The show responsible for reviving the Star Wars franchise on television is back with its 3rd season. The Mandalorian season 3 premiere was keenly anticipated by audiences everywhere, and I’m glad to say the episode did not disappoint. While continuing the story from those 2 random episodes of The Book Of Boba Fett where The Mandalorian basically took over, season 3 starts with a bang! But the show isn’t just the first of many awesome Star Wars shows, it’s the beginning of an interconnected Star Wars universe within Disney+. Not to mention connecting existing Star Wars stories from before, within its narrative and world-building. One of those huge connections comes in the first half of The Mandalorian season 3 premiere, when it connects the animated Star Wars: Rebels to the upcoming live-action Ahsoka series! Read on to find out how and what this really means for Ahsoka.
Please note that the following will contain massive spoilers for both seasons of The Mandalorian, as well as its season 3 premiere.
The Mandalorian Brought A Lot Of The Clones Wars To Live Action
Image via Disney+
While The Mandalorian originally started as a standalone new original story set in Star Wars, there were still ample connections to the larger universe. The connections amplified in season 2 with the mention of Jedis, and live-action debuts of characters from the animated Clone Wars series, like Bo-Katan (Katee Sackoff) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson). Not to mention the concepts of Mandalore from that series as well. Season 2 ended with a massive reveal as a post-Return Of The Jedi Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) appeared to begin Grogu’s Jedi training.
Most interestingly, the show spun off two new series with The Book Of Boba Fett and the upcoming Ashoka. While Boba Fett didn’t really get fans clamouring due to its— let’s say ‘meh’—storylines, the anticipation for Ahsoka couldn’t be higher. Her appearance in season 2 tied into what could potentially be the plot of her series; her search for Ezra Bridger. But, some context first to make this make sense.
How Ahsoka’s Live-Action Debut Ties Into Star Wars: Rebels
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In season 2, we learned that Ahsoka had been searching for someone. That someone was revealed as Grand Admiral Thrawn. While casual viewers of The Mandalorian season 3 premiere might not know who he is, Star Wars: Rebels and novels fans absolutely will. Thrawn was the main baddie of Rebels, and the series ended with the hero, Ezra Bridger and Thrawn, getting sucked into hyperspace and ending up lost in space.
Star Wars: Rebels ends with Ahsoka and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo in the Ahsoka series) going off to search for and find Ezra. Many think that this is going to be the main storyline for the Ahsoka series. The search for Ezra Bridger. And given that Ezra and Thrawn were last seen together, Ahsoka looking for Thrawn in The Mandalorian gives even more credence to that theory. While no one has really confirmed what the Ahsoka series will be about, we just got a huge potential confirmation in The Mandalorian season 3 premiere!
The Mandalorian Season 3 Premiere Has A Dino Fight And Whales
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Season 3 of The Mandalorian starts with a ceremony seemingly inducting a new Mandalorian youngling, into The Way. As a pre-teen boy gets his first helmet and swears his oath, a water creature out of nowhere appears and attacks the group. Eventually, Din (Pedro Pascal) and Gorgu show up to save the day. After Din has a conversation with the Armourer (Emily Swallow), he flies off to redeem himself for taking off his helmet in season 2 and becoming a Mandalorian once again.
While in hyperspace, we see Grogu and Din napping as the ship, seemingly autopilots them to their destination. Grogu awakes and looks around him. And to his amazement, and possibly fear, he faintly sees a creature travelling beside them, amidst the stares. As the shot changes, we clearly see a shadowy massive whale-like creature beside their ship. In hyperspace! Another shot then reveals even more of them, flying through space, alongside Din and Grogu!
How The Mandalorian Season 3 Premiere Connects Directly To Rebels & Ahsoka
Image via Disney+
These are clearly Purgill! Purgill are creatures introduced and have only ever appeared in Star Wars: Rebels. They are basically space whales, with tentacles. They are mild and unobtrusive unless attacked. And they fly through space and can go into hyperspace as well. In an earlier episode of the series, Ezra Bridger protects them from attack and helps them survive. He develops a connection with them using the Force.
In the last episode of the Rebels series, it’s these creatures that he calls on for help. The Purgill help Ezra and our heroes turn the tide against the Empire, and it’s with these creatures that Ezra and Thrawn fly off into hyperspace and become lost to the distance of space.
Their appearance in The Mandalorian season 3 premiere in such a throwaway and brief way, can only mean that they’ll play a bigger part later on. If not in The Mandalorian, but most probably in Ahsoka. It feels like a way to ease in casual viewers, but also Star Wars superfans, into the idea of these space travelling creatures. Especially if Ahsoka is going to feature them, at least in the context of how they were responsible for Ezra and Thrawn’s disappearance. It was definitely a point and scream at the TV moment when they appeared, which I suspect was intentional.
The Mandalorian season 3 premiere is now streaming on Disney+
Did you catch the first live-action appearance of the Purgill? Are you excited about what it means for Ahsoka? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter at @theshahshahid.
Featured image via Disney+.
