How Long Is Ahsoka Episode 3 And Why Did It Surprise Star Wars Fans?

Contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" Season 1, Episode 3 — "Time To Fly"

Creating a follow-up to the widely appreciated animated series, "Star Wars Rebels," would be no easy task. Featuring the early days of the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire, the series introduces the Ghost crew, a rag-tag team that becomes like family. "Ahsoka" picks up where "Rebels" leaves off, following Ahsoka Tano's (Rosario Dawson) mission to stop the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). Along the way, she enlists the help of allies Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who believe discovering Thrawn's location could be the key to finding their missing friend, Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi).

"Ahsoka" Episode 3 kicks into high gear by tailing Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), who is in the process of finishing a gargantuan hyperspace ring to find the whereabouts of Thrawn. But despite the big moves that lead to combating the central antagonist, Episode 3 is not as long as one would think. Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, "Ahsoka" joins the Disney+ tradition of short runtimes. Taking as long as it takes, "Time To Fly" used its time efficiently to cover a lot of ground — or space — during the efficient episode.

The main complaint that "Ahsoka" fans had of the episode was how short it was. After the series premiere of almost an hour, Episode 3's length meant that viewers spent a shorter time with their favorite characters. Even so, the plot moved along steadily and thrust the narrative forward. Beginning with an exercise that illustrates how bad Sabine is at wielding the Force, Ahsoka's (Rosario Dawson) crew finds what Morgan is up to. They happen upon her hyperspace ring, the largest the series has ever seen. They also disappear into a pod of Purrgil, the same creatures that sweep Ezra away in "Star Wars Rebels." Whatever happened to the young Jedi, it feels like the series is creeping closer to an answer.

Even for Hera's short number of scenes, she had an interesting role. Intent on finding her surrogate son after so many years in the dark, the Twi'lek is astounded when the council of senators is unconcerned about the remaining Imperial loyalists. Even Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) can't save the galaxy from disappointing government officials. Episode 3 still shows no appearance of Ezra or Thrawn, but this may be the calm before the storm. The newest "Ahsoka" adventure seems to put all the pieces together for the real mystery to come together. If there is a short episode now, that may imply lengthier ones are just down the hyperspace lane.