I thought this was going to be a quick blog post where I digest and recycle a few other fans’ recommendations, “What to watch before Ahsoka” and I’d have a nice little post out late Friday afternoon and a queue that I could catch up on over the weekend. Once I got started, though, it ended up being a much deeper dive into 2010’s era Star Wars on TV, and into the character. And I watched quite a few more episodes of both Clone Wars and Rebels than I expected I would, or would have to.
Before I dive too deep — if you just want a quick TL;DR on what you have to watch before Star Wars: Ahsoka the answer is:
Nah, you’re good. Just watch it.
Rosario Dawson has already shown she understands and can inhabit the character (in The Mandalorian Chapter 13: The Jedi and The Book of Boba Fett Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger) and I think we can trust the writers on this one.
Questions like, “Well, who is she?” “Who trained her to be such a bad-ass?” “How did she escape Order 66?” “Wait, she says she’s not a Jedi?” are the sorts of things that are either not too terribly important to telling a new story, or points that will be addressed as she interacts with returning and new characters.
That’s where we’re at. Go. Watch. Don’t sweat the details like some obsessed grognard lore nerd.
[*cough*]
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The sources I used for this guide include
Clone Wars Episodes in Chronological Order (from StarWars.com)
Tumblr user fullyfancyfan’s Clone Wars Skippable Guide
Murphy’s Multiverse with ‘The Ultimate List of What to Watch Before Ahsoka’
and Reddit’s r/StarWars thread on ‘What should I watch to prepare for Ahsoka?’
…which I found using the google searches “Which clone wars episodes can I skip?” and “What to watch before Ahsoka”
If you’ve seen Clone Wars and Rebels and just need some light reminders [spoilers] about the plots you might also find the Wikipedia pages for Star Wars: Clone Wars Episodes and Star Wars: Rebels Episodes to be handy, if only to read quick summaries of what I’m skipping.
Ahsoka is a creation of Clone Wars1 so technically you don’t need to watch any of the movies, but I’ll assume you are broadly familiar with the films (any trilogy) and enough of a fan of the broader Star-Wars thing that you’re generally receptive to recommendations. The only two episodes you might want/need to watch of the Disney+ live action Star Wars are linked above.
I’m also going to assume that you want to get up to speed specifically with the story and character of Ahsoka and you don’t have a whole lot of time and also aren’t super into watching 10+ seasons of cgi animated Star Wars just to get there. So one goal is to cut more from the list, not necessarily to include every last appearance of Ahsoka in the shows.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was a 2008 ‘film’, given an August theatrical release2, but also debuting on Cartoon Network that October. It is probably best to think of it as the first three(-ish) episodes on the series (which began airing weekly on Cartoon Network immediate after, 3 Oct 2008). Ahsoka is voiced in the film & series by Ashley Eckstein.
One thing to note about the Clone Wars cartoon is that episodes weren’t originally presented in what might be called ‘story order’. The vibe is kind of like 1940s news reels from the war front (you’ll get that from the narration at the start of episodes) and for the first three seasons of Clone Wars we were getting bits of this war out of chronological order. It’s why one of the links above is to the watch order guide on StarWars.com; if you wanted to watch all of Clone Wars as a single story, ‘in order’, that resource is available to you. For an Ahsoka-focused list, we’ll be taking some pretty big steps3 but skipping whole story arcs and watching episodes ‘out of order’ is a whole “Clone Wars” thing, as valid as any other recommendation.
So let’s get started. For the Disney+ links below, you’ll need to be a subscriber.
2008 Film: [Stream on Disney+]
Eh, it’s OK. Fine enough if you want to watch it all but we really only need to see the Battle of Christophsis bits, which is a good (re-)introduction to the CW versions of Anakin, Kenobi, the Clones — and Ahsoka.
