The Big Picture
- Ahsoka highlights the inefficiencies of the New Republic, showing that it is not a perfect system that everyone is willing to support.
- The series explores the presence of Imperial spies in New Republic shipyards, suggesting that the government has failed to effectively monitor its own systems.
- Ahsoka's depiction of the New Republic reveals the uncertainty and potential for another war, challenging the more utopian image presented in The Mandalorian.
It’s unfortunate to see how steadily The Mandalorian has fallen in estimation after its debut season in 2019 essentially revitalized the Star Warsfranchise and helped draw eyeballs to Disney+. While the first season of The Mandalorian represented great standalone storytelling, the series grew progressively more focused on incorporating mythology that it didn’t take the time to develop fully. Andor managed to differentiate itself as an excellent series of its own, but Ahsoka risked falling into the same traps as The Mandalorian due to the crossover nature of the two shows. However, Ahsoka has proven in its first two episodes to be much more thoughtful than The Mandalorian’s third season in how it acknowledges the role of the New Republic.
Ahsoka
Sci-FiAfter the fall of the Galactic Empire, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
- Release Date
- August 1, 2023
- Cast
- Rosario Dawson , Hayden Christensen , Ray Stevenson , Mary Elizabeth Winstead
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 1
The New Republic Isn’t Perfect After the Empire's Defeat
During the sequel trilogy, the New Republic was barely featured and only occasionally referred to. However, it was evident that the new system of government that the Rebel Alliance had created in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi wasn’t perfect. Imperial loyalists and other corrupt characters had allied themselves with the First Order. The First Order filled the void of fascist dictatorship that had been vacant after the Galactic Empire’s collapse, and its rise proved that the New Republic had been ineffective in uniting the galaxy under the banners of freedom. However, the third season of The Mandalorian did little more than treat the New Republic as a seemingly perfect system that any and all citizens were willing to ally themselves with.
In The Mandalorian's first two seasons, the New Republic is established as a fully functional form of government with its functional legislation, military force, and economy; this does not make any logical sense considering that the series is set only a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi. Most of the familiar heroes, such as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Zeb (Steve Blum), have established themselves in the New Republic and speak highly of it; the New Republic military has already become a sort of intergalactic police force that comes in to check on Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) when he needs help or repairs on his ship. Every New Republic official appears to be friendly and courteous.
This feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Star Wars franchise has depicted its governmental bodies throughout different iterations. Every trilogy has had characters that question the tactics that their respective ruling bodies take to achieve their goals; Han Solo (Harrison Ford) expresses disinterest in the Rebellion in A New Hope, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) grows frustrated with the Galactic Senate in Revenge of the Sith, and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) leads an uprising against the Resistance leader Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) in The Last Jedi. Dissent and debate are necessary, and The Mandalorian simply hasn’t provided that in its depiction of the New Republic.
While the third season did incorporate a storyline where the former First Order scientist Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi) has his mind wiped by the New Republic traitor Elia Kane (Katy O'Brian), this was essentially a standalone incident and has little bearing on the main storyline. Furthermore, it didn’t suggest that there was a fundamental issue with the New Republic or the former First Order officers who chose to be part of it; it simply pinned the issue on a single loyalist who took advantage of a system that had been working.
‘Ahsoka’ Shows the New Republic Isn’t Working
Compared to the loving depiction in The Mandalorian, the New Republic does not come off as a system that’s actually working in the first two episodes of Ahsoka. Despite taking part in the leadership council of the former Rebel Alliance, Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) expresses her discontent with the way that the New Republic has operated thus far; she finds herself buried within committee meetings with little time devoted to actual heroism. Hera appears to be so concerned about establishing precedents that she hasn’t had time to aid in the search for her missing friend Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) with Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo).
Ahsoka goes even further in its exploration of the New Republic’s inefficiencies by showing that Imperial spies have infiltrated the shipyards on Corellia. This is a situation that should have raised several major red flags, but it took Ahsoka’s investigation into the disappearance of Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) to reveal the traitors in the New Republic that had commissioned the use of Imperial droids. Apparently, the New Republic has been so intent on expanding to reach other star systems that it hasn’t had the time to monitor the systems that it has already planted its flag on. This suggests that the New Republic has failed to be any more effective than the Galactic Republic before it transformed into a fascist regime under Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
What’s interesting about this moment in “Toil and Trouble” is that it does not suggest that the traitors are part of a vast conspiracy of Imperial forces that have been highly trained; Ahsoka and Hera have little issue with easily dispatching them. As Ahsoka notes to Hera, the men that they arrested were simply greedy, and not skilled fascists sent to initiate a conspiracy like Kane in The Mandalorian. The idea that an entire New Republic facility could be under the control of a few corrupt merchants who scored a more favorable deal with the Imperial remnant suggests that the citizens of the galaxy are uncertain about trusting a new authoritative regime.
Criticizing systems of authority is a necessary aspect of all Star Wars stories. No force of heroism in the galaxy, far far away is above criticism; there are detractors and dissenters in the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Council, the Rebel Alliance, and the Resistance. The Rebel Alliance did not fix all the Empire’s damage overnight, and Ahsoka depicts the uncertainty and precariousness that exists in the immediate beginnings of the New Republic. While The Mandalorian suggests that the state of the galaxy under the New Republic is a utopian paradise, Ahsoka indicates that it could be barreling towards another war.
Ahsoka is available to stream on Disney+.
