Star Wars: The Clone Wars aired its series finale today and it definitely went out with a bang. Following on from the tense penultimate episode, which saw Ahsoka caught in the execution of Order 66, the finale – titled “Victory and Death” – revealed exactly how the heroine escaped the destruction of the Jedi. And in doing so, it teased the next chapter of her story in Star Wars Rebels.
The episode was mostly set on a crashing cruiser upon which Ahsoka and Rex – now freed from his inhibitor chip – were trying to avoid the turncoat clones and escape. Unfortunately, Maul was also on the loose and stole their only way of getting off the vessel – as he had to, of course, so he could survive for his cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Thanks to some tricksy moves from Ahsoka, however, the pair evaded the clones and discovered a small fighter, just big enough for them to get out of dodge before the ship plowed into a moon.
Later, Ahsoka and Rex buried some of the clones, marking the graves with their helmets on sticks. The saddened former Jedi Padawan understood that she had to leave her old life behind completely, and dropped her one surviving lightsaber on the ground. And here’s where the surprise cameo happened.
Many years later, the moon is now covered in snow, coincidentally looking a lot like Hoth. Imperial forces are scouring the place, including Darth Vader himself. Yes, Ahsoka’s former master finds her discarded saber, recognizing it as he ignites it. The stage is now set for their eventual confrontation in Rebels.
Of course, Vader had to appear in this very special episode, seeing as Star Wars: The Clone Wars has always been about the friendship between Anakin and Ahsoka, and this was a pretty epic way of highlighting Skywalker’s tragic turn to the Dark Side and also setting up their next and final meeting.