Credit: Inside the MagicAhsoka (2023) might not be impressing every Star Wars fan out there, with some criticizing the “cardboard” acting, and others unhappy with the emphasis on Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), but it’s certainly shaking things up for the Star Wars franchise.
Not only has Ahsoka broken the mold for the Mando-Verse as the first episode opened with a text crawl, so far, it seems to be delivering on everything fans have been expecting where its animated predecessor, Star Wars: Rebels (2014 — 2018), is concerned.
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Now, the show has finally introduced the space whales known as the purrgil, which were teased in The Mandalorian Season 3. Diehard Star Wars fans will know that the purrgil have the ability to jump into hyperspace, and, according to legend, are the reason the faraway galaxy exists in the first place, as they inspired people to travel between worlds.
The purrgil are also heavily tied into the unknown fate of lost Jedi Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), as the pair disappeared with them into hyperspace in the Rebels finale, “”Family Reunion — and Farewell.”
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Ahsoka focuses on the continued search for Ezra, led by Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren, while Nightsister, Lady Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and the “Gray Jedi”, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice, Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), search for Thrawn on the Imperial side.
And now, we just got one step closer to finding them both. However, the presence of the purrgil in Star Wars represents an even greater step forward. In fact, they may wind up changing the entire franchise and the faraway galaxy as we know it.
Related: Do These Clues Suggest That Ahsoka Tano Is Actually a Time-Traveller?
In the third episode, “Part Three: Time to Fly”, which is now streaming on Disney+, Ahsoka and Sabine find themselves in the the Denab System, where they discover that Morgan Elsbeth has built a gigantic “hyperspace ring” in space.
The droid, Huyang (David Tenant), explains to Ahsoka and Sabine that hyperspace rings are “capable of a hyperspace-jump of astonishing speed and distance.”
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When Ahsoka asks Huyang if the ring can make a jump to a neighboring galaxy, the droid says that with the “right coordinates and navigation”, it’s possible, before adding, “The Jedi archives speak of intergalactic hyperspace lanes between galaxies which used to follow the migration paths of star whales named purrgil.” Clearly, the giant hyperspace ring has been built to track down Thrawn.
The purrgil and the hyperspace ring present so many possibilities for the future of Star Wars. The question is, will these possibilities extend beyond Ahsoka? There’s also the question of the “World Between Worlds” from the Rebels Season 4 episode of the same name; the mystical dimension where time and space do not exist.
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Used correctly, the World Between Worlds could allow for Ahsoka to experiment with time travel, which we’ve already seen in Rebels. Even putting the World Between Worlds aside, the “new galaxy” in Ahsoka, where Ezra and Thrawn are believed to be, may also allow for separate Star Wars timelines.
Either way, it will certainly make the faraway galaxy a lot bigger going forward, as these new plot devices have quite literally opened up Star Wars‘ extended universe.
As per Disney and Lucasfilm, here’s the official trailer for Ahsoka:
Related: A Recap of Ahsoka Before You Watch the Live-Action Series
Ahsoka stars Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Sabine Wren), Eman Esfandi (Ezra Bridger), Lars Mikkelsen (Grand Admiral Thrawn), Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Hera Syndulla), Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), Ivanna Sakhno (Shin Hati), Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth), and the late Ray Stevenson (Baylan Skoll).
The first three episodes of Ahsoka are now streaming on Disney+. New episodes will be available to stream every Tuesday, with the eighth and final episode airing on October 3.
Do you think the purrgil will change Star Wars as we know it? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!