Star Wars: How Does Ahsoka Tie Into The Mandalorian?
Star Wars villain Morgan Elsbeth was first introduced in The Mandalorian.
Star Wars: Ahsoka's first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+, and the series was originally expected to be a spin-off of The Mandalorian since Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) made her live-action debut in the show's second season and appeared again in The Book of Boba Fett, which had strong ties to Mando's series. However, Ahsoka feels much more like a sequel to the animated series Star Wars Rebels than a follow-up to The Mandalorian. While the characters and plot are much more in line with Rebels, that doesn't mean the show doesn't tie into The Mandalorian. In fact, you may have forgotten that one of the show's villains, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), was originally introduced in "Chapter 13: The Jedi," the same episode that featured Ahsoka's first live-action appearance.
In The Mandalorian, the people of Calodan were being oppressed by Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, who had her people massacred during the Clone Wars. She built her own business in trading weapons and resources which ultimately helped build the Imperial Starfleet. In "Chapter 13: The Jedi," Morgan Elsbeth attempts to hire Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to kill Ahsoka, but he ends up teaming up with the former Jedi instead. Morgan Elsbeth proves to be skilled in combat, but Ahsoka ultimately bests her. She then asks, "Now tell me. Where is your master?" While it was presumed at the time that Ahsoka was referring to Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), the first two episodes of Ahsoka confirmed Morgan Elsbeth's allegiance to the villain.
Ahsoka begins with Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) breaking Morgan Elsbeth out of a New Republic prison, and it's eventually revealed that she is a member of the Night Sisters of Dathomir, an ancient order of magick-wielding female Dathomirians who first appeared in the 1994 novel The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton before showing up in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
"I needed the performance from the Magistrate to challenge Ahsokaand be someone that could go toe to toe with her instantly," Dave Filoni previously said of Morgan Elsbeth (via Vanity Fair). "Diana brings such experience and knowledge about martial arts to her performance. The instant she takes up the Beskar spear you can tell that she is a lethal opponent. For me, as a director, it was a great advantage to have someone of Diana's skill and experience with fight choreography as one of the main players, especially for the final battle in the courtyard."
What Is Ahsoka About?
Fan-favorite Star Wars hero Ahsoka Tano returns in the brand new series on Disney+. Rosario Dawson stars in Star Wars: Ahsoka, premiering August 23rd on the streamer. The series picks up after the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, in which we saw the former Jedi searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and helping Luke Skywalker train Grogu. Ahsoka will be joined on her new mission alongside longtime allies Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they attempt to track down Thrawn, who was last seen disappearing to the far reaches of space after a confrontation with Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Star Wars: Ahsoka is the latest live-action series from Lucasfilm's creative duo of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.
