Star Wars: Can Ahsoka's Finale Stick the Landing?

Star Wars: Ahsoka is about to premiere its highly-anticipated finale episode, and a lot of fans are understandably wondering whether or not the show can stick the landing on all fronts – or if full resolution is even the plan. Ahsoka Episode 8 will be coming in hot with quite a lot on its to-do list, including all of the following story points: 

1. If/How Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) escapes the new galaxy where he's been marooned and makes it back to the main Star Wars galaxy. 
2. If/How Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), Huyang (David Tennant) and former Phoenix Crew members Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) escape the new galaxy and get back to their original galaxy. 
3. A confrontation between Ahsoka, Ezra, Sabine, and Thrawn. 
4. Resolution to the story arcs of Dark Jedi Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). 
5. A reveal about that ancient game-changing power Baylan has been sensing on planet Peridea, and what it means for the Star Wars franchise. 
6. Resolution of the deeper emotional conflicts between Ahsoka and Sabine, Sabine and Ezra – or all three at once. 
7. Insight into what happens to General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and the New Republic government, once the threat of Thrawn's return goes from speculatively to undeniably real. 
8. Any final or post-credits surprise cameos from any or all of the Star Wars New Republic Era heroes that will be battling Thrawn in the upcoming New Republic event film that Ahsoka showrunner Dave Filoni is directing. 

Every episode of Ahsoka has been around 40-minutes long; some Star Wars fans and outlets have calculated that the runtime for Ahsoka Part Eight will be around 42-43 minutes long. That doesn't leave a whole lot of extra time for Ahsoka to wrap up all eight of the plotlines mentioned above. It's not impossible, it just seems unlikely. 

Does Ahsoka Need to Resolve All Its Storylines? 

Ahsoka Episode 8 may be getting unfairly saddled with pressure to do more than it needs to. While exact timelines and plans are unclear, we know that the events of Ahsoka are leading into Filoni's New Republic event film. Star Wars being an ongoing saga in an interconnected franchise universe means that standalone series aren't really a thing anymore. Star Wars: Ahsoka could end with Ahsoka and the Star Wars Rebels characters still stranded on Peridea while only Thrawn makes it back; it could end up giving the heroes a headstart getting back home, with Thrawn still set to follow soon after; or we could get hit with the cliffhanger of no one actually escaping Peridea, leaving Thrawn's return and the immediate battle against him and his forces to serve as the plot of the movie. 

That latter scenario could end up being the most beneficial to the larger Star Wars franchise: Thrawn's return as Heir to the Empire can't be too lengthy or significant of an event – otherwise it becomes a (yet another) gaping hole in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy story, which takes place decades later. For instance: Thrawn couldn't have had too much influence over the formation of the First Order, otherwise, it would be annoyingly conspicuous that no one in the cultish fascist group ever mentioned him. It also wouldn't fit to have Thrawn making his bid for power when we also know Emperor Palpatine was still alive and secretly rallying a Sith Cult and The Final Order armada in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. 

In the end, Ahsoka's finale does have one clear responsibility to handle: bringing all of the characters and thematic arcs together to justify why this series is titled "Ahsoka." With all of the Star Wars Rebels influences on the show, fans may not appreciate it if Lady Tano doesn't get the focus she deserves. 

Star Wars: Ahsoka's Episode 8 will premiere on Disney+ on Tuesday night.