Summary Ahsoka’s story in the Star Wars universe is a better sequel to the Skywalker Saga than Disney’s sequel trilogy.
The sequels failed to continue the plot and implications of Anakin Skywalker’s life and death, ignoring his significance.
Ahsoka tackles the complexities of the Skywalker legacy and the Rebel Alliance’s transition into the New Republic, making it a more comprehensive sequel to Return of the Jedi.
Ahsoka may not be a big-screen Star Wars movie, but its story is a better Skywalker Saga sequel trilogy than Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker are both praised and hated to varying degrees for myriad reasons depending on who you talk to, as with many things about the Star Wars franchise, but while their actual quality is debatable, most people agree some better planning and less rushed production schedule could have resulted in a superior sequel trilogy, and Ahsoka is an example of what the sequels were missing.
Ahsoka Tano doesn’t appear in any of the nine Star Wars movies other than a brief voice cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but her story is intricately tied to the Jedi Order, the Rebellion, and, of course, the Skywalker family. Despite the movies not indicating Anakin Skywalker ever had an apprentice, her story is integral to the franchise, and The Clone Wars even makes Ahsoka one of the most important characters in Star Wars:The Revenge of the Sith despite existing just out of frame for many key moments. Ahsoka continues that tradition, telling a story that should have been integral to the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
What Are the First Six Star Wars Movies Actually About?
In order to establish the ideal story for Star Wars sequel trilogy, it’s first important to identify the actual story of the first six Star Wars movies. Unfortunately, you’re liable to get a different answer about that story depending on who you ask. Is it the story of the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire, the Jedi Order vs. the Sith, the story of the Skywalker family, or all of the above? Not only are there many story threads and character arcs to choose from, but the context of which ones are important depending on someone’s perception of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, which drastically recontextualizes the story of the original trilogy.
The prequel trilogy didn’t outright contradict any of the events of the original trilogy, but it did drastically recontextualize a number of perceptions fans had about the story for years. It turns out the Jedi Order wasn’t as glorious as people believed, Emperor Palpatine was a far bigger deal than anyone realized, and it turns out Darth Vader was actually a prophesied “Chosen One” who would bring balance to the Force. Luke Skywalker is clearly the hero of the original trilogy, but the added context of the prequels really make it all about Anakin Skywalker, which has massive implications about what a sequel trilogy should focus on.
While Darth Vader dies at the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke sees Anakin Skywalker’s Force ghost standing alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda on the Endor Moon. This was already a pretty bold revelation before the prequel trilogy considering some of Vader’s villainy in the original trilogy, but the prequels make it clear just how evil Anakin became when he submitted to the dark side, murdering Jedi younglings and hunting down Jedi to end the Jedi Order. The idea that his last-minute sacrifice redeemed all that has massive ramifications for Luke, Leia, and the very nature of the Force.
How Star Wars Episodes 7-9 Fail as Sequels
Without relitigating the actual quality of the sequels, let’s take a look at the story and how well it continues the Star Wars saga from where things ended in Return of the Jedi: It brings back the main characters of the original trilogy, giving each of them an ending while passing the baton to a younger generation with Rey. Rey is also revealed to be the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, who’s revealed to have survived Return of the Jedi, so Rey defeats him and takes the Skywalker name. While these are all plot points that continue threads from the first six movies, it also fails to actually continue the plot that matters.
While Darth Vader is mentioned and Kylo Ren has Darth Vader’s helmet and Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber is a focal point of the trilogy, the sequels completely ignore Anakin Skywalker and the implications of his life and death. In fact, the reveal that Palpatine survived undermines the importance of Anakin’s sacrifice, which is the fulfillment of the Chosen One prophesy. The fact that Luke helped redeem Anakin and saw his Force ghost on the Endor moon is entire culmination of the first six movies, so for the next three movies to feature another Skywalker descendant falling to the dark side makes Anakin even more relevant, yet he’s never mentioned.
