Dave Filoni has always been the mastermind of Ahsoka Tano’s life. He’s been behind all her biggest moments since her debut 15 years ago, and that didn’t stop when she moved to live-action. After directing her appearance in The Mandalorian, Filoni is writing every episode of Ahsoka, and directing two of them. Now, a runtime leak may reveal the arrival of a crucial character in Episode 5, which would be a huge moment for Ahsoka and her creator.
Leaker @Cryptic4KQual, who’s accurately predicted the runtimes of Ahsoka and The Mandalorian Season 3, claims Ahsoka Episode 5 will clock in at 49 minutes and 50 seconds, making it the longest of the series and one of the longest episodes of Star Wars TV we’ve seen so far.
This is an unusual approach for the leaker, who predicted runtimes for Episodes 1, 2, and 3, but has now skipped over Episode 4 and gone straight to Episode 5. Maybe that just reflects what information is available, but it’s another piece of evidence that suggests Episode 5 will be a crucial one.
When looking over the list of directors for Ahsoka, it’s notable that Dave Filoni isn’t helming the finale. Instead of bookending the series, he tackled Episode 1 and Episode 5. That, combined with Episode 5’s long runtime, implies it will be a pivotal installment. This could very well be the episode where Ahsoka finally encounters Ezra and/or Thrawn, both characters Filoni oversaw in Rebels.
Disney+ shows certainly love a big Episode 5 reveal. Episode 5 of WandaVision introduced Evan Peters as Pietro, Episode 5 of Loki gave us the Variant Lokis, Episode 5 of Hawkeye brought Kingpin to the MCU, and Episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett was secretly a Mandalorian episode in disguise. Even Dave Filoni got in on the trend, directing Episode 5 of The Mandalorian Season 2, where Ahsoka made her live-action debut.
A Thrawn and Ezra appearance in Episode 5 would be perfect for the series’ pace. It allows enough build-up to show how important these characters are to fans who haven’t seen Rebels, but also leaves enough episodes afterward to give them significant screen time. Ezra and Thrawn’s return has been anticipated for years; the reveal needs space to breathe.
With Ahsoka set to run for eight episodes, that would leave three episodes for Ahsoka, Ezra, Sabine, and Hera to face off against Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, and their devious leader, Thrawn. It’s a showdown years in the making, both in universe and in reality. It’s clear Filoni wants to set up a finale that will go down in Star Wars history, and Episode 5 looks like it will put the final pieces on the board.
