The trailer for “Ahsoka” really focuses on one thing: the second coming of Thrawn and showrunner Dave Filoni’s upcoming adaptation-in-everything-but-name of “Heir to the Empire.” We’ve known for a while that Filoni simply loves Thrawn and considers him the big bad of this era of the “Star Wars” timeline, and this trailer finally unveils him, revealing our first look at Lars Mikkelsen reprising his role as Thrawn from “Rebels.”
We knew about Thrawn, but the trailer really makes it clear that this is the reason for the show to happen and for Ahsoka to seek out old allies, rather than purely focus on her and Sabine looking for Ezra. This is a clever way of not shutting out newcomers with four seasons’ worth of story, but showing something simple that was already teased in “The Mandalorian.”
Arguably the more interesting aspect of the trailer is how much it showcases the late Ray Stevenson’s villain, Baylon Skoll. Though we still don’t know who he is, his red-tinted orange lightsaber clearly means he’s up to no good, but what is fascinating is how he directly addresses Ahsoka as Anakin’s former padawan, saying the Fallen Jedi “spoke highly” of Ahsoka. Does this mean Skoll knew Anakin, and if so, was that before or after the events of “Revenge of the Sith”? We see Ahsoka fight an Inquisitor in the trailer, does that mean Skoll was one of them, or something else?
We’ll find out when “Ahsoka” debuts on August 23, 2023, with a two-episode premiere on Disney+.