Spoilers are ahead for the third episode of Ahsoka on Disney+, called "Time To Fly," and for Star Wars Rebels.
The first three episodes of Ahsoka are already redefining what it takes to be a Jedi, starting with Sabine becoming Ahsoka Tano's Padawan when she never showed significant aptitude for the Force in four seasons of Star Wars Rebels. Even Huyang openly dismissed the idea that she ever would have been accepted into the Jedi Temple back before the Empire, but the galaxy far, far away has changed a lot since then. The original ways of the Order just don't work. (See: the Star Wars prequel trilogy and sequel trilogy.)
Now, with Ahsoka's introduction of Jacen Syndulla into live-action and his desire to become a Jedi, I find myself wondering if this show is the start of Star Wars setting up a new branch of the Jedi Order that doesn't rise and fall with the Skywalker saga, and could be far more interesting that retreading the same Jedi ground again and again.
How Training Jacen Syndulla Could Start A New Order
Jacen Syndulla was introduced at the very end of the very last episode of Star Wars Rebels, with the reveal that Hera had been pregnant with Kanan's child when he died and she gave birth to a son who very much took after his father in looks. Given that Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa inherited Force abilities from their father, it seemed like a safe bet that Jacen would be Force sensitive as Kanan's son. After what the sequel trilogy revealed about what happened to Luke's students at his Jedi acadmy, I'd hoped that Jacen would avoid following in his father's footsteps if I got my wish and he appeared in live-action.
But Ahsoka leaves me thinking that there's a third option beyond Jacen attending Luke's school to be killed by Kylo Ren or Jacen not training to use the Force, and it's all because I was struck by the look on Hera's face when her son said that he wants to be a Jedi. Take a look:
If you ask me, that is not the face of a mother who is going to ship her son off to study the Force at the far-off academy of a man who she presumably doesn't know all that well. Hera's expression looks more like a woman looking at her son, who closely resembles his father, and remembering that being a Jedi is what got his father killed before Jacen was even born. Kanan's death was an act of sacrifice that involved using the Force, after all! The character wasn't even name-dropped in Episode 3, but Mary Elizabeth Winstead's performance suggested that Kanan was on Hera's mind. Loving Kanan doesn't mean she wants the same life for their son!
So, while I don't see Hera wanting to send Jacen to Luke's Jedi academy, I can absolutely see her allowing her son to train with Ezra, assuming Ahsoka and Sabine find him and bring him back. Of course, there's the issue that Ezra might actually be the man beneath the Marrok mask, but it's easy to imagine her wanting her biological son to train with the young man she loved like a son on Rebels, if he's going to train at all.
Why Ezra And Ahsoka Are Key
Combine the concept of Hera wanting Ezra to teach her son with Ahsoka training Sabine, and Star Wars could have the makings of an alternate and possibly even unofficial Jedi Order that's less rigid with the rules. Ahsoka has survived and even thrived by stepping away from the Order that raised her, and training Sabine against Huyang's advice is a sign that she's going her own way and building her own legacy.
For his part, Kanan wasn't even fully qualified himself when he took on Ezra as an apprentice. By the end, he had arguably become the best example in all of Star Wars of a Jedi Knight who could form and maintain strong attachments without falling to the dark side in the slighest, including a long term romantic relationship. Ezra followed Kanan's teachings and example, and was ultimately able to form attachments to the Ghost family without falling.
A new Jedi Order – official or not – starting out small from Ahsoka passing her teachings along to Sabine and Ezra passing what he learned from Kanan along to Jacen could be a fresh take on Jedi stories... and provide a way for Jacen to follow his dream without joining Luke's academy and being massacred along with all the other students. Could this be the beginning of a Gray Jedi Order, despite what Freddie Prinze Jr. had to say on the matter?
Why The Time Is Right For A Different Order
Ahsoka famously said "I am no Jedi" to Darth Vader on Star Wars Rebels, and Kanan certainly bent (if not broke) a lot of the rules he would have had to follow if Order 66 had never destroyed the Jedi and he'd remained Caleb Dume. Is it any coincidence that Ahsoka has outlived her former Jedi peers, and Kanan found a true balance in the Force that eluded so many other Jedi? Imperfect though they were/are, they improvised, evolved, and passed on their knowledge, and I'd love to see that knowledge continue to spread.
Of course, if Ezra truly is Marrok, then there's a lot that needs to happen before any of this would be possible, including what I assume would have to be some serious deprogramming. Or Jacen could simply train with Ahsoka in this scenario, like Sabine, but my Star Wars Rebels heart would love to see Ezra passing Kanan's teachings along to the son he never knew.
On the whole, seeing Sabine trying to learn from Ahsoka in the same episode as Jacen wanting to become a Jedi leaves me thinking about a future for them with the Force that doesn't involve being killed by Kylo Ren a few years down in the line in the Star Wars timeline. The Mandalorian already proved that Jedi training doesn't have to mean isolation or sticking to tradition, considering Grogu's choice.
Besides, not every Star Wars project has to tie back to the Skywalker saga in the end! I'm probably in the minority in preferring when The Mandalorian stood on its own without bringing in Luke Skywalker, but the galaxy far, far away is a big place. Even if Jacen never appears again in Ahsoka beyond a cameo here and there (and even if we never get an explanation of why he looks like a mini Kanan with green hair instead of getting more of Hera's genes), it's fun to think about Star Wars trying something new without totally departing from what works in the franchise.
For now, all we can do is theorize and speculate. Still, after we've seen time and again that the old ways of the Jedi Order simply don't work, a different kind of order inspired by an unconventional pair of Jedi could take the franchise in some interesting directions. Find out with new episodes of Ahsoka on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET with a Disney+ subscription, with more members of the Ahsoka cast still yet to debut.
