There are a ton of awesome cameos in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that had fans going crazy, and understandably so. One of the most exciting, though, came right near the end of the film, when Rey hears the spirits of the Jedi that have come before her speaking to her via the Force. There were quite a few of them, but one was Ahsoka Tano, as voiced by Ashley Eckstein.
As fans will know, the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker has always been pretty popular ever since her debut in The Clone Wars animated series. As such, it was definitely nice to have her involved in The Rise of Skywalker in some capacity – even if it was only a vocal cameo. That being said, there is a downside to all this that most people seem to be overlooking.
You see, the fact that Ahoksa is featured among all these fallen Jedi would appear to suggest that she’s dead by the events of Episode IX. Which means she must’ve somehow met her end at some point during the gap between the end of the Original Trilogy and the sequels. At least, that’s what the film would seem to indicate.
But for those who are hoping it isn’t true, we suppose you can always assume that she may have just been telepathically communicating with Rey somehow and is actually still alive. Or perhaps this is just an easter egg for fans and we’re reading too much into it? Maybe, but the fact that she’s grouped in with all these other fallen Jedis strongly suggests that she is indeed dead, and that’s obviously pretty upsetting to think about.
Of course, this being Star Wars, retcons and resurrections are always possible, but until Lucasfilm says otherwise, we have to assume Ahsoka has met her maker. And if that’s the case, then at least she finally got a nod in one of the mainline movies thanks to The Rise of Skywalker.