It’s beyond obvious that Ahsoka is designed as a direct sequel series to Rebels, and the series will feature a number of Rebels characters making their live-action debut. Most notably among them are Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla, who both appear to be significant players in Ahsoka.
That makes sense, because the series is (at least in part) about the hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn. Ahsoka, Sabine, and Hera are looking for him to stop the threat, while the villains are looking for him to reclaim their glory. But as Rebels fans know, there’s a deeper reason why the heroes want to find Thrawn, and it’s because their friend, the Jedi Ezra Bridger, disappeared with Thrawn into the unknown. To find Thrawn, then, might lead to Ezra.
The epilogue of Rebels is something we’ve seen re-created in some of the trailers for Ahsoka, as Ahsoka arrives to pick up Sabine to go searching for Ezra. As Sabine says in the narration of the epilogue, “Ezra’s out there, and it’s time to bring him home.” Well, in the latest trailer, there’s a fun nod to Rebels in a less obvious way.
In the epilogue Sabine has short hair, and when fans saw her with long hair in the first Ahsoka trailer there was, predictably, some uproar. But (and I know this will be shocking) it turns out the internet complaining was pointless, because this trailer shows that Sabine cuts her hair prior to going off in search of Ezra, and it’s done in a way to intentionally parallel the moment where Kanan Jarrus cut his long hair in the fourth season of Rebels. Kanan, who was a father figure and mentor to Sabine, cut his hair right before heading off to rescue Hera – a rescue attempt that, while successful, cost Kanan his life.
So in Ahsoka, we have a moment that’s a clear parallel to that moment, and it happens as Sabine is about to go off in search of Ezra to rescue him and bring him home. The connection is obvious, and I think it’s great. But it’s one that probably won’t resonate with most audiences, since most probably won’t have seen Rebels, and yet I think it’s a connective tissue that could easily be executed in a way that’s still meaningful even if one doesn’t realize all the emotional weight behind it.
Star Wars Thoughts 