Of course, both characters are a bit older since we last saw them. Ezra, as played by a charming Eman Esfandi, even has a beard! So, how many in-universe years have passed since we last saw these characters on Rebels?

The Liberation of Lothal is the very last episode of Rebels, and is also when Ezra and Thrawn disappeared, so it’s a pretty simple calculation. That battle and series finale took place in 1 BBY (or 1 year before A New Hope). Meanwhile, Ahsoka takes place in 9 ABY (9 years after A New Hope), which means about 10 years have passed between the two shows. That’s a long time to be trapped in another galaxy you can only find via star map or purrgil.

Plenty has happened since the last time they were in the galaxy far, far away, too. As all the Mandoverse shows make clear, the Galactic Civil War may be over, the Emperor and Darth Vader may have been defeated, but the threat of the Imperial Remnant remains in the Outer Rim of the galaxy where the fledgling New Republic is still struggling to gain a foothold. The New Republic is stretched very thin on resources, wrapped up in its own bureaucracy and questionable intelligence methods, and at this point in the timeline, Chancellor Mon Mothma’s government is largely dedicated to demilitarizing and governing as a much more pacifist body than its predecessors. Assuming Thrawn does make it back to the galaxy by the end of Ahsoka, he’ll find a galaxy largely unprepared for another war with the Empire.

Danofgeek