wonderland.) Alice going down the rabbit hole requires the same kind of openness to uncertainty. Ezra has no idea where any given loth-cat or loth-wolf is going; he isn’t even sure these creatures are trying to go somewhere, never mind lead him to the wonders of the Force and his own destiny. One could certainly make the case that films like Spirited Away and even parts of My Neighbor Totoro contain the same trope. Miyazaki equips Filoni with dream logic fantasy that often carries characters on bewildered journeys, with lush, forbidding landscapes and, of course, cute creatures. Also, the Loth-wolves just look like they came straight out of Princess Mononoke.

Image Credit: Film at Lincoln Cener

More to my space fantasy/magic/mysticism point from earlier, Filoni has compared Ahsoka to the wizard Gandalf from Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings. Rosario Dawson said in an interview that when preparing for Ahsoka, "Dave and I talked a lot about Gandalf the Gray and Gandalf the White — talking about that transition and how she's someone very capable and excellent and looked up to as a leader, but she still has levels of development to go.” Those who have not watched The Clone Wars more recently or at all may not know that by the time we start this new series, Ahsoka has already died and come back more deeply connected to The Force — more specifically the Mortis god The Daughter, who sacrifices herself to save Ahsoka. I didn’t get to rewatch the Mortis arc of The Clone Wars in anticipation of this new series premiere, but, now that I’ve seen that premiere, I feel as though revisiting that arc would be very helpful for contextualizing or giving clues for the rest of the season of Ahsoka.

Image Credit: Dave Filoni’s Instagram account

Why do these fantasy influences matter for the Ahsoka series? Considering the way myth functions in Tolkien, I find it hard to believe that Filoni has not in fact sketched out an entire detailed and cohesive mythology for all of Star Wars as he understands it. Before he was asked to write a sequel to The Hobbit, Tolkien wrote The Silmarillion, which explains the entire ancient history of the world he created; he just couldn’t get it published. (As impressive as it is as a constructed myth, it’s far from the breeziest of reads.) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, however, draws upon that mythology and frequently references it. Characters in The Lord of the Rings talk about bits and pieces from The Silmarillion as if they were myth, legend, or ancient history.

To me, it feels like Filoni has done the same for Star Wars. The Mortis gods or “The Ones,” the Bendu, etc. — they all have their own stories. But the Filoniverse series do not tell their stories in full; they’re there as largely unspoken backstory in order to make the more contemporary story we actually care about feel more fully-formed and meaningful. I imagine that could happen with these unnamed ancient beings from another galaxy as well. We may not learn ALL there is to learn about them or where they originated from. We may not even meet them. We will likely learn just enough to advance the Ahsoka v. Thrawn plot. Still, I’m excited to see what sort of reveal we might get; how will Filoni expand and stretch Star Wars this time?

The main criticism of the Ahsoka series premiere with which I agree is that this version of Ahsoka may be too stoic for fans to reconcile with previous versions who have been feistier, snarkier, warmer, and more empathetic than what we see here. When something doesn’t work perfectly for me, instead of being upset about it, I go to work to figure out why I feel that way. After some thought, I attribute my reaction in part to the fact that we are dropping into a period of Ahsoka’s life that is far later than The Clone Wars or Rebels. This series takes place after Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, her former master, has finally died. It’s also after she has apparently tried and failed to train Sabine as her Padawan. She has a lot weighing on her.

Image Credit: Vulture

No stories have actually covered this period in her history, by the way, so no one knows what really happened, at least not yet. I assume we will learn at least some in future episodes, through flashbacks or conversations between Sabine and Ahsoka. 

As I said on this week’s Coffee with Kenobi episode, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are starting Ahsoka here so that she can mend fences with Sabine and unearth some of the personality traits she had in happier times. If she’s going to be as skilled, formidable, and as strong with the Force as she is, we need somewhere for her to go emotionally. I would be fine with that because I think that the tension and baggage between Ahsoka and Sabine grounds all the lore expansion and mysticism with a very clear and compelling character conflict.

Filoni’s paralleling of Ahsoka with Gandalf, however, may provide a more difficult to detect reason as to why this version of Ahsoka is noticeably more serious than the versions we’ve seen in animation. Gandalf appears to perish after losing a fight with a balrog, only to return later in the story completely transformed. No longer is he the lighthearted wizard of leisure dressed in grey. He is all in white, with a matching horse named Shadowfax — sorry, lord of all the horses (respect). He seems more powerful, but also more enlightened. And therefore more serious. So all that has happened to Ahsoka since we last saw her at the end of Rebels — all that we have not seen — could have changed her demeanor. In the story, it makes total sense, but to fans dropping into the story in medias res, it can be disorienting.

Image Credit: Dave Filoni’s Instagram account

It’s unclear at this point if Ahsoka in live action has actually undergone this transformation from Gray to White, however. Side by side comparisons between the epilogue of Rebels, in which Ahsoka wears a white cloak and carries a staff, suspiciously like Gandalf, and the final scene of Ahsoka Episode 2, in which Ahsoka wears the gray cloak we have seen her wear since she appeared in live action reveal that the two scenes are nearly identical. It’s unclear if the live action scene supplants the animated one, or if it represents an echo of it, to show that Ahsoka and Sabine have once again come together to search for Thrawn and Ezra.

I actually don’t mind either way, but I think that the implications in terms of Ahsoka’s mystical development are quite different depending on which it is. If she has already been Ahsoka the White and then went back to Gray for The Mandalorian and this new series, that either implies a regression or means that we might be awaiting yet another leveling up or, at least, emotional transformation of her character. But if the live action scene is an adaptation of the animated epilogue, then that may mean that events leading to Ahsoka the White have yet to come. I really love Ahsoka’s Gandalf the White fit in Rebels, so I would be disappointed if we never saw it in live action at all. 

I can now see the extent to which this series sits in a very dense and precarious web of Star Wars canon, multiple fantasy influences (I didn’t even get to talk about Avatar the Last Airbender, but since Filoni got his start as a director on that series, it’s definitely in play), live action vs. animation, and the biography of a character that fans have lived with since she was a 14-year-old Padawan named “Snips.” That’s a lot of plates spinning at once. 

I choose, however, to keep following the loth-cat.