By George Bate & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Ahsoka – Parts One and Two
Ahsoka has finally arrived, and with it a host of exciting and deep-cut easter eggs and references to other Star Wars stories and characters. Check out all of the easter eggs, references, and trivia facts we spotted in the first two episodes of Ahsoka below:
Ahsoka – Part One
Ahsoka is the first live-action Star Wars series to feature an opening crawl. The crawl refers to Thrawn’s return galvanizing the imperial Remnants, which was hinted at in the prologue of The Mandalorian Season 3 Chapter 23 “The Spies.”
The opening crawl also introduces a secret map leading to Thrawn’s location. This isn’t the first Star Wars story to focus on a map, with The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker notably featuring the protagonists and antagonists in pursuit of a valued map.
The New Republic Captain, Captain Hayle, is played by Mark Rolston. Rolston is known for playing Norman Osborn in Insomniac’s Spider-Man video game and for playing Timothy Delahunt in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. In the latter, Rolston plays a key role in one of the film’s best scenes (‘citizens’).
The blue New Republic uniforms have been seen in previous Star Wars stories, including The Mandalorian Season 1 Chapter 6 “The Prisoner.”
The entire beginning of the Ahsoka pilot harbors a number of resemblances to the beginning of The Phantom Menace. Much of the imagery of Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati coming aboard the ship mirrors that of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi boarding the Trade Federation ship in The Phantom Menace.
Baylan Skoll takes out a wave of New Republic soldiers in the latest Star Wars hallway scene. Other notable inclusions to this niche genre of action scene are Luke Skywalker’s triumph in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale and Darth Vader’s infamous concluding slaughter in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Baylan Skoll retrieves Morgan Elsbeth from a prisoner cell similar to the ones seen in The Mandalorian Season 1 Chapter 6 “The Prisoner.”
Morgan Elsbeth is played by Diana Lee Inosanto, an accomplished actress and martial artist. Inosanto is the goddaughter of the legendary Bruce Lee and previously played the Magistrate in The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 13 “The Jedi.” In this episode, it is (finally) confirmed that Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister of Dathomir. Morgan calls herself “a survivor,” which is a reference to the slaughter of her people by General Grievous and the Separatists in The Clone Wars.
Ahsoka is introduced to the story hunting down a map leading to Thrawn. The puzzle Ahsoka solves is reminiscent of the sort of puzzles Indiana Jones encounters in his five films.
Ahsoka retrieves a Star Map. In Legends, Star Maps were artifacts left by the Rakatan Infinite Empire.
Ahsoka also uses the Force to touch and connect with an object’s history, something Cal Kestis does in the Star Wars Jedi video games. This Force ability is called psychometry.
The underground shrine/temple in which Ahsoka finds the map to Thrawn is covered in iconography that (maybe?) resembles the Zeffo from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Ahsoka encounters HK-series assassin droids working for Morgan Elsbeth. These droids first appeared in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. The HK in their name stands for ‘hunter killer.’
Ahsoka is rescued by Professor Huyang, a loyal droid with a rich history tied to the Jedi Order. Huyang previously appeared in The Clone Wars and is voiced by David Tennant (Doctor Who, Jessica Jones).
Mary Elizabeth Winstead appears in the live-action debut of Hera Syndulla, a notable figure from the Star Wars Rebels series. Syndulla has also appeared in The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, Star Wars Squadrons, and more. Winsted also happens to be the wife of Ewan McGregor (aka Obi-Wan Kenobi).
Hera mentions that Thrawn died at the Battle of Lothal, which Ahsoka contests. Thrawn’s supposed death was depicted in the series finale of Star Wars Rebels, although it has been confirmed Lars Mikkelsen will play the Grand Admiral in Ahsoka.
Hera mentions that, if Thrawn survived, Ezra may have too. She is referring to Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi who also went missing with Thrawn in the series finale of Star Wars Rebels.
Ahsoka arrives on Lothal using the landing code ‘T6 1974.’ This may be a reference to Dave Filoni being born in June (the 6th month of the year) 1974. Anyone else have any ideas what ‘T6 1974’ could be referencing?
Ahsoka seeks Sabine Wren’s help to unlock the star map. Sabine Wren is another Rebels alum and is now depicted in live-action by Australian actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo (The Voyeurs, Day Shift).
Also making his live-action debut is Ryder Azadi! Ryder first appeared in Rebels as the Governor of the Lothal sector during the Empire and was voiced by Clancy Brown. Brown reprises his role here in live-action, adding to the impressive collection of Star Wars characters he has played. Previously, Brown voiced Savage Opress in The Clone Wars, played Burg in The Mandalorian, and voiced Montross in the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunters.
The mural of the Rebels crew seen at the end of Star Wars Rebels is seen in Ahsoka. This mural also appeared for fans to take pictures with earlier this year at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023!
Sabine Wren’s home includes a host of easter eggs. She keeps a Tooka as a pet, a species seen in The Clone Wars and Rebels previously named after Dave Filoni’s deceased pet cat Tuuk. Sabine also has Ezra’s orange Scout Trooper helmet and lightsaber from Star Wars Rebels. Ezra himself is seen in a reimagining of the message he left his family.
Another brilliant callback to The Phantom Menace occurs when Shin Hati arrives to Lothal. Shin Hati sends out a probe droid similar to Darth Maul searching for Queen Amidala. The framing of the probe droid returning to Hati is almost identical to imagery from The Phantom Menace.
Ahsoka recounts her time training under Anakin when discussing the master and apprentice relationship with Hera. Ahsoka says that she never finished her training as she walked away during The Clone Wars. This is depicted in The Clone Wars episode “The Wrong Jedi.”
Ahsoka – Part Two
The site where Baylan Skoll places the starmap resembles Stonehenge and features iconography similar to the underground temple seen in Part One.
Part Two is titled “Toil and Trouble.” This comes from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in which the witches cast a spell while they chant, “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” The title is apt given that Morgan Elsbeth is a witch as she was once a Nighsister of Dathomir. Morgan uses some of her witch Magick when she activates the star map in this episode.
It is revealed that Morgan Elsbeth is trying to reach Thrawn, who is located in another galaxy. Star Wars has featured plenty of space travel, but not to another galaxy in canon. That may change with Ahsoka… Morgan’s mention of Thrawn calling for her “across time and space” may hint at the inclusion of the World Between Worlds from Star Wars Rebels.
Morgan Elsbeth refers to the Eye of Sion, seemingly the mode of transportation with which Morgan will be able to travel to Thrawn. The Eye of Sion shares a name with a Sith Lord from Legends named Darth Sion, who was one of the lead antagonists in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. In addition, a spelling variation of the word ‘sion’ is ‘scion’ which is a synonym for ‘heir.’ Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn was where Grand Admiral Thrawn first appeared and serves as a major influence on Ahsoka.
Sabine wakes up in a medical facility being treated by a 2-1B series medical droid, the same type of droid who treated Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
Sabine hacks into the memory of one of the HK-series assassin droids, revealing that the droid came from Corellia. Corellia is the home planet of Han Solo seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Hera arrives on Corellia with Chopper, the snappy and smart-mouthed droid from Star Wars Rebels. Chopper is once again voiced by Dave Filoni himself!
Sabine cuts her hair short as she commits to helping Ahsoka with her search for Thrawn and Ezra. This leads into a recreation of the final season from Star Wars Rebels in which Ahsoka arrives on Lothal while Sabine looks upon a mural of her friends.
Stay tuned to The HoloFiles and Star Wars Holocron for continued coverage of Ahsoka.