Cool to see Sarah Michelle Gellar join - let the speculation begin on who she is.
A-Wings - as a kid I always assumed the 'used universe' quality of the GFFA meant virtually everything we saw existed prior to when we saw it. Sometimes in the PT when they tried to show evolutions into the future - the Y-Wing, I guess the Jedi Starfighters - it seemed more that these were what the OT versions would have evolved into rather than out of.
I'm more and more excited for the arrival of Ahsoka the more I think about it. It has staggering implications for the show and the future. Kanan and Ezra may expect a fellow Jedi, but she's not a Jedi and I wonder what impact her perspective will have on them. What does her agnosticism mean for Kanan/Hera? As Kanan embraces more of the Jedi way, does that mean his relationship with Hera is in trouble, or does Ahsoka advocate a different path? Maybe Ahsoka, Kanan and Ezra don't go down in flames at the end of this series. l'll go ahead and predict they don't. What if they form the nucleus of a non-Jedi light side movement? I've been on the potential of Ahsoka's journey outside of the Jedi order ever since the end of CW, but this excerpt from Dave Filoni's interview with SW.com last night really got me going:
StarWars.com: I have a bit of a continuity challenge for you. In Return of the Jedi, Yoda tells Luke, "When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be." But now he knows that Kanan and Ezra are out there. We obviously don't know at this point what will happen to them, but is that something you're aware of?
Dave Filoni: I don't see it as a challenge at all. It's what the Sith call an absolute. When Obi-Wan says to Luke, "Your father was the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy," is that true? Or is that something you tell a kid because you want him to believe his father was great? It doesn't have to be empirical or absolutely true. Saying Luke is "the last," is that a singular thing, or is he the last of a group? I don't know.
It definitely is something that comes up, and we discuss that moment all the time for what it could mean. It is possible to interpret it as, Luke is the last person that's following the path as laid out by the Jedi Order, which we knew. The way of the Jedi is not the only way to use the light side of the Force. Luke is taught by Obi-Wan and Yoda, who very much followed the dogma of the day. So, he is the last of that line for sure. That's absolutely true. But you don't have to be a Jedi to use the Force. You don't have to be a Sith to use the dark side.
This I think has massive implications for what may be happening in the ST era, where at least we can say with certainty that the post ROTJ Jedi order Luke established in the comics/books is NOT happening. What is or isn't actually happening with Luke and his successors remains to be seen, but in any event, Luke would have to confront the failures of the old Jedi Order in creating a new one and a great counterpoint and balance to that would be the perspective that Ahsoka, or perhaps her disciples, embody.
What's even more fascinating to me is that this is the influence of Anakin reaching into the OT and maybe ST. Not Anakin as Vader but Anakin as a failed Jedi. I know a lot of people scoffed at the seeming ret-con of giving him an apprentice, but I don't think anyone would argue Ahsoka was a bad idea now. In fact, she may have single handedly rehabilitated the PT, and as her codename in Rebels suggests, she may in fact be the thing that ties all this together. Looking back, it makes a lot of sense Anakin had an apprentice. I'd argue the details of it - rather than having her imposed on Anakin, it would have been more in keeping with his character that he take upon himself to train someone else - but that doesn't matter. What matters is that him having an apprentice balloons his already inflated ego, creates tension between him and Obi-Wan and leads Ahsoka down a path that questions the order, it's failures with Anakin, itself and the Republic. Those questions will be front and center as Luke trains a new generation and considers reestablishing the order. Anakin's teachings, his conflict and ultimate failure as a teacher inform Ahsoka's entire way of life. We may end up seeing her as his one success.
