Dave Filoni is going to great lengths to keep Ahsoka Tano's fate on Star Wars Rebels a secret from everyone - including members of the crew. For fans hoping that this past weekend's Star Wars Celebration Orlando would bring with it some hint as to the character's future in the Star Wars franchise, they were duly rewarded. In between all of the live-action news and guest stars, Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni spoke at a number of panels about Lucasfilm's current animated series and fans received more than just glimpses of the future. It was announced that the upcoming fourth season would be the final one of the series, with the story butting up against Rogue One. We also got our first trailer for the new season, teasing the end of a journey.
As to the fate of Ahsoka, it's more positive than we might have thought. While her last encounter with Darth Vader seemingly left her for dead, Filoni indicated this weekend that she was both still living and could very well turn up next season. While he wouldn't say anything definitive, and the trailer didn't include any shots of the fan-favorite character, his admission that he didn't think she was gone from the Star Wars universe has given viewers hope.
Speaking yesterday at the final day of SWCO, Filoni once again teased Ahsoka's mysterious fate and how only he knows her current status in the timeline of Rebels.
"I think everybody was excited for the same reason I was to do this complete story. A lot of these people I've worked with a long time. I think we all feel really good about this - that we've got to make this whole story but the funny thing is that many of them do not know how it ends at all. I withhold. They don't know what happens. There's certain amounts of footage that they've never, there's parts that I shot that were never written in the script. Some are shots are being animated one place and some another - nobody really knows how it goes. Nobody knows if Ahsoka lives - not even on the crew. So you can't ask them, you can't corner them."
It seems that Filoni fits quite naturally into the secretive nature of Lucasfilm, doing all he can to throw people off of Ahsoka's trail. Of course, it would seem odd to obscure things so much if the character really did die as she appeared. After all, it'd be fairly anti-climatic to suggest she's still living only to eventually reveal she was truly dead all along when the show ends without her reappearing.
Disney certainly isn't't done with the character, even if her timeline has ended. Last week, a new series of shorts and action figures was announced based upon the various female heroes in the Star Wars canon. Chief among them is Ahsoka Tano, meaning Lucasfilm and Disney are keen to keep her in the spotlight. There were also rumors this weekend that Filoni could make the jump to directing a live-action film. Combined with fans' hopes that Rosario Dawson could play Ahsoka in the movies, perhaps the character has a brighter future than we could have dreamed.
Star Wars Rebels Season 4 returns to Disney XD in the fall.
Source: Star Wars
