Ahsoka is just a few months away, but the series has been a mystery for years. It was first announced in December 2020, and given that it stars a Clone Wars and Rebels protagonist, fans have been wondering what could happen to her, and whether the rest of her crew from Rebels could show up. But one notable Ahsoka fan theory could have a huge impact on not only Star Wars canon, but also the non-canon Legends narrative that contains old books, comics, and games.
When Ahsoka was announced, the only clue to its contents was its logo, a white cosmological-map-looking name that evoked the mystical side of the Force. Fans compared it to the maps of the Star Wars universe, and the staff Ahsoka carries in Rebels.
But one comparison was especially intriguing: the circular motifs match the portals seen in the World Between Worlds, the time-travel enabling plane outside of time and space Ezra visits in Rebels. He manages to save Ahsoka from her fight with Vader while there, and now, in Ahsoka, she’s looking to return the favor and save Ezra, who’s been MIA since the events of Rebels.
Lost Legends is an Inverse series about the forgotten lore of our favorite stories.
If this strange plane features in Ahsoka, it could provide a meta-explanation for the very existence of all the old Legends stories. If the World Between Worlds can change space and time, then maybe the divergence of contemporary Star Wars canon and the old Legends timeline could be explained through something that’s seen or done in the World Between Worlds, proving that all those stories exist in a parallel universe.
Fans are quick to point out that Ezra saving Ahsoka didn’t technically change the timeline. It was a closed loop; Ezra was destined to save her in every timeline. But the World Between Worlds is notoriously mysterious. Ahsoka could easily show how a parallel universe is crafted, even if it’s just a quick Easter egg. Legends is full of popular and well-told stories. They deserve to be acknowledged rather than festering in Disney’s vault forever.
In a 2001 interview with Cinescape Magazine, George Lucas explained the Extended Universe canon, as Legends was called then, by saying, “There’s my world, which is the movies, and there’s this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe—the licensing world of the books, games and comic books.” If George Lucas has always imagined Legends as an alternate universe, why not make that universe canonical?
Legends may be a neglected world in a post-Disney-acquisition reality, but as Luke Skywalker said, no one’s ever really gone. References to Legends have seeped into the new canon, especially now that the infamous Thrawn is slated to be the big bad of Ahsoka. And if the entire Legends canon is going to be legitimized or at least acknowledged, it has to be in the series that introduces the poster child of Legends into the main narrative.
Ahsoka premieres on Disney+ in August 2023.
