What We’re Watching: Who Is Ahsoka Tano, and What Does She Mean for the Child?

Chances are, if you subscribe to Disney+, it’s primarily for one show—The Mandalorian. It’s a show that’s part space cowboy adventure, part bounty hunter drama, party Star Wars tale, and part … uh… Punky Brewster? If you’ve been following along, you know the Mandalorian’s next goal is to find Ahsoka Tano because she knows where the Jedi might be. But who is Ahsoka Tano?

Note: The Mandalorian is an ongoing show, and Season 2 is currently airing. Though we’ll try to keep spoilers to the minimum, we’ll be discussing events through Episode 3 of the current season. However, we’ll avoid plot points of the newest episode for those who haven’t yet had a chance to watch it. We’ll also be discussing plot points of The Clone Wars and Rebels more closely.

“You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers?” In a nutshell, this line sums up Din Djarin’s (also known as the Mandalorian and played by Pedro Pascal) current mission. At the end of Season 1, the Armorer (Emily Swallow) tasks him with returning the Child to his people.

Djarin seems to be under the mistaken impression that the Jedi and the Child’s people are one and the same. His latest lead in finding the Jedi is to search for a person named Ahsoka Tano in the city of Calodan on the forest planet of Corvus.

While The Mandalorian introduces several new characters to the Star Wars universe, it may surprise you to hear that Ahsoka is not an invention of the show. Like Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), the other Mandalorian who gave Djarin the lead, Ahsoka hails from The Clone Wars animated series. (Not the cartoon that followed the style of Samurai Jack, but the later CGI series.)

So is Ahsoka a Jedi? No, but she wanted to be. In The Clone Wars, she is padawan to none other than Anakin Skywalker. (That’s right; she’s Darth Vader’s old student.) Under Anakin’s tutelage, she grows from a young and whiny child (so, classic Star Wars) to a dual-lightsaber-wielding, force-blasting, butt-kicking Togruta (that’s her race) who can stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Darth Maul.

But she doesn’t finish her Jedi training. In Season 5 of The Clone Wars, someone frames her for murder. Many Jedi don’t believe she’s innocent, and though Anakin catches the real culprit, the situation leaves her disillusioned with the Jedi Order.

Ahsoka returns in the newer series Rebels, albeit as a much older and more hardened individual. She wields two white lightsabers now, and at one point, participates in an epic duel with Darth Vader. At the beginning of the fight, she merely suspects Vader’s true identity, but she finds out the truth by the end. And she barely escapes with her life, thanks to some Star Wars-style time travel (yes, really).

However, that escape traps her on a spiritual plane (it’s… complicated), and she doesn’t reappear in Rebels until the series finale. When we leave off with Ahsoka, she begins a journey to track down the main Rebels character, Ezra, who is lost somewhere in a remote part of the galaxy.

You may be wondering if Bo-Katan really knows Ahsoka—and the answer is yes, she does. They first meet in Season 4 as enemies. But this year, The Clone Wars got a surprise seventh season after a six-year break. During the final season, Bo-Katan and Ahsoka meet again and fight side-by-side (more or less) to defeat Darth Maul, who has overthrown Mandalore, the home of the Mandalorians.

What we don’t know is if Ahsoka really is aware as to the whereabouts of any remaining Jedi. We haven’t yet found out whether or not she actually met Luke or any other Jedi in hiding—other than those featured in Rebels (most of whom are either dead or missing). However, she does have tantalizing knowledge of the Child. After all, she met and fought alongside Yoda during her years as a padawan. She may be one of the few remaining people who still remembers Yoda’s people.

But we’ll have to wait to find out. If Djarin has proven one thing, it’s that he has a habit of getting sidetracked from his main task. He’s nearly always on a sidequest. It’s not clear when Ahsoka will appear yet, but it does appear that Rosario Dawson will play the character.

Our money is on Episode 5. After all, Dave Filoni directed that episode, and he created Ahsoka (alongside George Lucas). Don’t miss it, because Ahsoka is one of the most interesting characters in all of Star Wars. You can catch her full history by watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels on Disney+.