Where The Heck Is Leia During Ahsoka? An Investigation
This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Ahsoka" episode 3 — "Time to Fly"
"Ahsoka" moved the plot forward quite a bit in its third episode, titled "Time to Fly." We saw Ahsoka Tano take to training Sabine Wren as her Jedi apprentice once again, lots of epic space battle action, and even some Purrgil, aka the space whales from "Star Wars Rebels," in live-action. It was a lot, and it feels like the return of both Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn is right around the corner. But one character's absence looms particularly large after this latest episode, and that's Leia Organa. So we must ask the question, where is Leia during the events taking place in this show?
In terms of the overall "Star Wars" timeline, "Ahsoka" takes place around 8 or 9 ABY, or after the Battle of Yavin, which takes place during "A New Hope." So, essentially, we're a handful of years after the end of "Return of the Jedi," give or take. The New Republic is taking hold but the remnants of the Empire still loom large, as we saw in the show's second episode. With Thrawn still out there somewhere, Hera and Ahsoka feel the danger is very real. As a result, Hera has a meeting with Mon Mothma, who now serves as Chancellor of the New Republic, in addition to a few senators, including Senator Xiono, who may be familiar to "Star Wars: Resistance" viewers.
This meeting does not go particularly well, as the council is quite skeptical about Hera's claim that Thrawn is out there in the wilds of space somewhere. But as this is all unfolding, it's hard not to wonder where Leia is, and why she's not weighing in on any of this, as she was very much a strong voice in the New Republic at this time.
What was Leia up to after Return of the Jedi?
Just because the Rebellion managed to defeat Palpatine and destroy the second Death Star in "Return of the Jedi," it doesn't mean that everything in the galaxy was good and well. The Empire was a massive machine, after all, that extended well beyond the reach of Palpatine and Vader. That being the case, in the aftermath of the original trilogy, Leia set about doing her best to keep peace and order in the galaxy she fought so hard to save. Initially, she trained with her brother Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi, as we saw in a brief scene in "The Rise of Skywalker."
But Leia didn't totally follow through with her Jedi training and ended up getting back into the political arena as a Senator in the New Republic. This was covered in various parts of the new canon, such as in novels like "Bloodline." Eventually, Leia peels away from her duties to the Senate and forms the Resistance, fearing that the remnants of the Galactic Empire will once again rise up. Ultimately, her fears come to fruition as the First Order gains power across the galaxy, which is what the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy largely deals with.
Be that as it may, we're still years away from the events of "The Force Awakens" in the overall timeline, so Leia would certainly be active as a Senator in the New Republic at this time. Wouldn't she be close with Mon Mothma? Wouldn't she have a strong opinion about matters such as Thrawn and Ezra Bridger? One would think! It would be easy to picture her at that meeting with Hera, but she's nowhere to be found. Practically speaking, Carrie Fisher is no longer with us, so if Leia were to enter into this show's proceedings, it would need to be with a new actress. That's no small thing.
Will Leia show up later in Ahsoka?
For what it's worth, Leia has shown up a few times elsewhere in "Star Wars," with her daughter Billie Lourd standing in for her for the scene in "Rise of Skywalker." There was also the scene at the end of "Rogue One" where we had a de-aged version of the character, with Ingvild Deila playing her on set. Let us also not forget the young Leia we saw in "Obi-Wan Kenobi" played by Vivien Lyra Blair. All of this to say, Carrie Fisher will always be Leia but it's not as though someone else couldn't be brought in to play her. If Alden Ehrenreich can play Han Solo, a new actress could play Leia in this timeline.
This is also to say, that just because Leia didn't show up in this scene in the third episode of "Ahsoka" doesn't mean she couldn't have some sort of presence later on in the show. Mon Mothma and the rest of the leaders of the New Republic didn't explain away her absence. She's a busy woman, with her kid Ben Solo just a youngling at this point with no indication he's going to become Kylo Ren just yet. So she's got a kid to raise in addition to her duties as a Senator.
Thus far, series writer and producer Dave Filoni has opted simply to ignore Leia, but that doesn't mean he's going to ignore her forever. After all, as the man behind "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels," not to mention his work on "The Mandalorian," Filoni has proved that he knows "Star Wars" just about better than anyone. Surely he won't let all eight episodes sail by without at least touching on Leia. We'll see how he decides to play that card as things continue to unfold.
New episodes of "Ahsoka" premiere on Tuesday nights on Disney+ at 6:00 pm Pacific, 9:00 pm Eastern.