Historically, Star Wars has always taken place in the same galaxy. With Ahsoka, things have changed. A decision today justified by the boss of the series, Dave Filoni, who has become creative director at Lucasfilm.
For those who followed the series Ahsoka, broadcast in full on Disney+ from August 22 to October 3, 2023, an oddity jumped out quite quickly. The whole plot does not unfold in the traditional galaxy far, far away to which we have been accustomed since 1977. We are quickly transported elsewhere, in a neighboring nebula.
The public knowing well Star Wars obviously immediately ticked off — Numerama also noted this particularity, in an article showing thatAhsoka disrupts a theory of Star Wars 50 years old. A month and a half after the release of the last episode of season one, while waiting for the second, the creator of the series AhsokaDave Filoni, returned to this story for Vanity Fair.
The need to shake up the lore of Star Wars
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The person concerned, who incidentally became creative director at Lucasfilm, which is responsible for the license Star Wars in the entertainment empire that is Disney, explained to the American media that it was, in his opinion, necessary to break this kind of rule which meant that everything always happened in the same galaxy. We had to put some mystery back into the saga.
At the beginning ofAhsoka, two characters are missing: first there is Ezra Bridger, a friend of Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren, and Thrawn, a very high ranking officer of the Galactic Empire. These have not been found since the end of the animated series Rebels. And during the ten years that separate the two series, everyone is looking for the two missing people.
This is where a narrative problem arose, points out Dave Filoni. “ If they were in the Star Wars galaxy — the old Star Wars galaxy that we know — I think someone would have found them. There are too many ships, too many people traveling. You send out a signal and I think you could have found them if they wanted to be found. I had to send them very far. »
Dave Filoni took them so far that he made a little joke with the episode title “ Far, far away », using the traditional formula which serves as an incipit to each Star Wars film. A bold move, because historically all Star Wars used to take place in the same galaxy. To the point of having become a sort of unofficial rule.
To avoid finding themselves in a situation where there would be nothing left to tell or show, the Star Wars writers have always made sure to keep a large part of the galaxy unexplored – the unknown regions. They also imagined, before Disney’s takeover of Lucasfilm, an extragalactic invasion, with aliens from elsewhere attacking the Star Wars galaxy.
Officially, Star Wars never really completely closed the door on the idea of traveling beyond the current galaxy. The father of Star Wars, George Lucas, has also placed elements in certain places in the trilogy and prelogy that validate Dave Filoni’s choice. We refer you to our article for additional details.
Quoting Attack of the Clones, a film released in 2002, Dave Filoni indicates that there is a shot in which we see an image of the main galaxy, with small nebulae orbiting around it. It was therefore an opportunity to shake up a certain established order, without fundamentally violating the “lore”. It was enough to grab the tools placed by George Lucas.
This innovation was necessary to open up new perspectives for the license and provide an obstacle colossal enough to prevent Ahsoka, Sabine and the others from finding Ezra and Thrawn. In fact, this also now opens the way to the establishment of an even larger narrative. Now we can dream of adventures taking place almost throughout the universe.
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