Luke failed to bring Ben back like he did with Vader, Kylo Ren idolizes Vader but ignores his heroic end, and Rey takes the Skywalker name, but ignores the original Skywalker. The significance of Anakin Skywalker is all over the sequel trilogy, but he’s not a part of the story. Granted, it’s a touchy subject. Anakin Skywalker truly did horrible things, and that shouldn’t be entirely brushed off, yet his appearance at a Force ghost suggests some kind of redemption. What that means, how the characters feel about it, and how it impacts things like Ben Solo’s similar turn at the end of his life are all highly relevant, but totally ignored.
How Ahsoka Serves as a Better Star Wars Sequel Than the Sequels
Ahsoka doesn’t directly deal with any of the main characters of the original trilogy, but all three Star Wars trilogy focus on a different central cast anyway. In fact, the only character to have an arc that spans more than one trilogy is Anakin. Palpatine, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the droids do as well, but to a far lesser extent. So for Ahsoka, a show about Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan, to bring back Hayden Christensen as Ahsoka grapples with Anakin’s legacy, it’s already far more directly related to the first six movies that he sequel trilogy is.
After Return of the Jedi, a sequel needs to ask things like was Vader really redeemed? What does that mean for his legacy? Do we just forget all the bad stuff he did? How should he be remembered? Luke and Leia are Anakin’s kids, but they only ever knew him as a villain, while Ashoka was virtually raised by him and taught by him. Anakin even tells her, “within you will be everything I am” and “you’re part of a legacy.” Rey joined this legacy in the sequel trilogy, but didn’t have to process any of these questions. Even Luke and Leia were never shown to grapple with any of this on screen.
Ahsoka actually dealing with the Skywalker legacy in the context of the complexities Anakin Skywalker immediately makes it a better sequel to Return of the Jedi than anything in the sequel trilogy; however, Anakin isn’t the only way Ahsoka serves as a good sequel. It also shows the complexities (and problems) associated with the Rebel Alliance’s conversion into the New Republic and tells the story of the emergence of an Imperial Remnant. It’s not entirely different from the appearance of the First Order in the sequel trilogy, however most of that happened off screen between trilogies, while Ahsoka is actually telling the story of how it happened.
Would Ahsoka’s Story Have Actually Worked as a Sequel Trilogy?
Unfortunately, just because Ahsoka’s plot deals with story elements that are essential to a proper Star Wars sequel trilogy, that doesn’t mean Ahsoka itself would have made for a better sequel trilogy. Audiences wouldn’t have accepted a sequel trilogy without prominent roles for Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. The original trilogy characters could have easily been worked into a story similar to Ahsoka, but the characters are too young at that point in the timeline to be played by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford.
Additionally, introducing Ahsoka Tano to big screen audiences in 2015 may have been too risky for Disney’s first Star Wars movie, although the decision to ultimately make Rey a Palpatine feels like even more of a stretch than introducing Anakin Skywalker’s already-canon former Padawan. While Ahsoka’s story was more than well-established in animation through Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Disney’s goal with the sequels was to remind audiences of the original trilogy, so introducing a live-action version of an animated character from the prequel era would have never fir the agenda.
Ultimately, while Ahsoka’s story and themes are way more in line with what the sequel trilogy should have been compared to what Disney actually did for episodes 7, 8, and 9, that doesn’t mean Ahsoka itself would have been better than the sequel trilogy in 2015, and it clearly wouldn’t have worked for a variety of other reasons. That doesn’t mean the sequel trilogy was the best way to go, either, though. It still dropped the ball on dealing with the actual Skywalker legacy by ignoring Anakin Skywalker, thereby failing to actually conclude the “Skywalker Saga” or give larger significance to Rey’s significance to the Skywalker family.
As with most of the creative decisions in the Star Wars franchise, the debates surrounding the prequel trilogy will likely never come to an end. Fortunately, while the sequel trilogy might not serve as the perfect continuation to both the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequel trilogy, Ahsoka can still pick up the pieces to not only continue the story of one of Star Wars’ most interesting characters in Ahsoka Tano, but also serve as a true sequel to Return of the Jedi and finally deal with the complicated legacy of Anakin Skywalker.