If you’re ready to keep going and don’t care about the kidnapped hutt kid, stop watching at 26:30
Clone Wars
Season 1, Episode 9 Cloak of Darkness [Stream on Disney+]
…confirming the early characterization of Ahsoka as young, impulsive, and a little snippy.
Season 1, Episode 13 Jedi Crash [Stream on Disney+]
“When Anakin is gravely injured, Ahsoka must take charge”
Season 1, Episode 19 Storm Over Ryloth [Stream on Disney+]
Character development! Storm Over Ryloth is the first of a three episode story arc, but the next two follow other Jedi, not Anakin and Ahsoka.
Season 2, Episode 1 Holocron Heist [Stream on Disney+]
More lessons for an impulsive padawan. Those who like the bounty-hunter and western vibes of the Mandalorian or just a good old-fashioned heist will enjoy this one. The next two episodes, Cargo of Doom [Stream on Disney+] and Children of the Force [Stream on Disney+] finish out the arc if the story hooks you, but those in a hurry can move on.
Season 2, Episode 6 Weapons Factory [Stream on Disney+]
Ahsoka gets paired with Luminara’s padawan Barriss on a mission to sneak into a droid factory and destroy it (while their masters take care of things above ground). A neat contrast here because obviously, Skywalker is not a conventional teacher, so we see how at least one other Jedi-padawan pair operate. Also Barriss is a peer, closer to Ahsoka in age and training, and we get to see that dynamic
Season 2, Episode 11 Lightsaber Lost [Stream on Disney+]
“When Ahsoka’s lightsaber is stolen by a pickpocket, she gets help from the seemingly feeble elder Jedi Tera Sinube as she tracks down the thief.” The Clone Wars writers enjoy pairing Ahsoka with many Jedi Masters, as we’ve seen at least three times already even in this short list. Often these are like Master Sinube, bordering on comedic relief but full of wisdom for our Ahsoka. It’s a recurring ‘bit’ but also good storytelling (and is building Ahsoka as a more complex character, not just Anakin’s 2nd).4
This is also a good point to insert some commentary.
How Filoni FIXED Ahsoka in 4 Episodes | Star Wars Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msgQ6WbIHyc
“how Dave Filloni intentionally crafted Ahsoka’s flaws to transform her from a hated newbie into a staple of the franchise.”
Season 2, Episode 22 Lethal Trackdown [Stream on Disney+]
Another pairing, this time with Master Plo Kloon. By this point, the ‘lesson I have to learn’ trope may feel a little overused, especially since we’re skipping around so much to find that particular beat, but I think the more important part is that Ahsoka is learning from so many Jedi, not just Anakin.
Here I will note Episodes 15, 16, & 17 of Season 3. Watch them if you want. I’ll link those at the end — or maybe just in the footnotes5 – At least until this arc is ret-conned, it’s Star Wars. For folks who just want to watch the new live action Ahsoka this is a HUGE distraction & not part of my watch list. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you”
Yes you can skip these. Please skip these.
You can also skip these, but they’re solid episodes, and is the two-parter that closed out season three.
Season 3, Episode 21 Padawan Lost [Stream on Disney+]
Season 3, Episode 22 Wookiee Hunt [Stream on Disney+]
Heck at this point we’re done.
You’re good. Watch the new show. There will be more background and backstory but I feel like these ten episodes from the first three seasons are enough to get to know Ahsoka as a character.
…There’s more. Quite a bit more.6 I’m trying to respect your time; we’re only four hours in. What’s left is going to take another eight or so hours, and there isn’t another good jumping off point.
Skipping ahead to season five, we have a four episode story arc that is all about Ahsoka and also a pivotal part about her character
Season 5, episode 17 Sabotage [Stream on Disney+]
“Sometimes even the smallest doubt can shake the greatest belief.”
After the events of S5E17, Ahsoka Tano is blamed for a murder, and forced to escape into the Coruscant underworld to prove her innocence. Definitely watch these next three as a block.
