Star Wars: The Clone Wars Easter Egg Pays Homage to the Movie

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is over and its final episodes had one last nod to its cinematic origins. Before Star Wars: The Clone Wars the television show, there was Star Wars: The Clone Wars the movie. The animated film hit theaters in 2008 and introduced the world to Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi padawan. Critics panned the film when it opened in theaters and fans mocked or forgot about it, but the television series that followed redeemed the film’s core ideas and characters. The final story arc of The Clone Wars left a reminder for Ahsoka of her cinematic origin.

In the show’s penultimate episode “Shattered,” Darth Sidious delivers Order 66. Captain Rex and the rest of the Clone Troopers aboard her ship turn on her and begin hunting her down. Before succumbing to his programming, Rex tells Ahsoka to “find Fives” for answers.

Ahsoka knows that Fives is a Clone Trooper that began exhibiting strange behaviors. The Republic branded Fives as a traitor, but Rex filed a personal report about the conspiracy Fives believed he had unearthed. Ahsoka is able to access this report, but since she’s no longer a part of the Republic army, she needs to use Anakin’s passcode. The passcode was “8108.”

The passcode is a reference to The Clone Wars movie’s theatrical release date. The film opened in theaters on August 10, 2008. The film may be infamous now, but The Clone Wars took time to pay homage to its origins one last time before the end.

Ahsoka’s story continues in the second Star Wars animated series, Star Wars Rebels. In that series, Ahsoka works with a group of Rebels, including the Mandalorian Sabine Wren, to fight against the Empire. With Ahsoka expected to appear in the second season of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, there are now rumors that Sabine will appear as well in order to set up the sequel series to Star Wars Rebels. Dave Filoni, a producer on all three of those Star Wars television series, remains tight-lipped about Ahsoka’s future.

“I couldn’t speak to anything at this point,” Filoni said in an interview. “I have a lot of ideas and I’m really fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity now to work in both animation and live action, so just getting that exposure is interesting. First for me there’s a story and then I have to decide what’s the best medium, and I think there are certain avenues open to me at this point.”