Dave Filoni Sheds Light on Ahsoka and Kanan’s History

In what has recently become a weekly info drop, Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus had met each other long before the events of the season one finale, ‘Fire Across the Galaxy’.

This revelation couldn’t have been more timely as it was something I had given some serious thought to just a few days earlier. Ahsoka and the-then Caleb Dume are quite similar in age, so it seemed like they would have run into each other at the Jedi Temple at some point in their years-long training. So, naturally, I was thrilled to see Filoni’s post confirming that they had met as younglings.

This striking piece of art instantly caught my eye – it’s been my phone’s lock-screen wallpaper ever since it appeared online – but it was the unseen scene between the two Force users that got my attention.

Here’s what Filoni had to say about their previously unseen encounter, which took place at some point during the show’s second season.

 

Happy Friday everyone. Since you seem to enjoy these drawings I’ve been doing, here is another tale left untold, ’til now that is. If you ever wondered if Kanan and Ahsoka knew each other, or had met while they were younglings at the Jedi Temple, the answer is YES. They had met, though they did not know each other well, they had at least done some saber training together.

Years later when she met Kanan, Ahsoka needed to see how prepared he was for the conflict ahead. Here is a small piece of that scene, and perhaps a realization that in many ways Ahsoka was a mentor to Kanan.

AHSOKA: Even at a young age you were gifted with a lightsaber. But without training and discipline, those skills fade.

KANAN: So it seems.

(Kanan gets up again, he is a bit dispirited.)

KANAN (CONT’D): I haven’t had to fight with my lightsaber very often. For a while, I chose not to. I was…

(Kanan struggles with the moment. Ahsoka helps).

AHSOKA: You were afraid to use it. I understand.

(Kanan appreciates her words.)

KANAN: I’ve been teaching Ezra as best I can. I want him to be the Jedi I’m not, that I couldn’t be.

AHSOKA: And I want you to be the Jedi that you are.

 

First of all, it’s virtually impossible to read that dialogue without hearing Ashley Eckstein and Freddy Prince Jr.’s voices in your head. Second, just like Ahsoka’s chat with Bendu, I would have loved to have seen this play out on screen. It’s emotion-driven scenes like this one that make for such compelling storytelling and keep me tuning in. Well, that and Chopper. I just can’t get enough of that cantankerous droid.

But, perhaps most importantly, this scene serves as a reminder of how tragically underused Ahsoka Tano was on Star Wars Rebels. Don’t get me wrong. Rebels was never meant to be her show and the production team were careful not to let her overshadow the show’s main cast, but I do feel they could have used her more effectively or kept her around for a little longer.

Looking back on season two, Ahsoka barely had any meaningful on-screen interaction with the crew’s non-Force users or even her old friend Rex, who she hadn’t seen in well over a decade. And, in some ways, she spent more time reminding the audience that she was no longer a Jedi than mentoring the two younger, less experienced Jedi standing right in front of her.

In any case, this scene serves as a poignant reminder that like Depa Billaba and the Grand Inquisitor before her and Maul and Bendu after her, Ahsoka was one of several Forces users who were instrumental to Kanan’s growth as a Jedi. Filoni has yet to reveal exactly what happened to Ahsoka in ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’, but I do hope she and Kanan will get to share at least one more scene before the series wraps up its fourth (and final) season.

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• When Ahsoka Met Bendu…
• Dave Filoni’s Cryptic Birthday Gift to Ahsoka Tano Fans