Star Wars Has Never Been More Ready To Make Ahsoka Tano A Primary Franchise Lead

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Mandalorian & Grogu

For years, Ahsoka Tano has occupied a unique place in the established Star Wars canon. Originally introduced in 2008’s Clone Wars movie and series as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan, Ahsoka has evolved over the years into one of the franchise’s most beloved and important characters, especially following the first season of her own live-action series back in 2023. However, there’s now an argument to be made that Ahsoka is more primed than ever to become even more of a critical figure in the Star Wars franchise’s future.

Following The Mandalorian & Grogu and the ongoing expansion of the New Republic Era, it’s pretty remarkable how many roads and characters lead back to Ahsoka Tano herself. Keeping that in mind, I believe Ahsoka could easily become a key central figure who ends up bridging various Star Wars characters together for the first time in upcoming projects.

Between Ahsoka’s connections with the biggest heroes of the New Republic Era, Dave Filoni’s upcoming crossover movie, and his new leadership over Lucasfilm itself, I feel very confident that Ahsoka Tano will become one of Star Wars’ most important characters in the franchise’s modern era.

Ahsoka Is Secretly Connected To Several Major New Republic Heroes

Especially after the recent release of The Mandalorian & Grogu, it’s fascinating to see just how connected Ahsoka Tano is to the larger Star Wars universe, especially during the New Republic Era.

Firstly, let’s consider Din Djarin and Grogu. Ahsoka was the first person to truly understand Grogu’s past and helped set him on the path that eventually led him to Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian season 2. While Din and Ahsoka only shared limited screen time in just a couple of episodes, they’ve already fought together as allies who’d more than likely join forces again.

Now that Djarin and Grogu are working for the New Republic, it’s easy to imagine them crossing paths with Ahsoka again once she presumably returns from the extragalactic world of Peridea, having been stranded there with her Padawan Sabine Wren at the end of Ahsoka’s first season.

Then there’s Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba who remarkably returns to the Star Wars canon as a physically imposing adult Hutt in The Mandalorian & Grogu, having grown up a LOT since his last appearance, where he was being rescued as a kidnapped infant and returned to his father by Ahsoka in 2008’s Clone Wars movie. With Rotta showing interest in joining the New Republic by The Mandalorian & Grogu’s ending, there’s now a perfect reason for uniting Rotta and Ahsoka in the future as well.

There’s also the Adelphi Rangers’ Carson Teva, who was featured working with Tano and Hera Syndulla in Ahsoka’s first season, as well as Zeb Orellios, who now has strong ties to both Din Djarin and Ahsoka given their shared history in Star Wars Rebels.

To that point, Ahsoka’s network of various New Republic heroes gets even bigger when you look beyond The Mandalorian & Grogu, having relationships and connections with Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, and Chopper (all past crew members of The Ghost still active in the New Republic Era). There’s also Luke Skywalker and Mandalore’s leader, Bo-Katan Kryze, even characters like Leia Organa and Mon Mothma, who are no doubt familiar with Ahsoka’s contributions to the Rebellion, especially in its earliest days when she operated under the codename Fulcrum.

All things considered, there may not be another living Star Wars character in the New Republic Era with more meaningful connections to so many heroes across the board than Ashoka Tano herself.

Dave Filoni’s New Republic Crossover Already Has The Perfect Central Character With Ahsoka

Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Ahsoka show to the left and Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in the Ahsoka show to the right

Ever since Lucasfilm announced Dave Filoni’s upcoming New Republic crossover film, there’s been ongoing speculation as to how all the various New Republic storylines will eventually come together. It’s been widely assumed that Grand Admiral Thrawn and his recent return from exile will serve as the overarching antagonist, much like he did in Legends’ Heir to the Empire storyline.

To that end, Ahsoka seems like far and away the most obvious choice to unite the various heroes of the New Republic Era against Thrawn and his attempts at an Imperial Resurgence. No one else connects to so many different characters and active heroes during this period of the Star Wars timeline.

Ahsoka Tano is one of the few characters who could realistically and most easily bring the likes of Din Djarin, Grogu, Hera, Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, Teva, and countless others together in Filoni’s upcoming crossover movie, which would no doubt make her more central to the entire Star Wars franchise than ever before (and Filoni likely wouldn’t want it any other way).

With Dave Filoni Leading Star Wars, Ahsoka’s Importance Is Only Going To Grow

Ahsoka isn’t just another Star Wars character. She’s arguably the most successful original character created outside the core Skywalker Saga films themselves, having been created by both George Lucas and especially Dave Filoni.

Over the last 18 years, the Star Wars franchise has seen Ahsoka grow and evolve from an impulsive Padawan into one of the franchise’s most layered heroes. Her story has intersected with nearly every major era from the Clone Wars to the rise of the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, and now the New Republic Era.

Now that Filoni has recently been made one of the new heads at Lucasfilm, it stands to reason that Ahsoka’s importance is only going to grow, and what better way than to bring her journey full circle than with a major return to the big screen for the first time since her original debut as Anakin’s brand-new Padawan?

If Filoni is now the biggest voice guiding the future of Star Wars, is there really any scenario where Ahsoka doesn’t remain one of its most important characters (if not becoming even bigger)? Keeping that in mind, next year’s Ahsoka season 2 is likely just the start of what Filoni has planned for Ahsoka Tano’s future, and all the evidence points to her having a massive central role on the big screen sooner rather than later.

Ahsoka season 2 is expected to release in early 2027 from Lucasfilm.