Star Wars Has Officially Replaced Luke Skywalker

Just 14 years after Disney purchased Star Wars, the company has replaced Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker has, for good reason, been the poster boy of Star Wars since the original film in 1977. He was the main character of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies, the prequel trilogy was all about his father's turn to the dark side, and even the sequels dealt heavily with Luke's legacy and him ushering in the next generation of Jedi.

Luke even dominated the old Star Wars Expanded Universe books and comics before they were reclassified as Legends. Despite his popularity and ubiquity, however, Disney has been trying to replace Luke for a long time now. Rey is now the face of the new Jedi Order and the next era of the Star Wars timeline, new and upcoming Star Wars movies like The Mandalorian and Grogu and Starfighter are moving away from Luke and the Jedi entirely, and even the publishing side of the franchise has branched away from Luke through the High Republic and other initiatives.

For all of Disney and Lucasfilm's efforts to broaden Star Wars and move away from Luke Skywalker, however, the companies haven't been successful. The sequel trilogy was wildly divisive, The Mandalorian and Grogu was a box office failure, and Luke's status as the most popular and best character in Star Wars is rivaled only by his father, Anakin. Now, however, Disney has a new candidate to replace Luke in a much more definitive way: Ahsoka Tano.

Ahsoka Tano Is Taking Over Luke Skywalker's Role In The Canon Version Of Heir To The Empire

As the trailer for Ahsoka season 2 revealed, the upcoming season is essentially a canon version of Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn's acclaimed trilogy of novels that are now considered part of Legends. Ahsoka was already very similar to Heir to the Empire between Grand Admiral Thrawn's return and Project Necromancer mirroring Palpatine's cloning program, and the upcoming season is doubling down on those similarities and drawing even more from Legends.

Ahsoka season 2 obviously has quite a few differences from Heir to the Empire, but the canon equivalents of most of the trilogy's elements are all clear to see. Thrawn is almost exactly the same, with his fleet of ships and stormtroopers left over from the Galactic Civil War. Baylan Skoll is taking on Jorus C'baoth's role as a former Jedi looking into the secrets of the dark side of the Force. Most importantly, Ahsoka is taking over Luke's role in the original Heir to the Empire.

In Heir to the Empire, Luke largely focused on opposing Jorus C'baoth and his cloning experiments with the help of Mara Jade. In Ahsoka, Ahsoka is largely focusing on stopping Baylan Skoll, the show's stand-in for C'baoth, and his search for a secret weapon on Peridea with the help of Sabine Wren. Both of them leave Thrawn to their friends, and both of them have to fight an acolyte of the dark Jedi, Shin Hati and Luuke, respectively. Ahsoka is quite literally replacing Luke in Star Wars canon's version of Heir to the Empire, it's just the details that are different.

Ahsoka Season 2 May Not Fully Replace Luke & The Original Trilogy Cast

While Ahsoka's role in Ahsoka season 2 is much the same as Luke's role in Heir to the Empire, the upcoming show may not completely replace Luke and his friends. While there has been no official announcement that characters like Leia Organa or Han Solo will appear in Ahsoka season 2, it's a real possibility. The show's placement in the timeline works, as Leia has already given birth to Ben and Luke hasn't given up on the Jedi yet, meaning they could very easily show up.

The biggest reason original trilogy characters like Luke and Leia could show up, however, is Thrawn himself. Ahsoka season 2's trailer is positioning Thrawn as a massive threat to the New Republic, one who commands an entire fleet with brilliant tactics. If Thrawn is as much of a problem as he was in Heir to the Empire, it would be weird if the original trilogy characters weren't in Ahsoka season 2.

Why would Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, and Chewbacca not join the fight against Thrawn if he's actually capable of destroying the New Republic? There's no way they would leave the defense of the government they fought so hard to establish to Ezra, Hera, and Zeb. If they do join the fight, then they'll at least have some role to play in the canon version of Heir to the Empire, even as Ahsoka usurps Luke's role. Unfortunately, only time will tell if the original trilogy's heroes will actually join the fight against Thrawn in Ahsoka season 2.