What to watch before Ahsoka: Season 2

No. 01 · 2008 · Film · 1h 38m

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano plunge into a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt.

Why it matters: Fills the gap between Episodes II and III and introduces Ahsoka Tano; essential for later shows.

Starring

Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, and James Arnold Taylor

Director

Dave Filoni

Box office

$68 million on a $9 million budget

Scores

IMDb 6 · Rotten Tomatoes 18%

No. 02 · 2014 · Series · 28h 16m

Star Wars Rebels

Set between the events of Star Wars: Episodes III and IV, the story unfolds during a dark time when the evil Galactic Empire is tightening its grip of power on the galaxy. Imperial forces have occupied a remote planet and are ruining the lives of its people. The motley but clever crew of the starship Ghost — cowboy Jedi Kanan, ace pilot Hera, street-smart teenager Ezra, the “muscle” Zeb, warrior firebrand Sabine, and cantankerous old astromech droid Chopper — is among a select few who are brave enough to stand against the Empire. Together, they will face threatening new villains, encounter colorful adversaries, embark on thrilling adventures, and become heroes with the power to ignite a rebellion.

Why it matters: The animated rebellion series; essential for Ahsoka.

Starring

Freddie Prinze Jr., Taylor Gray, and Vanessa Marshall

Creator

Simon Kinberg, Dave Filoni, and Carrie Beck

Scores

IMDb 8.1 · Rotten Tomatoes 98%

Episodes

69 across 4 seasons

No. 03 · 2019 · Series · 17h 21m

The Mandalorian

After the fall of the Galactic Empire, lawlessness has spread throughout the galaxy. A lone gunfighter makes his way through the outer reaches, earning his keep as a bounty hunter.

Why it matters: Din Djarin and Grogu after the Empire's fall; the hub of the live-action shows.

Starring

Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, and Misty Rosas

Creator

Jon Favreau

Scores

IMDb 8.6 · Rotten Tomatoes 90%

Episodes

24 across 3 seasons

No. 04 · 2023 · Series · 10h 15m

Ahsoka

Former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.

Why it matters: Continues Star Wars Rebels in live action.

Starring

Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, and Ivanna Sakhno

Creator

Dave Filoni

Scores

IMDb 7.4 · Rotten Tomatoes 85%

Episodes

16 across 2 seasons

No. 01 · 2008 · Film

Star Wars: The Clone Wars recap

Early in the Clone Wars, Anakin is assigned a teenage apprentice he never asked for, Ahsoka Tano, during the battle of Christophsis, where the two of them sneak past the droid lines to bring down a shield generator. The Republic needs the Hutts' trade routes to move its armies, but Jabba the Hutt's infant son Rotta has been kidnapped. Anakin and Ahsoka recover him from a monastery on Teth, where Count Dooku's assassin Asajj Ventress has set a trap to make the Jedi look like the kidnappers. Rotta falls sick, R2-D2 is nearly stolen, and while Obi-Wan duels Ventress, Anakin and Ahsoka run for Tatooine. On Coruscant, Padme goes to Ziro's palace and finds that Jabba's uncle Ziro is working with Dooku to have Jabba's son killed and take over the Hutt clans.

How Star Wars: The Clone Wars ends

Anakin fights off Dooku in the Tatooine desert while Ahsoka carries Rotta to Jabba's palace and fends off his droids. Padme exposes Ziro's plot to Jabba, who has Ziro arrested and agrees to let the Republic use his space lanes. Anakin accepts Ahsoka as his apprentice. The film leads into the animated series of the same name, which runs to the end of the war.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 02 · 2014 · Series

