10 burning questions before the Ahsoka finale

The season finale of Ahsoka is just hours away, and even after seven episodes there’s still a lot we don’t know about where the storylines and the characters are headed next. In its initial season, the Disney+ series followed Ahsoka and her allies as they fought to prevent the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn from exile in a different galaxy. Some of those heroes eventually wound up in that galaxy themselves, and it’s starting to look like their efforts were in vain, as Thrawn is poised to escape with the help of the creepy Nightsisters. And while Sabine did find Ezra Bridger—the one good thing to come out of all of this—if they can’t stop Thrawn in time the grand admiral may become exactly what Ahsoka feared: heir to the Empire.

Of course, with just one episode left this season we’re not counting on all of our questions being answered. Some may have to wait for another season, another show (it wouldn’t be the first time a storyline from one Star Wars TV show was resolved in an entirely different one), or for Dave Filoni’s upcoming crossover movie. One way or another, this almost certainly won’t be the last time Ahsoka and her fellow Rebels are seen in live action. Here are all the loose ends we’ve been tracking across the season and that we hope will be addressed before the end.

1. What caused the rift between Ahsoka and Sabine?

If you tuned into Ahsoka without having watched the animated series Rebels you might have assumed that whatever went down the first time Ahsoka took on Sabine as her Padawan was covered in that series; it wasn’t. Rebels fans were just as much in the dark as anyone else with this new information. They still are, since the show hasn’t gotten into what caused the rift between Ahsoka and Sabine. The two of them never really hashed it out. They just put their disagreements aside while they focused on the bigger problems in front of them.

Now that they’ve found both Thrawn and Ezra, though, those tensions might come back to the forefront. If so, they’ll be compounded by Sabine’s most recent betrayal. Ahsoka seemed genuinely happy to see both Ezra and Sabine in the last episode, and she’s in a better place after her ordeal in the World Between Worlds (or wherever that was). But how long will that last? Ezra is probably just as curious as we are, so that could be a natural way to catch us up on that missing piece of personal history.

2. How will Ezra react when he discovers how Sabine found him?

Ezra still doesn’t know that Sabine got to this galaxy by making a deal with Thrawn’s allies. She’s managed to avoid talking about it so far, but the longer she stonewalls, the greater the chances are that Thrawn will make his escape and leave them behind. Ezra sacrificed himself at the end of Rebels by calling the purrgil to whisk both him and Thrawn away (he didn’t even know where they’d take them). His plan worked, but at the cost of a decade or more in exile on an unknown planet in a remote galaxy. If Thrawn manages to go back and pick up where he left off, Ezra’s sacrifice will have meant nothing.

Sabine doesn’t have a good justification for being in this galaxy, either. She can pretend it was for Ezra’s sake, but really she just wanted to see him again. Her very un-Jedi-like decision to hand over the star map came from a place of emotion, rather than logic or strategy. We were as happy as she was to see Ezra again, but regardless of the outcome, it will be disappointing if he and Ahsoka give Sabine a pass for her actions.

3. What do the Great Mothers want from Thrawn?

The witchy Nightsisters of Dathomir have a deep and complicated mythology developed through previous appearances in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, as well as various Star Wars games and literature. Ahsoka added to the lore with the new information that Peridea is their original homeworld, though we still don’t know how much they factor into Thrawn’s endgame. Thrawn is no fan of the Jedi, but apparently he has no problem aligning with these particular Force wielders. At least, as long as their goals are compatible.

We know that Thrawn wants to go back to his own galaxy, but it’s not clear exactly what Morgan Elsbeth and the Great Mothers are getting out of the deal. Thrawn mentions some kind of cargo transfer and Morgan tells him it will take three rotations to retrieve it all from the catacombs. Later, we see the Night Troopers transporting long, floating crates onto Thrawn’s ship. Whatever is in them, the Nightsisters went to a lot of trouble to get them off the planet.

4. What exactly are the Night Troopers?

The Night Troopers don’t look like any stormtroopers we’ve seen before. Their armor is battered and broken, held together with bits of red tape or cloth. They’ve clearly seen some things under Thrawn’s command. Could they be, as a popular fan theory suggests, a zombie army raised from the dead by the Nightsisters? Thrawn’s comment to Morgan after learning that Ahsoka is alive seems to support that theory: “After all, death and resurrection are common deceptions played out by both Nightsister and Jedi.” When they saw combat in episode seven they didn’t burst into a cloud of dust like Marrok did, so they’re something different. And what’s the deal with Enoch, the golden-faced captain of Thrawn’s guard? Is he like the others, or is he special for some reason? It could be that they’re all just regular stormtroopers in janky armor, but that’s the least likely—and least interesting—explanation.

