Star Wars fans don’t have long to wait for the next chapter in the franchise. Rosario Dawson is headlining Ahsoka, a new original series featuring the heroine who made her name in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. During Dawson’s live-action debut as Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian season 2, it was revealed that she is seeking out Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the most formidable officers in the Empire. Soon, Ahsoka will come face-to-face with her nemesis and determine the fate of the galaxy.
Now that the second trailer for the series is out, we’re sharing three of the big things we learned about Ahsoka.
Baylan Skoll is a threat to the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant
Quick Star Wars rule of thumb: The red lightsaber tends to indicate the villain of the piece. But in this case, the late Ray Stevenson is portraying a character named Baylan Skoll, and his allegiance may be harder to pin down. In this trailer, Baylan appears to confirm that he was once a Jedi, but he and his apprentice, Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), attack soldiers in the New Republic and officers in the Imperial Remnant.
The only one that Baylan and Shin appear to have any loyalty to is Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), a high-ranking Imperial with close links to the long-missing Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). But Baylan and Shin’s alliance has only been secured by the promise of power.
Ahsoka trained Sabine Wren in the ways of the Jedi
Following the events of the Star Wars Rebels animated series finale, it appears that Ahsoka took on Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) as her apprentice, and that appears to have led to some hard feelings between them. Sabine is a more than capable fighter, and she carries the legacy of her fellow Mandalorians. She even trained to use the Darksaber alongside her late friend, Kanan Jarrus. However, Sabine has no Force powers of her own.
Within the trailer, Sabine puts aside her differences with Ahsoka and joins her on the quest to find their missing friend, Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Sabine even has her own green lightsaber when she faces Shin in battle. But Sabine’s lack of ability in the Force comes back to bite her.
The New Republic is ignoring the warnings about Thrawn’s return
As viewers, we know that the threat of Thrawn is all too real. However, the trailer indicates that General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is having trouble convincing the leaders of the New Republic that they need to get ready for war. And when they won’t listen, Hera reunites with Ahsoka before pointing her back towards Sabine.
In short, it’s a Star Wars Rebels reunion in live-action, and we’ll get to see the first two episodes of Ahsoka when the series premieres on Wednesday, August 23 on Disney+.
