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The newest Star Wars Disney Plus series has finally arrived, with Ahsoka’s first two episodes dropping on August 22, 2023. Ahsoka works as a sort of sequel to the animated series Star Wars Rebels, as it follows Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) hunting down the villain Grand Admiral Thrawn, hopefully finding Ezra Bridger in the process. There was some trepidation circling the series before it was released, with people already comparing it to the last Star Wars show, Andor.
Seeing as Andor is beloved by critics and audiences alike, and the last few shows like The Mandalorian season three, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi were met with mixed if not poor reception, trepidation was warranted. But, Ahsoka premiered to some great reception and it might be because of an issue Star Wars stories have had lately. Star Wars has had a problem with compelling villains, and Ahsoka seems to be doing it differently.
Star Wars’ Big Villain Problem Explained
Let’s take a look at the villains in the last four live-action Star Wars Disney Plus shows. The main villain of The Book of Boba Fett was the Pyke Syndicate. Now, that made sense for Boba Fett’s story, and fighting a fellow bounty hunter at the end made sense too, but without a real face, the audience doesn’t really have anyone to root against. So, we focus on the story of Boba Fett’s redemption, Din Djarin reuniting with Grogu, or the people from Tatooine uniting against the forces of the Pykes. The show ends up as weak as those stitched-together elements of the plot.
Obi-Wan Kenobi didn’t actually have a bad villain. It had great villains, in fact. We saw the Grand Inquisitor, the Inquisitorius, and of course, Darth Vader. But, for fans who like all Star Wars content, those villains have already been done to death. The comics and games are filled with stories about the Inquisitorius and Darth Vader, so at the end of the day even though the Anakin and Obi-Wan dynamic is interesting, it’s still old news. The Mandalorian’s third season had a similar problem, as they dealt with more stormtroopers, as well as Moff Gideon, who has been the villain of the show since the beginning.
Andor had no issues with Star Wars villains because the show wasn’t about Cassian Andor or any of the other Rebels going up against a singular villain. Instead, they were all fighting against the Empire. Sure, there were obvious people to root against, like Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) the agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller). But, the genius of the show was that it was more about the Rebels fighting back collectively against the whole of the Empire.
Why Ahsoka’s Villains Are So Compelling
The first two episodes of Ahsoka contain four villains, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), and Marrok. This is without mentioning Grand Admiral Thrawn who we will undoubtedly see before the show ends. At first, Morgan Elsbeth isn’t that interesting, but then she leans into her culture as a Nightsister of Dathomir. Nightsisters haven’t been touched on too much in canon, except for Merrin in the Star Wars Jedi games and in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Marrok isn’t too interesting either, but even he’s a former inquisitor who is now working as a mercenary.
Baylan and Shin on the other hand are brand new characters. They wield red lightsabers, and one of them is presumed to be a former Jedi. Other than that we know nothing about them. This adds a layer of intrigue to their characters and their motivations, something that was missing in the other shows. Three of these villains are looking for Thrawn, so they aren’t just fighting Ahsoka and company to fight them, like Moff Gideon or the Inquisitorius. It helps that Stevenson’s and Sakhno’s performances are great too, and that they aren’t wearing masks that get in the way of them.
It also helps that so far Ahsoka seems to be great, even without the fan service. It’s easy to understand if you haven’t watched the other shows – even Star Wars Rebels – and it seems to be telling a cohesive, linear story… for now. If by the end of the series, both Baylan and Shin are boring clones of previous Sith parings, or Thrawn isn’t interesting when he’s introduced, Ahsoka will undoubtedly suffer for it. But for now, you should enjoy the story we’re getting, which is made all the better by strong and fresh villains.
