Dave Filoni Hinted Newest ‘The Mandalorian’ Episode Isn’t After ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Epilogue Like Many Fans Originally Thought
The Mandalorian’s newest episode was a big deal for so many fans, new and old. For new fans, it was one step closer to bringing Baby Yoda home to the Jedi, which is Mando’s mission this season. And for old fans, it was the live-action introduction of a fan-favorite.
But what it did deliver were more answers as to Baby Yoda’s origin and more on what Ahsoka Tano is doing on Corvus. Although, that last part isn’t 100 percent answered yet. It was a little confusing, given the last time fans saw Ahsoka in Star Wars Rebels. But it turns out her appearance might not even be chronological, thanks to Dave Filoni’s newest interview. [Spoiler alert: Spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian Season 2, “Chapter 13: The Jedi”].
‘The Mandalorian’ takes place five years after ‘Return of the Jedi’
To set the scene, The Mandalorian takes place five years after Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi. This is when the Galactic Empire fell, when Anakin turned back to the Light side, and when the good guys won. The series is already showing what the aftermath looks like for regular citizens on outlying planets as well as what the New Republic is sort of trying to do in the few years since taking control in the galaxy. Or trying to, at least.
Din Djarin started off as a Bounty Hunter but is now in charge of getting Baby Yoda — now known as Grogu — to the Jedi to train and protect him. He came in contact with Ahsoka Tano, a fan-favorite character that was introduced in 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and then series.
In doing so, he and the audience learned new things about Grogu, and Ahsoka also refused to train him. She noted that the child was too attached to Din and she knew, firsthand, what that does to a Jedi, referring to her former master Anakin, aka Darth Vader.
Later in the episode, after her faceoff with Morgan Elsbeth, Ahsoka wins and demands that the Magistrate tell her where her master is. The big name-drop in this episode is that Morgan Elsbeth’s master is Grand Admiral Thrawn. Many assumed that she was still looking for Ezra after the Epilogue in Star Wars Rebels, which was the last time fans saw her. She went off to search for Ezra with Sabine. However, that might not be the case.
Filoni dropped a major hint that the ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Epilogue doesn’t happen before ‘The Mandalorian’
Many just assumed that the Star Wars Rebels Epilogue showed the characters’ lives right after — or soon after — the events of Return of the Jedi. However, Dave Filoni’s recent comments hint at that not being the case. And not only that, but that Mando’s run-in with Ahsoka Tano takes place before that Epilogue with Sabine.
In a new interview on Nov. 30, Vanity Fair asked Filoni — writer and director of the most recent episode of The Mandalorian and co-creator of Ahsoka Tano as well as showrunner for The Clone Wars — how her search for Grand Admiral Thrawn fits in with her chronological timeline.
Because again, she and Sabine head off to find Ezra Bridger in that Epilogue, with Ahsoka in her all-white garb. So her asking about Thrawn in The Mandalorian seemed to point to that mission, but she doesn’t seem to be in that elevated state and wasn’t dressed like that anymore. This is where Filoni did a little switcheroo on fans.
“That’s not necessarily chronological,” he admitted. “I think the thing that people will most not understand is they want to go in a linear fashion, but as I learned as a kid, nothing in Star Wars really works in a linear fashion.”
Of course, he has a point, with the Skywalker saga doing the original trilogy first, then the prequels, followed by the sequel trilogy.
“So in the vein of that history, when you look at the epilogue of Rebels you don’t really know how much time has passed,” Filoni continued. “So, it’s possible that the story I’m telling in The Mandalorian actually takes place prior to that. Possible. I’m saying it’s possible.”
What does this mean for Ezra, Ahsoka, and Sabine moving forward?
This means that when Mando meets Ahsoka with Grogu, she might not have shown up to Sabine with her white robe on yet. The Ahsoka the White that fans see in the Star Wars Rebels Epilogue might have happened after “Chapter 13: The Jedi.” Which is kind of a big moment.
For one, it means that Ezra might have just disappeared with Thrawn into hyperspace. Ahsoka is pulled into the World Between Worlds from her duel with Darth Vader about a year before Return of the Jedi, so she’s been off of Malachor for a bit. But Ezra’s plea to come find him, along with fresh knowledge that he’s missing in real time, might be a driving force for her.
Regardless, it doesn’t change much, other than the fact that Ahsoka goes through some sort of change between The Mandalorian and the Star Wars Rebels Epilogue. It wouldn’t be noticeable before this. But since Filoni’s interview, Ahsoka being in all white might be the product of something big happening to her. Now fans don’t know.
Does she take up the position of “Jedi” again? A lot of fans thought that her being in all white, or in those particular robes in the epilogue, hinted at her rejoining the Order or something along the lines. Now that there’s this possibility that it’s still to come, there’s a world of situations she could find herself in.
Damn, Filoni does know how to leave fans in suspense even after an episode airs.
