A key moment from Ahsoka’s second episode on Disney+ recreated the pivotal final scene of Star Wars Rebels, though not every detail remained exactly the same.
Many Star Wars fans know how Rebels ended. When all hope seemed lost, Ezra Bridger saved the day by summoning a pod of purrgil to carry Grand Admiral Thrawn off of Lothal. Ezra went along for that ride as well and Sabine Wren made it her mission to find him.
The very last scene of the animated show depicted Sabine joining forces with Ahsoka Tano after gazing at the mural of her friends that she made and reaching out and touching the painting of Ezra specifically.
Ahsoka Features Retcon of Rebels Epilogue
In the closing minutes of Ahsoka Episode 2 “Toil and Trouble,” Sabine is shown teaming up with Tano to track the series’ villains to the planet Cetos. It’s in this scene that the live-action show essentially remakes the sequence from the final moments of the animated program Star Wars Rebels.
However, this live-action version is not a shot-for-shot replica of the original and, in fact, holds a few noticeable differences, effectively retconning Rebels.
Starting with the setting, the Rebels representation of this moment seems to take place inside of a ruin, given the debris near the entrance. Ahsoka establishes that this location is in Lothal’s capital city, surrounded by the gleaming, Ralph McQuarrie-inspired architecture.
The bit where Sabine taps Ezra’s painted likeness with her finger is unchanged in Ahsoka. However, she does put her helmet on right after this, which is not something she does in the live-action take.
Sabine’s hair is also different on Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s version, but perhaps that can simply be chalked up to creative license.
Another fairly significant retcon comes in the form of Ahsoka’s overall appearance. In Rebels, she’s carrying a staff and wearing all-white robes, reminiscent of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. In Ahsoka, Rosario Dawson just wears her standard Jedi clothing that she’s worn in all of her other live-action outings.
Ahsoka also shows that the two shared a brief verbal exchange, in which Tano comments on Wren’s hair, before boarding the starship and jetting off to Cetos. Again, certainly not something that was seen in Rebels.
Ahsoka Is Still Remarkably Faithful to Rebels
Setting aside the fact that Ahsoka’s Rebels replication isn’t a 1:1 copy, the Disney+ series has clearly gone to great lengths to bring the world of the animation to life. In fact, those involved with Ahsoka have essentially deemed it Star Wars Rebels Season 5.
In addition to having Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren as major cast members, Ahsoka also features the likes of Ezra, Chopper, Thrawn, Ryder Izadi, Jai Kell, and possibly more, all translated impeccably into a live-action space (sometimes even with the same actors playing them.)
Most fans will likely agree that, while not carbon copies, the new versions of these beloved heroes and villains have been lovingly crafted and portrayed, sometimes right down to the cadence with which the Rebels characters speak.
Star Wars: Ahsoka releases new episodes on Tuesdays, with the next one arriving on August 29, only on Disney+.
