Star WarsCelebration was filled with many exciting reveals about what’s happening in a galaxy far, far away, and the most exciting by far was the first trailer for the upcoming Star Wars seriesAhsoka.Audiences saw Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in all her badass awesomenessas a Jedi. In addition, we caught our very first glimpse of a live-action version of the classic and legendary Grand Admiral Thrawn (played fittingly by Lars Mikkelsen), as well as two new faces, Baylon Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), both wielding orange lightsabers, neither Jedi nor Sith.
Update June 30, 2025: This article has been updated by Rafa Boladeras following the release of Ahsoka to include more details from the series to see how it supports the theory.
We knew next to nothing about these mysterious Force users - we had to figure out their names from the subtitles of the trailer - but theories started popping up immediately as to who they could be. Even with the series finally finished, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding these characters. The best but also most out-there theory is that the female apprentice Hati is actually a clone of none other than the great Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, and here’s why we think this could reasonably, possibly, just maybe, be true.
The Context Is There
From the first trailer alone, we knew that theAhsokaseries had already set up as much context as was needed to support this incredible claim. The return of Thrawn as “heir to the Empire,” an explicit reference to the name of the classic novel of theonce-canon Legends storylinewhere Luke himself is cloned, and with Baylon and Shin in the picture, it’s almost certain.
The very firstStar Warsnovel was Timothy Zahn’sHeir to the Empire,which reignited love for a galaxy far, far away in 1991 when it had nearly died and faded from memory and kickstartedStar Warsoutside of movies, keeping the franchise alive and well between the Original and Prequels Trilogies, beginning the Expanded Universe ofStar Wars, now rebranded as Legends.
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In this Legends storyline, Thrawn masterfully conquered the entire galaxy and nearly defeated Luke and Leia before he was betrayed by his closet bodyguard Rukh. Baylan seems to be a counterpart to Zahn’s Joruus C’boath, one of Palpatine’s clone experiments of a dead Jedi who allied with Thrawn and wanted to make Luke his apprentice. When Luke refused, Joruus made a clone of Luke in the cloning facility of Mount Tantiss from the hand he lost in his duel with Darth Vader, naming the clone Luuke Skywalker, and both were killed by Luke’s future wife Mara Jade (the old Legends were wild).
With cloning being a recurring theme in Star Wars after the whole Prequel Trilogy and now with cloningresearch being doneinThe Mandalorianand Mount Tantiss inThe Bad Batchleading to the creation of a clone Palpatine inThe Rise of Skywalker, we might actually see Baylon and Shin as counterparts to Joruus and Luuke. With Baylon being a dark-side Force user, working with Thrawn, and having a blonde apprentice who is certainly as fast as Luke in a hallway…the similarities between the story and characters are uncanny.
What Could This Mean for Star Wars?
This is a very sketchy theory, as we have so little information about the series and the characters with only years of speculation to rely on, but if this is true, it’s actually both a big deal and not that big of a deal forStar Wars. Indeed, an evil clone of Luke running around is no small potatoes and means that fans finally have an adaptation of an iconic legends storyline.
Yet, this is not the first time thatStar Warshas drawn from the Legends - Disney particularly, as George Lucas famously ignored the Expanded Universe.Legends have come into the modern canonnumerous times over the past ten years. From the arrival of Thrawn from outside the known galaxy and Boba Fett escaping the Sarlacc pit to the resurrection of Palpatine andeverything about Mandalorians, a lot has come over from the expanded universe.
What Ahsoka Revealed About Shin Hati
The TV seriesAhsokahas revealed many things during its eight-episode run. One of the most important is the fact that, no, Shin Hati (Ivana Sakhno) is not a clone of Luke Skywalker, but she is a padawan learner who is trained in the dark side. Hati started theseason following her master Baylan Skoll(the late great Ray Stevenson) on their mission to bring Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) back to this galaxy. Baylan is a fallen Jedi who left the order after the Clone Wars and probably met force-sensitive Shin when she was still a kid and decided to train her in the ways of the Force even if he wasn’t a Jedi anymore. The fact that both wield orange lightsabers shows they’re closer to the dark side of the Force, but they’re not Sith.
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DuringAhshoka’s first season, audiences see Shin fight both Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) herself, proving very adept and quick with her lightsaber, even if she’s not a rival for Anakin’s old Padawan. Shin goes with Baylan to a new Galaxy and a new planet in Peridia, where Thrawn and his troops have been living for a decade. There, while trying to find Sabine and Ezra (Eman Esfandi), they get the help of some bandits to get better chances to win the battle. In episode 7, Baylan tells Hati to leave, as they “Have different goals in mind.” It looks like Baylan feels his Padawan wants to be part of the Empire and all the power she could get. Allowing her to follow her own ambitions, as he feels her heart isn’t as interested as him in finding the powers that be in Peridia.
The last episode of the season ends with Thrawn back in theStar Warsgalaxy and many heroes and villains stranded in Peridia. Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang (voiced by David Tennant) are still there, as are Hati and Baylan. Baylan has found what he was really looking for:the statues of the Mortis Gods, who symbolize the light and dark side of the Force and the balance between them. Hati ends the season by going back to the bandit camp and raising her lightsaber as a way of telling them she’ll become their leader.
Shin Hati’s Future
What will happen next to Hati? We still don’t know. During the season, Baylan told Shin, “I trained you to be something more.” would this mean she still could become a Jedi? The Dark Padawan refused Ahsoka’s help in episode 7, but now that they’re both stranded on the same planet, things could change. Was Baylan telling her that she trained her to become a full-fledged Jedi in the light side of the force? Will have to wait for now.Ahsokastill hasn’t been renewed for season two.
Yet there is a chance Shin will be a major character in the franchise moving forward. Either in a hypotheticalAhsokaseason 2, one of the other series likeThe Mandalorianor the upcomingSkeleton Crew, or even theDave Filoni-directed feature film, Shin Hati will likely be a major player in this chapter of the Star Wars franchise. The question is now, will she be an ally or one of the major threats? She could even come face-to-face with Luke Skywalker himself.
