Star Wars Replaced Ahsoka & Now Has A Main Character Problem

Published Oct 22, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers. Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism. Disney and Lucasfilm have replaced Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars, and now the Ahsoka show has a major main character problem. While Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano may be the eponymous character of the show, she's far from the only main character in Ahsoka. From major new villains like Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati to returning heroes like Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger, the Star Wars show is far too epic in scale to have a single protagonist. Ahsoka's large cast has actually been a selling point of the series since it began. Ahsoka was initially billed as a direct follow-up to the ending of Star Wars Rebels, and the first season lived up to that hype. It was also marketed as the beginning of the Mandoverse's largest and most important overarching story, and thanks to Grand Admiral Thrawn's return, it also lived up to that promise. Now, however, the upcoming Ahsoka season 2, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on January 20, has a problem with its main characters. Namely, Ahsoka doesn't know who its main character is. Despite the show being named after her, Ahsoka Tano has been replaced as the series' protagonist, which creates a lot of problems that the coming second season desperately needs to fix. Ahsoka Tano Is Barely The Main Character Of Ahsoka Though the show is named after her, Ahsoka Tano is barely the main character of Ahsoka. Sabine Wren is really the protagonist of Ahsoka season 1, but it goes further than that. Ezra Bridger, Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, and even Grand Admiral Thrawn get a lot more attention and focus from Ahsoka season 1's script than Ahsoka does. Ahsoka was basically a supporting character in her own show, and she only had two semi-developed stories to her name. Half of Ahsoka's personal story in Ahsoka season 1 revolved around her going through a transformation that Dave Filoni compared to Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Ahsoka starts the season by being clad in gray and struggling as Sabine's teacher, then, after her death in episode 4, Ahsoka is reborn and wears white robes, symbolizing her personal development and finding some level of inner peace. That was pretty much the crux of "Ahsoka the White" as a story, and her personal development and white garb was something Star Wars Rebels already touched on years prior. The other half of Ahsoka's personal story in season 1 revolved around coming to grips with Anakin's legacy and his transformation into Darth Vader. That's all well and good, but it was overshadowed by Anakin returning as a Force ghost and Hayden Christensen returning as Anakin. That storyline is as much about Anakin's return to the light side and becoming a teacher again as it is about Ahsoka grappling with her past and the Clone Wars. Compare those two stories to the other characters of Ahsoka. Sabine got to reckon with her feelings of inadequacy about being a Jedi, the trauma of Mandalore's destruction and her family's death, her search for Ezra, and her rivalry with Shin Hati. Ezra and Thrawn both made their triumphant returns after being presumed dead, and they're now set to face off with the fate of the galaxy on the line. Baylan Skoll is searching for the Mortis gods and trying to break the cycle of imbalance in the Force. All of these characters have big, important things to do, and Ahsoka was just along for the ride. Ahsoka Tano Needs To Be More Of A Focus In Ahsoka Season 2 Credit: MovieStillsDB Ahsoka not being the main character of her own show is a big problem, and one that Ahsoka season 2 needs to fix. Another season of Ahsoka grappling with her past and becoming "Ahsoka the White" simply isn't going to cut it, especially not after all the reveals in the trailer for Ahsoka season 2. Between Thrawn attacking the New Republic and Baylan searching for the Mortis gods, Ahsoka needs something a lot bigger to compete with them. Upcoming Star Wars Movies & Shows Title Release Date Ahsoka Season 2 January 20, 2027 Star Wars: Starfighter May 28, 2027 Maul - Shadow Lord Season 2 TBA New Jedi Order TBA Simon Kinberg's Trilogy TBA Dawn of the Jedi TBA Star Wars: Visions Season 4 TBA Ahsoka season 2 needs to put the focus of the show back on Ahsoka. Luckily, there are a few built-in ways to do that. She'll be chasing after Baylan and the Mortis gods this season, which gives the series a prime opportunity to explore what little she may remember of the Mortis arc from The Clone Wars. That alone would be a great opportunity to dive into Ahsoka's past, have her grapple with Anakin's darkness, and maybe even reconsider her views on the cyclical nature of the Force. Ahsoka season 2 has also promised more flashbacks to Ahsoka and Anakin fighting in the Clone Wars, which should be a great vehicle for her to unpack the trauma of being a child soldier and work through the emotions she has surrounding those years. Additionally, while we don't know how the story will play out yet, there's a good chance Ahsoka will get to return to the main Star Wars galaxy and help deal the decisive blow to Thrawn in some way, which would go a long way in making her more of a focus in Ahsoka season 2. Release Date August 22, 2023 Network Disney+ Showrunner Dave Filoni