Summary
- The Ahsoka series successfully expands beyond its titular character, weaving in characters and storylines from previous Star Wars animated series.
- The Book of Boba Fett failed to bridge the gap between The Mandalorian seasons and disrupted the established story, unlike Ahsoka.
- Ahsoka maintains a consistent story regardless of her presence, allowing other supporting characters to carry on the main narrative, something The Book of Boba Fett could have learned from.
The Ahsoka series has taken the biggest failure of The Book of Boba Fett and mastered it, proving that Star Wars has learned from its previous mistake. The latest Star Wars Disney+ TV show was always meant to go beyond its titular character, as the search Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano is undertaking for Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelson) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) is a story thread pulled directly from the animated Star Wars Rebels series. The promotional references to Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker also established early on that the story of Ahsoka would be weaving in characters and storylines from Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well.
This is something The Book of Boba Fett tried to do, but failed to accomplish. Rather than advertising the spotlight that Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett would be sharing with Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin, the latter character entered into the story later on and disrupted what had already been established. As a Star Wars series that was meant to bridge The Mandalorian season 2 and season 3 together, The Book of Boba Fett fell flat for many viewers. This begs the question of how Ahsoka was able to pull this off when The Book of Boba Fett couldn’t.
Ahsoka’s Story Is Consistent, Unlike Boba Fett’s
The core story of Ahsoka is always able to continue even when Ahsoka herself isn’t present, which is something The Book of Boba Fett simply couldn’t do. This is most prominently seen in Ahsoka episode 6, in which Ahsoka only appears during the opening scene. Despite her absence in this episode, it doesn’t fall under the same criticisms as The Book of Boba Fett episodes 5 and 6 did for omitting Boba. This is because the story of Ahsoka is consistent with or without her, as other stars and supporting characters such as Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren are capable of carrying on the main story. Unfortunately, Din Djarin wasn’t able to do the same, as he had his own story to tell before he was able to help continue Boba’s overarching story.
It helps that Sabine was already an established character in Ahsoka, so the shift of focus felt organic and natural. In contrast, Din Djarin hadn’t been seen at all in The Book of Boba Fett episode 5, making his sudden dominance feel like something of a hostile takeover – as though the show wasn’t confident enough of its own protagonist, and switched to another. It felt forced and unnatural, disrupting the existing narrative, whereas Sabine’s arc flows perfectly with the overall story of Ahsoka.
How Could Boba Fett Have Learned From Ahsoka?
Looking at what Ahsoka accomplished, there are a few different paths The Book of Boba Fett could have taken while still maintaining Din’s storyline. The character simply could have started his story earlier in the season, as his Darksaber injury and shunning from the Mandalorian tribe could have fit in nicely with Boba’s own struggles outside of his bacta tank. Just like the other stars and supporting characters of Ahsoka, Din could have still helped with Mos Espa, but all other storylines – including Grogu’s training with Luke Skywalker and his reunion with Mando – could have been saved for The Mandalorian season 3. This would have helped to keep the story consistent while maintaining important parts of Boba’s as well as Din’s respective journeys.
Having the title of a series named after a specific character doesn’t have to mean it’s limited to them, but that’s something Ahsoka understood more-so than The Book of Boba Fett. The former series does the job of introducing many important Rebels characters to live-action and the future of Star Wars without having to forsake the overarching story, nor Ahsoka’s role in it. This is something The Book of Boba Fett could have done if it had only woven Din’s story more carefully with Boba’s, just as Ahsoka does with Ahsoka’s story and those of the supporting characters.
All episodes of Ahsoka are now streaming on Disney+.