Star Wars Rebels Writers Have One Major Problem With The Ahsoka TV Series

"Ahsoka" was an interesting addition to the "Star Wars" TV landscape. As the fifth live-action "Star Wars" show, it was coming off the polarizing "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and also the groundbreakingly stellar first season of "Andor." The show remains the only of the live-action shows to be a full-on prequel to an animated series, bringing back the characters of "Star Wars Rebels" and continuing where that story left off, with the search for Ezra (Eman Esandi) after he disappeared during a fight against Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen).

That show ended up introducing many big new ideas to the "Star Wars" franchise, like introducing a brand new galaxy, but without a doubt the most controversial thing that show did was make Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) a Jedi. In "Ahsoka," it is revealed that the titular Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) took Sabine as her Padawan learner sometime after the events of "Rebels" but without fully completing her training. She spends the season struggling with her connection with the Force before finally being able to Force push Ezra in the finale, something that had fans arguing about whether it broke canon to redefine Force sensitivity or not given that Sabine never exhibited any connection with the Force during "Rebels."

Among those who have issues with this decision is "Rebels" co-executive producer and writer Henry Gilroy, who admitted to the Pod of Rebellion podcast that it was never part of the original plan to have Sabine become a Jedi. In fact, Gilroy revealed that there were discussions about Sabine becoming a Jedi in season 3 of the animated show, but "Not only did it step on Ezra's story but it was a retreat of, okay, we already did this" referring to Ezra's Jedi journey.

"The idea of Sabine training as a Jedi when she is already this fantastic warrior of her own type, we felt like this is overkill," Gilroy said. "I had nothing to do with the Ahsoka series, so I was shocked because pretty much our entire story team, we discussed it in season 3, we thought it was a bad idea."

Instead, Gilroy points to the darksaber storyline in that season of "Rebels" as their own take on the Jedi story for Sabine, saying it "Shows you don't have to be a Jedi to have Jedi ideals and embrace the Jedi philosophy."

Gilroy has a good point, and it could definitely be argued that, without all the writers that made "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" great, Dave Filoni has in his new role at Lucasfilm, become a bit like George Lucas making the prequels. He has earned the right to tell his stories in the way he wants them, but limitation and being told no can be a good thing now and then.

That being said, the "Star Wars" franchise is full of pivots, of changed plans and last minute changes. Beyond just the Special Edition changes, George Lucas would constantly change his mind during production, like deciding to kill Obi-Wan in the first film rather than have him stick around longer, or the time he decided Darth Maul wasn't dead after all and people in "Star Wars" could survive being chopped in half. Changing Sabine to suddenly become a Jedi Padawan after the events of "Rebels" and learning to become a Jedi despite no prior hint of Force sensitivity isn't out of place for this franchise.