Star Wars Rebels recap

In season 1, five years before A New Hope, the teenage street thief Ezra Bridger on Lothal joins the crew of the Ghost: the Jedi survivor Kanan Jarrus, the pilot Hera Syndulla, the Mandalorian Sabine Wren, Zeb Orrelios and the droid Chopper. Kanan trains Ezra in the Force while the crew fights the Inquisitor and Agent Kallus. Grand Moff Tarkin captures Kanan, and the crew rescues him, joining a wider rebellion whose secret contact Fulcrum is Ahsoka Tano. In season 2, Darth Vader hunts the rebel fleet. Ahsoka learns Vader is Anakin, and on Malachor she duels him while Maul blinds Kanan and tempts Ezra with a Sith holocron. In season 3, Grand Admiral Thrawn takes command against the rebels, Kallus becomes a rebel spy, Sabine takes up the Darksaber, and Maul dies at Obi-Wan's hands on Tatooine. Thrawn smashes the rebel base on Atollon. In season 4, Sabine helps free Mandalore and gives the Darksaber to Bo-Katan, and the crew fights to liberate Lothal. Kanan dies saving his friends, and Ezra finds a world between worlds where he pulls Ahsoka out of her duel with Vader.

How Star Wars Rebels ends

Ezra calls in the purrgil, space creatures that wrap around Thrawn's flagship and carry it, with Ezra and Thrawn aboard, into hyperspace, freeing Lothal. The Imperial base on the planet is destroyed by its own fuel. Neither is seen again. An epilogue after the Battle of Endor shows Hera and Kanan's son Jacen, and Sabine and Ahsoka setting out together to find Ezra, which the live-action Ahsoka picks up.

No. 03 · 2019 · Series

The Mandalorian recap

In season 1, five years after the Empire's fall, the bounty hunter Din Djarin, a Mandalorian who never removes his helmet, is hired by an Imperial remnant to retrieve a target: a child of Yoda's species. He hands the child over, then changes his mind and rescues him, turning the Bounty Hunters' Guild against him. With the former shock trooper Cara Dune, the guild boss Greef Karga, the moisture farmer Kuiil and the reprogrammed droid IG-11, he defends the child on Nevarro from Moff Gideon, who wields the Darksaber. In season 2, Din is told to return the child to the Jedi. Bo-Katan Kryze helps him, Ahsoka Tano names the child Grogu, and on Tython Boba Fett and Fennec Shand join him as Gideon's troops take Grogu. Din removes his helmet to find him, then storms Gideon's cruiser and wins the Darksaber. Luke Skywalker arrives and takes Grogu away for Jedi training. In season 3, Din has been cast out for showing his face and must bathe in the living waters beneath Mandalore to be forgiven. Bo-Katan takes him there, unites the scattered Mandalorians, and leads them back to their planet, where Gideon is cloning himself in a hidden base.

How The Mandalorian ends

Din, Bo-Katan and Grogu destroy Gideon in the burning base, Grogu shielding them with the Force, and Bo-Katan relights the Great Forge on Mandalore. Grogu is formally adopted as Din's apprentice under the name Din Grogu. The Mandalorians are united again under Bo-Katan. The pair settle in a house on Nevarro and take freelance jobs for the New Republic, which continue in The Mandalorian & Grogu.

No. 04 · 2023 · Series

Ahsoka recap

Ahsoka Tano tracks Morgan Elsbeth, who is building a hyperspace ring to reach another galaxy where Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger vanished. Ahsoka reluctantly takes back her former apprentice Sabine Wren, and Hera Syndulla brings New Republic support. Two dark Jedi, Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati, work for Elsbeth. Baylan wounds Ahsoka, who wakes in the world between worlds and trains against Anakin's memory. Sabine trades the map for the chance to find Ezra and is carried with the enemy to the galaxy of Peridea, and Ahsoka follows aboard a purrgil. Sabine finds Ezra living among a group of locals, and Ahsoka and Huyang catch up to them, and the group fights Thrawn's troops and the Nightsister witches who serve him as he loads his ship for the journey home. Shin parts ways with Baylan.

How Ahsoka ends

Thrawn returns to the known galaxy with an army and the Nightsisters' cargo, and Ezra makes it home to Hera. Ahsoka kills Morgan Elsbeth in a duel at the Nightsister fortress, but she and Sabine are left stranded on Peridea with Huyang. Baylan stands at the statue of the Father, a mystery left for a second season, and Anakin's ghost watches over Ahsoka.