Season 5, Episode 18 The Jedi Who Knew Too Much [Stream on Disney+]
Season 5, Episode 19 To Catch a Jedi [Stream on Disney+]
Season 5, Episode 20 The Wrong Jedi [Stream on Disney+]
This arc ends season five. It also ends Clone Wars run on the Cartoon Network. Season six was released on Netflix (13 episodes as a batch, in 2014) and for a while that was thought to be all we’d get (of Clone Wars; Rebels was already in production). But we got a surprise in 2020, a seventh season was ordered to help launch the Disney Plus streaming service. For Ahsoka’s story [for reasons I won’t go into because Spoilers] we actually skip season six and the first four episodes of season seven. From there, though, you’ll want to watch the rest, episodes 5 through 12.
Season 7, Episode 5 Gone with a Trace [Stream on Disney+]
“If there is no path before you, create your own.”
Season 7, Episode 6 Deal No Deal [Stream on Disney+]
“Mistakes are valuable lessons often learned too late.”
Season 7, Episode 7 Dangerous Debt [Stream on Disney+]
“Who you were does not have to define who you are.”
Season 7, Episode 8 Together Again [Stream on Disney+]
“You can change who you are, but you cannot run from yourself.”
Season 7, Episode 9 Old Friends Not Forgotten [Stream on Disney+]
Season 7, Episode 10 The Phantom Apprentice [Stream on Disney+]
Season 7, Episode 11 Shattered [Stream on Disney+]
Season 7, Episode 12 Victory and Death [Stream on Disney+]
That last story arc is basically a movie. It’s impressive television. It is highly recommended and no, I won’t spoil anything in it for you.
Rebels
Clone Wars wasn’t the only show going, though. As season six of Clone Wars was wrapping up with a Netflix release, Rebels was gearing up to premiere on Disney XD. For those wondering about the chronology, the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney was finalized in October of 2012, right as season five of Clone Wars was airing. Corporate behind-the-scenes stuff and the nature of the Cartoon Network deal probably meant Clone Wars was (a least a little) doomed as soon as Disney took ownership, and probably also explains the fractured nature of Season Six [“The Lost Missions”]. But to be fair, Clone Wars was getting dark — it wasn’t a kids show anymore, and Disney no doubt thought a reboot to a new show, crew, and era would be more kid-friendly. Rebels isn’t entirely a kids show though, and wasn’t meant to be; I think their target audience was teens and tweens.7
Optional but recommended is Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2, Spark of Rebellion [Stream on Disney+, Part 1 and Part 2]. This two-parter will introduce you to the main cast of Rebels, and ground you well enough.
The new Ahsoka show includes several Rebels characters who are making the jump from CGI to live action. I’ve even heard it called ‘the next season of Rebels’. So there may be an argument for watching all four seasons of Rebels; if you should feel that urge later, with a whole week between episodes of Ahsoka, we should have plenty of time.
Ahsoka’s part in Rebels is mostly in Season Two — after a very brief appearance at the end of Season 1, Episode 15 Fire Across the Galaxy. Ahsoka is used very sparingly in Rebels, mostly as a background character.8
Ahsoka-related but not necessarily Ahsoka-focused, the first four episodes of season two can be skipped.
Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2 Siege of Lothal [Stream on Disney+, Part 1 and Part 2]
Season 2, Episode 3 The Lost Commanders [Stream on Disney+]
Season 2, Episode 4 Relics of the Old Republic [Stream on Disney+]
Even Season 2, Episode 18 Shroud of Darkness, a very Jedi-focused episode, doesn’t have a whole lot of Ahsoka’s story in it9, just a lot of foreshadowing. Worth a watch though and an excellent way to set up the season two finale.
Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22 Twilight of the Apprentice [Stream on Disney+, Part 1 and Part 2]
Because I’m sure you will have questions, I’d follow this immediately by Season 4, Episode 13 A World Between Worlds. We just skipped two whole seasons of story, and that kind of jump might bring up a different set of questions, but this is where we conclude the Malachor story.
