Ahsoka Delivers A Star Wars Expanded Universe (Literally) With A New Galaxy
Growing up in Latin America, it was always funny to see how movies or TV titles would be translated into Spanish. Some movies would find clever ways of adapting a pun or a joke, but others would completely miss the mark. For example, "Home Alone" was titled "My Poor Little Angel" in Spanish while "The Sound of Music" had the promising but potentially misleading title of "The Rebel Nun."
Similarly, as "Star Wars" fan, I always thought the Spanish title "La Guerra de las Galaxias," or "The War of the Galaxies," felt like false advertisement. The first movie is literally about a conflict known as the Galactic Civil War, a revolution within a single empire, within a single galaxy. Even when the prequels brought the Clone Wars about, it was still very much a war between sanctions within a single galactic government. Granted, the Expanded Universe (now dubbed Legends) explored the idea of other galaxies, but the canon never really gave this much attention — until now.
Leave it to Dave Filoni, who has been involved in some of the biggest additions to the "Star Wars" lore since Lucas' very first sequel, to finally pay off a translating choice from 1977. That's right, "Ahsoka" literally expands the "Star Wars" universe by introducing a brand new galaxy.
Threats from far away
We knew from the finale of "Star Wars Rebels" that Ezra Bridger, in his heroic sacrifice to liberate Lothal from the Empire, used space whales known as Purrgil to teleport himself and Thrawn away from Lothal and into... well, we don't know. The logical choice was somewhere in the Unknown Regions, a mostly unexplored area of the "Star Wars" galaxy that nevertheless has been used for important places for the franchise. For example, it is here that Thrawn's species originates, it is here that Luke hid after Kylo Ren destroyed his temple, it is here that somehow, Palpatine returned, and it is also here that the enigmatic Rakatan Empire originated.
In other words, the Unknown Regions are a prime place for mystery and weird stuff. But still, this is close enough that it feels weird Ezra and Thrawn wouldn't have managed to get out of it and travel closer to their allies in the last decade or so. This is why the map that Ahsoka finds revealing a pathway to another galaxy entirely is such an exciting prospect. This development is a bit out of left field, but it offers endless possibilities that we've never seen before in the franchise, particularly when it comes to galactic threats.
It is quite unlikely Ezra and Thrawn have just been living a "Cast Away" life stranded alone in another galaxy. Instead, it is much more likely the two have spent the past decade in either a "Lost" situation, surviving endless horrors while exploring some ancient and decayed civilization, or an isekai scenario, where the two encountered some vastly different civilization and became part of them. In any case, it is likely to end with not only Thrawn and Ezra returning, but something else from that galaxy making its way to the prime "Star Wars" galaxy, truly making it a war of the galaxies.
The Children of Yun-Yuuzhan
Of course, we have actually seen other galaxies in the movies (kind of). The planet Kamino was located on a sector of the Outer Rim considered to be a dwarf satellite galaxy in the canon, called the Rishi Maze.
In the Expanded Universe, however, there is a lot more to this idea. "The New Jedi Order" book series, which took place 25 years after the Battle of Yavin in "Star Wars: A New Hope," tells the story of an invasion of the known galaxy by an extra galactic species known as Yuuzhan Vong. The resulting war forever changed the galaxy, and gave fans such weird and bizarre moments as Chewbacca being killed by a literal moon dropping on him.
Dave Filoni is reportedly a fan of the Yuuzhan Vong and almost put them in "The Clone Wars." Though that didn't happen, Filoni has made a career out of adapting parts of the Expanded Universe and bringing them into the canon. If Thrawn can make his way into "Star Wars" canon again, why can't the Force-resistant organic aliens from another galaxy that killed Chewie and invaded the Republic?