Context #1. I like Dave Filoni. He’s a testament to every single geek on what’s possible if you really care about something and want to share that love. He’s pretty much the only reason Star Wars has existed past the prequel stage. There are few people on the planet that know more about Star Wars, and that is both a boon and a bane.

Context #2. When Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas, they reset the entire lore into “Legends” and “Canon”. Now if you weren’t paying attention in the 90s, there was an explosion of expanded universe content, some great, most not. Disney wisely said screw that, drew a line, and then started to selective pick from Legends to bring into canon. Of all the developments in Legends, Grand Admiral Thrawn was by far the standout. Filoni brought that character back in recent years in the animated Rebels series.

These 2 pieces of context are important, because Ahsoka (the padawan of Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars animate series) is a litmus test of your patience of deep cuts. Enjoyment of Andor had much less to do with the Star Wars setting as it did with simply amazing writing/acting. Even The Mandalorian’s first season was like this. Ahsoka is not a great series, the pacing is off, the setting confusing, and most importantly assumes that the viewer fully understands the foundational lore.

Every established character (Ahsoka, Hera, Huyang, Sabine, Ezra & Thrawn… Morgan to a small degree) come with a ton of baggage and miles of history. Character history that is called out at multiple times in every episode, making some interactions confusing. Like heading to a group party and everyone has inside jokes that you simply do not get. The new character of Baylon Skoll (Ray Stevenson, who sadly passed away before the series was released) is the true joy of this entire series, introducing a “grey” Jedi that has just not been seen before.

Now, if you do know the lore, and you have followed Dave Filoni’s efforts to grow said lore, then Ahsoka is a more than decent show! Thrawn in particular is a type of villain that simply has not existed in live-action Star Wars and is a breath of fresh air. The challenge of a cerebral villain is that it doesn’t necessarily translate well to live media. Few people find chess matches entertaining after all… or perhaps more accurately Thrawn is playing 3D chess while everyone else is playing checkers. The deep lore cuts here are also fairly crazy. The final cut of Baylon on Peridea on the statue of the Father, next to the Son, and a Daughter statue will mean nothing to folks who have not seen the Clone Wars episodes from 2011.

I will close with a final thought. Disney (and more specifically Dave Filoni) have been going to great efforts to bury/retcon/move past/justify the Skywalker sequels (Ep 7, 8, 9). A new expanded universe is being constructed, which is adding a very large amount of complexity and nuance. The lack of linearity in the story telling is bringing to light the exact same issues that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is experiencing. If you can’t understand a storyline without having invested dozens of hours of previous content, that is not a sustainable model. Filoni is building a beautiful, integrated, and consistent world. But he’s not the target audience.