On our first day of Star Wars celebration London we had the treat of sitting in on the Ahsoka Untold Tales panel with Ashley Eckstein, Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo. The overall feel of the panel was very sweet, comical and quite emotional for a lot of people (including Ashley). We first received a bit of background information on how Dave chooses which scenes to use in the episodes and which ones can’t be produced also partially due to the economics of the project. We learned  more about Ahsoka’s origins and a character called Latrans who seemed “very fair and kind” but turned out to be a bounty hunter who was part of a big plan to kidnap ‘Force sensitive’ children and take them from the jedi. The design for this character later on inspired the design of the Zygerrians in the Clone Wars. The rest of the panel was split into multiple categories:

Ahsoka’s walkabout:
This took place straight after Ahsoka walked away from Anakin and the Jedi temple. We see her sitting thinking about what to do and looking back to the temple. Filoni explained how she was torn on what to do; find her own way or go back to the temple and how the making of this decision was also influenced by her age and experience. In his own words; “she doesn’t know how to deal with the real world”. They continued explaining to us how little Ashley herself knows about the future/past of Ahsoka’s story so it will not influence her performance in the vocal booth. Ahsoka decides she needs to make her own fate and continue on Coruscant. Here we are introduced to a new character called Nix with whom she becomes very close. We got a closer look at the character and learned he was an Asian character and the opposite to Ahsoka in many ways as he is in the smuggling world. Him and Ahsoka have a “one day romance” (Eckstein). Ahsoka however never reveals to him that she is/was a Jedi as this represents everything he is against and she would not have earned his respect in the same way if at all. Even though Ahsoka finds herself in the smuggling world she never fully dives into it; “even though she is not a Jedi anymore she is not going to stop behaving like one” (Filoni). We do not learn more about his fate however Ahsoka continues to go her own way afer this.

Return to the Jedi:

News breaks that Yoda is in danger and in need of a rescue. Ahsoka hears of this and runs to aid the Jedi going on the mission. In this storyline/arc the Jedi find out there is a massive Sith Temple situated in the core of Coruscant and just underneath the Jedi Temple. Ahsoka goes in together with the others and finds herself in a one to one fight with Darth Sideous. We got to see some amazing art for this (shown above) as Sideous releases his Force lightning through a door while Ahsoka jabs her lightsaber through it. It seems the lightning hits her however does not harm her much but as Filoni said she was lucky there was a door in between the two of them. We don’t hear more about the ending of the episode but it seems that for now Ahsoka is back with the Jedi (while not training with them but just aiding them).

Siege of Mandalore:

Ahsoka has decided to stick with her decision not to return to the Jedi however she will aid them and “gets back into Jedi business” (Pablo). Bo-Katan and Ahsoka work together and find themselves in the perfect situation of being able to capture Maul. Ahsoka realizes how much this would mean to Obi-Wan and therefore also to Anakin and so they  contact and meet with them. However their mission is interrupted by Yoda who calls Anakin and Obi back as Chancellor Palpatine has been captured by Dooku (so this connects straight with the start of Revenge of the Sith). Just before leaving we see Anakin and Ahsoka walk together as Ani tells her he will give her Rex’s command unit to face Maul. If this wasn’t emotional enough ( Ashley had already started crying), as their uniforms are revealed we see their helmets have been coloured orange and white just like the skin tone of Ahsoka. This also explains why Rex was not present during order 66. We got some more amazing art for this arc as seen on the right here as Ahsoka leads the attack on Maul. She faces another big one on one battle but this time with the Apprentice Maul. The fight is interrupted by the incoming Order 66  which causes the clones to turn on Ahsoka which leadsinto the next episode.

After the war:                                                                                                                                       The episode starts with the Clones running after Ahsoka and following her into a massive forest. They find her sitting on a big rock seeming to meditate and aim their guns at her telling her to come. At this point Ahsoka says; “you will have to ask my friends first”  and massives wolves jump out. I unfortunately did not take a picture of this artwork but for you to get more of an idea Filoni described them to blend in with the forest and seem to be part of the trees. Their legs are massive and look like the stems of the trees. Ahsoka flees the scene riding the wolves.

After this we got a few more notes about how the duel between Ahsoka and Darth Vader came to be and was created. We learned that after the enforcement of Order 66 Ahsoka was unable to feel Anakin anymore causing her to believe he is dead. This is why she always refused to accept any of the rumours that Darth Vader was in fact Anakin. During the face off in the season 2 Rebels finale Anakin/Darth Vader calls out Ahsoka. Filoni told us that it was in fact Anakin that called her now that he can see her with his own eyes. This moment was about two things; firstly Anakin realizing that the outcome of this moment will be him killing Ahsoka, he cannot go back. Secondly it is about Ahsoka realizing that she “cannot bring Anakin back – (only Luke can)” (Filoni). 

The panel ended with us seing the images above and the cover art for the new book about Ahsoka written by E.K Johnston that is coming out soon. However right at the end Filoni left us with the following message; that very potentially maybe we will see more of Ahsoka….or will we. What a tease.