What lies beyond the Star Wars galaxy? Nobody knows for sure — but Ahsoka might be about to show us.
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00:00 What lies beyond the Star Wars galaxy?
00:02 Nobody knows for sure, but Ahsoka might be about to show us.
00:06 Ahsoka's fifth episode is quite the journey, and it ends with the beginning of an even
00:10 bigger one.
00:11 After being knocked into the sea by Balin's skull at the end of Episode 4, Ahsoka Tano
00:15 finds herself in a mysterious Force realm, where she comes face-to-face with her old
00:20 master, Anakin Skywalker.
00:22 As Hera Syndulla searches the planet Cetos for her, Ahsoka revisits her tragic life story
00:27 through a series of Clone Wars flashbacks.
00:29 "I'm teaching you how to lead, how to survive, and to do that, you're going to have to fight."
00:36 Anakin pushes Ahsoka to her limits in the World Between Worlds, and even attacks her
00:40 outright.
00:41 But it seems that his aggression is all a kind of game, a way to help his old padawan
00:45 find some peace within herself.
00:47 And sure enough, Ahsoka awakens from the ordeal with a powerful aura of serenity.
00:51 She then quickly divines a way to pursue Morgan Elspeth, Sabine Wren, and the others, even
00:56 without a star map.
00:58 This is because Cetos is home to a herd of Purrgil, the hyperspace-traveling space whales
01:02 that took Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn away in Star Wars Rebels.
01:06 At the end of Ahsoka Episode 5, Ahsoka uses the Force to convince the Purrgil through
01:11 the Force to allow her and Hu Yang to dock their ship in its mouth.
01:15 Tucked away inside, they set off through hyperspace, and we already have some clues as to where
01:19 they might be going.
01:20 As Ahsoka herself acknowledges to Hu Yang, she has no idea whether or not the Purrgil
01:25 will actually take them to Sabine, Ezra, and Thrawn.
01:28 Because there are only three episodes left, the writers don't have much time to play around
01:32 in other places, but journeying through hyperspace isn't as simple as hopping from point A to
01:36 point B.
01:37 Prior to Ahsoka, many believed that Thrawn was simply hiding in some far corner of the
01:41 Unknown Regions, an uncharted sector of the existing Star Wars galaxy.
01:45 Notably, the ancient Sith planet of Exegol is located in the Unknown Regions, along with
01:50 the remnants of the Empire that would later become the Final Order.
01:53 If Ahsoka is to travel through that region of space on the way to Thrawn's galaxy, we
01:57 could get a glimpse of what's been going on there.
01:59 The Mandalorian Season 3 already established that the Shadow Council of the Imperial Remnant
02:04 is waiting for Thrawn's return, hiding in the Unknown Regions until someone can bring
02:08 him back.
02:09 The Unknown Regions have barely been explored in canonical Star Wars stories, which is fitting
02:13 given that they remain uncharted in-universe.
02:15 We know that Thrawn's species, the Chiss, also hails from the area, and that it's quite
02:20 different from most known sectors of the galaxy.
02:23 But while the Unknown Regions are mysterious, even less is known about what lies beyond
02:27 them, and Ahsoka's journey beyond the confines of the galaxy opens up a number of exciting
02:31 opportunities.
02:32 In canon, Ahsoka is the first major Star Wars story to voyage beyond the galaxy.
02:36 However, the non-canon Legends timeline established some details of what lies beyond the Outer
02:41 Rim.
02:42 Most famous see the Yuuzhan Vong invaded from a neighboring galaxy in the EU's New Jedi
02:46 Order, laying waste to beloved characters and whole planets.
02:50 The Yuuzhan Vong were divisive at the time because they felt like such an intense departure
02:53 from the usual tone and style of Star Wars.
02:56 But that doesn't mean we won't see some influence in whatever Ahsoka finds out there.
03:00 It's also worth noting that the canon Thrawn novels feature a similar race to the Yuuzhan
03:04 Vong, called the Grisk.
03:06 They're not quite as horrifying or dangerous as the classic Legends villains, and they
03:09 live in the Unknown Regions, not a separate galaxy.
03:13 But there's a definite possibility that Thrawn's presence in Ahsoka could lead to a new version
03:17 of the Yuuzhan Vong storyline, one that places the Grisk in their stead.
03:21 The implications that Ahsoka's story holds for the greater Star Wars franchise are even
03:25 more fascinating.
03:26 Disney can't stay in the Skywalker saga forever.
03:29 Eventually, new stories will have to be told, and many of them are likely to be completely
03:33 divorced from the existing Star Wars narrative.
03:36 After all, that's how you bring in new fans and keep the story going for younger generations.
03:40 Because there's already so much diversity in the main Star Wars galaxy, a new one might
03:44 not sound like a huge deal.
03:46 But that's a galaxy with no Jedi, with no Sith, Republic, or Empire.
03:50 It's a huge pool of possibilities just waiting to be tapped.
03:53 "You've taken your first step into a larger world."
03:58 All in all, Ahsoka's journey into the great beyond could be the start of big new things
04:02 for Star Wars.
04:03 "