5. What is Baylan Skoll’s plan?

Baylan Skoll, played with wonderful gravitas by the late Ray Stevenson, has had his own hidden agenda since we first met him. What that might be remains a big mystery. Though we’ve only had a few scarce hints of his plans so far, we do know some of his backstory. He was raised in the Jedi Temple and escaped Order 66. He’s no longer a Jedi, but still has some respect for the order and upholds some of the old traditions. He hasn’t fully gone to the dark side, yet he was working with an Inquisitor at the beginning of the series. At one point he told his apprentice, Shin Hati, that power was his end goal. Then, in episode six he expresses his desire to break the endless cycle of conflict between the Jedi and the Empire. “What I seek is the beginning,” he says. “So I may finally bring this cycle to an end.” Perhaps the finale will clear up exactly what he means by that. And also why he sent Shin away so abruptly without completing her training, not as a Jedi but as “something more.” Did he change course once he got to this world of “dreams and madness” or was this his plan all along?

6. What is the mysterious power that Baylan sensed on Peridea?

Baylan’s words later in episode six prompted another line of inquiry that deserve a section of its own. He talks about the planet Peridea itself, once the Great Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri, and what might be going on under the surface there. “Perhaps they flee a power greater than their own,” he says of the Great Mothers, when Shin points out how eager they are to get the hell out of there. “Something calls to me. Can’t you hear it? Something stirs here. Can’t you see it?” Is this power connected to the Force? Could it be a creature? If it’s real, it could affect not just Baylan’s fate, but the fates of our heroes as well.

7. How will our heroes make it back to their home galaxy?

Now that Thrawn’s space mine blockade has chased the purrgil away, there’s only one way back home from Peridea. (It’s likely that the space whales wouldn’t have been an option anyway, otherwise Ezra would have hitched a ride back with them years ago.) Any outcome that gives Thrawn a chance to start rebuilding the Empire can’t be considered a win. The best case scenario would be Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra (plus, let’s not forget Huyang) somehow using the Eye of Sion to return without Thrawn and company on board, leaving the enemy stranded. That seems like an extremely tall order and a lot of things would need to fall into place for something like that to happen. It’s more likely we’ll get a mixed outcome, with some characters making the trip and others being left behind.

8. Will anyone be left behind?

If anyone is stuck on Peridea, we really hope it’s not Ezra. He’s been gone long enough and he deserves to go home. The rest of the characters are all fair game, though. There’s plenty more of the planet left to explore in season two. If it comes down to someone sacrificing themselves so Ezra can get home, both Ahsoka and Sabine would easily make that choice. Will one of them be taking Ezra’s place in the crab caravan? Baylan doesn’t seem like he even wants to leave, so he’ll probably be sticking around. And though Shin is now a free agent, the chances that she’ll be welcomed back into the fold by Thrawn’s crew aren’t good. Whoever is left to continue the story here, we think it’s very likely we haven’t seen the last of Peridea.

9. Is Hera’s story resolved, or will she be back?

As much as Rebels fans have enjoyed seeing Hera in live action (and Mary Elizabeth Winstead has done a fine job playing her), she didn’t have much impact on the story, other than giving Ahsoka and Huyang cover to hop inside a purrgil before they took off into hyperspace. Mostly she dealt with the annoying bureaucracy of the New Republic and its stubborn insistence that Thrawn and the “Imperial remnants” are not a threat (we shared Hera’s frustration). A fan service appearance by a certain OG protocol droid aside, the opening scene of the penultimate episode in which Hera faced a senate tribunal was redundant and took away from the storylines we actually cared about. It feels like her story is done for now, but maybe there will be something more to set in motion future stories. We wouldn’t object to a reunion with Ezra. Maybe he’ll even offer to take on Jacen as his Padawan. Here’s hoping General Syndulla and her son will be more of a factor in the next season.

10. How will the ending connect to future Star Wars projects?

We can’t help but wonder how Ahsoka and its first season will tie into the rest of the Star Wars TV galaxy. We now know that it takes place just after the end of The Mandalorian season 3. The next series on the slate is Skeleton Crew, a title that has been the subject of a lot of speculation lately in relation to those Night Trooper theories and the crates Thrawn is transporting (could the title be more literal than we thought?). After that we should be getting The Acolyte, which is set during the High Republic era, so any tie-ins will have to be indirect. The most likely connection will be the aforementioned live-action feature film to be directed by Dave Filoni, a crossover event that will bring together many of the shows we’ve seen so far. We know that Filoni has been gradually incorporating aspects of the Star Wars Legends universe and making it officially canon (the character of Thrawn being one such example) so what other aspects of those stories will he bring in next? We’re looking forward to finding out.

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