Now that season three of The Mandalorian is finally underway, we can jump the gun and look at another live-action Star Wars project of the year, Ahsoka. We know next to nothing about the highly anticipated series besides that it will obviously follow the fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano, the former apprentice of the famous Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Just to include a simple copy-and-paste quotation of the one-sentence D23 online plot synopsis for you to read: “Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.” Otherwise, we know it will arrive on Disney+ by the fall of this year if all goes well.
Even from the lack of hard information, many would rightly assume that Ahsoka will likely follow the titular character trying to find Ezra and Thrawn, as she’s been on the hunt for them since Rebels and is still looking even in The Mandalorian. But with such a vague synopsis and the many wild directions Star Wars has been going recently (and forever, really), there’s plenty of room to speculate.
Given that Ahsoka will be facing “an emerging threat” and that she’s still hunting Thrawn, there’s a good chance that this threat coming in after the fall of Palpatine’s Empire will be Thrawn’s own native empire, the legendary Chiss Ascendency.
What Is The Chiss Ascendency?
The first and most famous Chiss was introduced in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, the mastermind Grand Admiral Thrawn. Zahn’s Thrawn novels kickstarted Star Wars outside of movies and kept the franchise alive between the original and prequels trilogies, beginning the Expanded Universe of Star Wars, which served as the official canon until 2014, when Disney deemed all Star Wars material that was not the six movies and the series The Clone Wars to be non-canon, and has been rebranded as Legends.
Zahn explored the Chiss and their myth-like dominion outside of the known galaxy in many Legends novels and has formerly introduced the Chiss Ascendency in the new canon Thrawn Ascendency trilogy. The Chiss are a powerful species that act like the Republic, beyond the reaches and knowledge of the galaxy where Ahsoka and our classic heroes come from. They reside in the Chaos, a perilous void that can only be navigated by Force-users, which are rare among the species. Composed of Nine Ruling Families with as much politics as the Republic and as much power as the Empire, the Chiss are locked in a brutal war with the Grysk, another species that cunningly turned the Chiss on each other.
Ahsoka May Either Fight or Join The Chiss
Most likely, the Chiss will triumph with the help of Thrawn and his legendary skill in the literal art of war, and then they may look to expand toward the galaxy and the fledging New Republic. Thrawn was the major villain in Rebels, being a Grand Admiral in the Empire’s Navy, but the Ascendency is even bigger than Thrawn and could be the greatest threat to the galaxy since the Sith. So while Ahsoka may be looking for her old friend and her old enemy, she may have to keep an invasion at bay in the process.
Of course, the Grysk themselves may be the threat that Ahsoka and the New Republic face, being devious, deadly, and almost unknown force to be reckoned with. Ahsoka and Thrawn may have to form an uneasy alliance in order to curb a Grysk invasion of the Chiss Ascendency and the New Republic. (The Empire went down the reactor shaft when Palpatine did, so Thrawn’s loyalties will likely lie with his own people more than his allegiance to a dead alien government.)
What Does This Mean For the Franchise?
If it’s true that Ahsoka will bring the Chiss Ascendency into the larger Star Wars universe, then it throws open a lot of doors for the franchise. Bringing an old part of Expanded Universe onto the screen would allow other non-canon to come into the canon, fulfilling the hopes of many Legends fans to see the Legends brought into the fold and introducing many more to the wider Star Wars universe, as Thrawn’s presence Rebels did. Ideas that Disney may even be setting up an adaptation of the original Thrawn trilogy when the Disney+ series eventually crossover and fans are excited for everything coming.
Granted, this is all pure speculation off of one word in a synopsis, but this could be the opportunity to open up the Star Wars galaxy beyond itself, and this would be the footing to introduce a whole new part of the Star Wars universe to explore for years to come.
