Ahsoka: What Is Peridea & How Does It Change Everything About Star Wars?

Contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" Episode 1 — "Master and Apprentice" — and Episode 2 — "Toil and Trouble"

Episodes 1 and 2 of "Ahsoka" feature more than their fair share of twists and unexpected reveals. From the startling, violent debut of its two new Force users, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), to its several references to the Nightsisters of Dathomir, the Disney+ series has already begun to both pay homage to the "Star Wars" franchise's past and redefine its future. Indeed, "Ahsoka" has not only revealed several surprising details about its key characters, but it's also expanded the existing "Star Wars" universe in one interesting way.

"Ahsoka" Episode 2, notably, picks up where the show's premiere left off by exploring the fallout of Shin's successful theft of the star map that will supposedly lead her, Baylan, and Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) to the location of the long-missing Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). In the episode's opening scene, Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) tells Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) that the map contains a secret path to another galaxy. Her observation is later proven correct.

While controlling the map, Morgan pinpoints the route that connects their universe to another. "That is our destination. Where Grand Admiral Thrawn is banished," she says, staring at the point where the path ends. Her remark prompts Baylan to reveal that the secret trail is known as the "Pathway to Peridea," and that the children at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant used to speculate about it.

"It comes from old stories, fairy tales," he notes, to which Morgan responds, "Tales which are based on truths." Peridea is, in other words, the name of the neighboring galaxy Grand Admiral Thrawn was banished to in the "Star Wars Rebels" finale.

1977's "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope" famously opens with the words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...," and every one of its big-screen sequels has begun the same way. "Star Wars" fans have, consequently, always known that the franchise's installments are set in the past in the same fictional galaxy. While "Ahsoka" Episode 2's introduction of Peridea doesn't change that fact, either, it does reveal that there is more than one fictional galaxy contained within the "Star Wars" universe.

The ramifications of that reveal are potentially massive. The existence of Peridea, after all, opens the door for future "Star Wars" adventures to take place on planets located outside of its prime, original galaxy. That, in turn, means that some future movies and TV shows could exist free of the established "Star Wars" timeline and canon. Right now, the likelihood of that happening seems slim, but the introduction of an entirely new "Star Wars" galaxy nonetheless paves the way for Lucasfilm's producers and creators to tell an even wider array of stories than fans had previously thought.

There is, of course, currently no way of knowing whether Peridea is even a location that warrants much exploration. Considering that Grand Admiral Thrawn has already been featured in previous "Ahsoka" trailers, though, it seems safe to assume that fans will, at the very least, be taken to Peridea before the Disney+ series' 8-episode season has come to an end. That means viewers won't have to wait too much longer to learn more about the new "Star Wars" galaxy, as well as the narrative possibilities it may or may not hold.