The last time we see Ahsoka before her appearance in The Mandolorean is in Rebels Season 4, Episode 15 Family Reunion – and Farewell, in a end-of-series coda section [start watching at 42:00, mostly to skip SPOILERS that you might want to wait to see when you’re watching all of Rebels]. I’ll also note in 2022, Diz gave us two more bits (fine, three, whatever) featuring a Clone-Wars-era Ahsoka in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Episode 5, Practice Makes Perfect and Episode 6, Resolve.
I hope all those links work. I’ll be cleaning up this blog post for the rest of the day.
We’ve got word from Disney’s Twitter Account for Ahsoka that the show will premiere a day early, tomorrow at 6pm US Pacific Time.
New #Ahsoka inspired art by
— Ahsoka (@ahsokaofficial) August 19, 2023NickyBarkla</a> has arrived. <br><br>Don’t miss the two-episode premiere, streaming Tuesday, August 22 at 6PM PT on <a href="https://twitter.com/DisneyPlus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/hynybbxg5B
It doesn’t give you a whole lot of time to catch up, but in a pinch just refer to my original tl;dr way up there at the top of the post before the break. And despite me spending three days and overworking my Disney+ account to write all this: try to just enjoy the new shows on their own merits; not everything has to carry the weight of five decades and the bloated expectations of an entitled fan base. Sometimes these are just fun sci-fi and/or space fantasy adventures, often for the kids.
1 specifically of Dave Feloni, supervising director — and earlier in his film career both a conceptual artist and storyboard artist.
2 The theatrical release was probably both to raise the profile of the show, give it a splashy premiere, but also to make some money back as the development costs for a full CGI show (esp. in 2008) was a chunk of change.
3 though from all the resources I have at hand, what is presented is in chronological order. yay consistency.
4 Also I’m pretty sure this episode is one of the references Respawn Games used for Coruscant when making Jedi: Survivor. There’s a big cross-Coruscant parkour chase scene in this ep.
5 For a long time, the whole damn burden of Star Wars was being carried by this one Cartoon Network series, back when they didn’t know Diz would buy them out. No movies were on the horizon, even the release of tie-in novels had slowed down, and tv cartoons were the whole damn franchise. In this context you can watch [Overlords], [Altar of Mortis], and [Ghosts of Mortis] . A story had to be built. But it’s not her story, necessarily, just more myth (and probably straight from George Lucas, so it’s “canon”, as much as anything is).
6 We’re skipping a block of episodes that starts with Season 3, Episode 10 Heroes on Both Sides [Stream on Disney+],
Season 4, Episode 14 A Friend in Need [Stream on Disney+], and finishes with a four-episode arc early in season 5: A War on Two Fronts [Stream on Disney+], Front Runners [Stream on Disney+] , The Soft War [Stream on Disney+], and Tipping Points [Stream on Disney+]. The first two introduce Ahsoka to Separatist politics and to a young Separatist Senator, Lux Bonteri. Lux and his planet of Onderon, are featured in the later arc as Ahsoka and other Jedi support a rebel faction on Onderon in their effort to free their world from the Separatist-friendly government that controls it. Despite also featuring (a young) Saw Guerra and having the twist that the Jedi are supposed to be merely advisors, not combatants, when re-watching these I realized it’s a good Star Wars story but these arcs don’t feel like her story.
7 Diz was looking to mint a few more Star Wars fans among Millennials and Gen Z while putting some gloss on the XD channel, which is like the ESPN-8 of Disney’s cable offerings.
8 I’m guessing here, but there is the fact that she’s a little overpowered compared to the rest, comes with her own story/baggage that the show’s writers didn’t feel like addressing on a week-in week-out basis and she actual works really well as a behind-the-scenes quest-giver type.
9 not a lot of Ahsoka’s story. Plenty for the new guys. It is their show after all.