Attack Of The Clones Helped Dave Filoni Solve A Star Wars Rebels Problem

"Ahsoka" was a pretty mixed bag of a "Star Wars" show. It suffered from some truly horrendous pacing and a rather sour tone. At the same time, it gave us some of the most exhilarating "Star Wars" moments in years, embraced cartoonish physics for some old-school space opera fun, and even included some fan service that doubled as legitimately good character development. That's to say nothing of the inventive lightsaber action in "Ahsoka," which is some of the best that "Star Wars" has done in a while.

The show also gave us one of the biggest developments for the franchise at large since we learned Anakin Skywalker was born through immaculate conception. In the first episode of "Ahsoka," we learned that in the decade since the "Star Wars Rebels" finale took place, the characters Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn have been stranded in an entirely different galaxy. Indeed, the (literal) opening up of the "Star Wars" galaxy may be the most significant thing "Ahsoka" head honcho Dave Filoni and his team have ever done. It's provided endless opportunities for new stories and lore, in addition to resolving an issue created by "Rebels."

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Filoni talked about how the existence of another galaxy was the only way to explain Thrawn and Ezra's lengthy absence by the time "Ahsoka" begins. "If they were in the Star Wars galaxy — the old Star Wars galaxy that we know — I think somebody would've found them," Filoni explained. "There's too many star ships, there's too many people traveling." Thankfully, he realized the solution to this problem had already been planted by "Attack of the Clones," which features "an image of the galaxy, and then there are actually these smaller galaxies near it. So I'm like, 'Oh, that's interesting.'"