Star Wars Celebration Europe kicked off today, and started with a bang: an entire panel dedicated to the life and times of Ahsoka Tano, from Clone Wars to Rebels, and all the untold moments in between. Huge, emotional secrets were revealed, not just to us, but to Ahsoka herself, actor Ashley Eckstein.
The panel, featuring Clone Wars and Rebels producer Dave Filoni, Lucasfilm story group executive Pablo Hidalgo, and Eckstein, dove deep into three major story arcs planned for Ahsoka after her departure from the Jedi Order at the climax of Clone Wars’ fifth season. These arcs wouldn’t have just followed Ahsoka on her journey out of the Jedi life, but brought the animated series to a close—tying directly into the events of Revenge of the Sith. Here’s what we now know about Ahsoka’s untold stories:
Ahsoka’s Walkabouts
The first arc would’ve focused on Ahsoka’s whereabouts on Coruscant immediately after she walked away from Anakin at the steps of the Jedi Temple, contemplating her monumentous decision while meditating in a nearby park (throughout the panel, the audience was shown concept art directly from Filoni’s notebooks, illustrating ideas and concepts that would ultimately never make it to the big screen). As a teenager, Filoni concluded, Ahsoka would be prone to making such a bold decision to step away from the Jedi, but she still would have been conflicted by her desire to do good in the galaxy and her now almost total distrust of the Jedi council.
That conflict would have set Ahsoka on a journey down to the lower levels of Coruscant—specifically level 1313, the seedy location that was part of the cancelled Star Wars 1313 video game. There she would throw her lot in with a smuggler named Nyx Okami, a similarly young and Han-Solo-y character, as the two tried to live a life in the underworld (and with Ahsoka still tied to her Jedi morale core, doing good where she can). Keeping her past a secret from the young Nyx, the relationship would slowly blossom into something of a romantic arc for Ahsoka. “Ahsoka had a boyfriend for a hot minute,” exclaimed Eckstein, “and his name was Nyx Okami!”
Return to the Jedi
Eventually, Ahsoka would’ve emerged from Coruscant’s underbelly, and returned to the temple—not as a Jedi, but as an advisor on a special mission to rescue Master Yoda from a sinister force lurking beneath Coruscant’s surface. Reunited with Anakin and Obi-Wan, Ahsoka would’ve guided the two Jedi all the way to the base level of Coruscant.
There, right under where the Jedi temple would be miles above, was the true source of the evil the Jedi had felt: an ancient Sith temple, teeming with knowledge and dark side power. At one point, although unbeknownst to her, Ahsoka would have battled a dark side user trying to break into the Soth holocron room, with concept art showing Ahsoka plotting her lightsaber into the door to seal it, only for the perpetrator to shock her with force lightning from the other side of the door. Unbeknown to her or the Jedi, her opponent was none other than Darth Sidious.
The Siege of Mandalore
The final arc revealed today was an emotional one—one that would have brought Clone Wars to its end (before its untimely ending in the wake of Disney’s purchase of Star Wars), and give Anakin and Ahsoka one last meeting before his rise as Vader.
A plan formulated by Ahsoka and Mandalorian commando Bo Katan would’ve seen the Council dispatch Anakin, Obi-Wan and a clone army to Mandalore, to oust Darth Maul from his position of power in the wake of Duchess Satine’s death. But tragically, before the attack could begin, Yoda urgently recalls Obi-Wan and Anakin back to Coruscant: Grievous has surged the capital and kidnapped Palpatine, aka the opening moments of Revenge of the Sith.
Queue the waterworks: not just from the audience but from Eckstein herself, as Filoni recounted what would have been the last moments between Anakin and Ahsoka. Before the two Jedi departed for Coruscant, Anakin would’ve told Ahsoka how proud he was of her, Jedi or otherwise, before revealing a parting gift—Captain Rex and a battalion of the 501st’s best, their helmets repainted orange and with Ahsoka’s togruta markings. All of this was a surprise to Eckstein, who constantly reminded the audience that she was largely in the dark about Ahsoka’s past, and her reaction was as intense as it was heartwarming, sobbing along with her fans.
Beyond the Clone Wars
Aside from her re-appearance in Rebels, Filoni had one more idea for Ahsoka revealed at the end of the panel: how she survived Order 66. Accompanied by artwork of Ahsoka riding a giant, long-legged wolf (Filoni is, he confesses, a big fan of wolves), the producer revealed that after Ahsoka’s clones turned on her, they would’ve surrounded the former Jedi in a forest clearing, while she was meditating.
Or so they thought—Ahsoka would’ve revealed that the “forest” was actually a pack of these gigantic wolves, which would’ve promptly torn he clones o pieces as Ahsoka rode into battle on one. Filoni stressed this was just a piece of imaginative speculation, mainly due to his love of drawing wolves—so the idea was quickly nixed. So while we still don’t “officially” know how Ahsoka survived the ordeal, you now have one alternate possibility.
Bu did she survive he events of the Rebels season two finale? Filoni remained tight lipped as to whether Ahsoka survived the destruction of the Sith temple on Malachor, but he gave fans—and Eckstein—a glimmer of hope: There’s a good possibility we’ve not see the last of Ahsoka. There is, of course, still many stories to tell.
Be sure to check out all of our coverage of Star Wars Celebration Europe