When does Ahsoka take place in the Star Wars timeline?

Cameron Frew
A poster for Star Wars and Ahsoka

Now that Ahsoka has come to an end, Star Wars fans may be wondering exactly when it takes place in the rather large, confusing timeline. Here’s when the Disney Plus series is set.

Who would have thought that the retroactive addition of Episode IV and V to A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back would have been the least of our chronological headaches? We’ve been enjoying tales from the galaxy far, far away for more than 45 years, but it’s never been simple.

Just shy of the millennium, we got the prequel trilogy, exploring the origins of Anakin Skywalker’s rise through the Jedi Order and his fall to the dark side of the force. Then we got the next sequel trilogy, set decades later with the emergence of the nefarious First Order. And then… there’s everything else in between, whether it’s Andor, The Mandalorian, The Clone Wars, Rebels, or the other Legends stories.

Trying to figure out when everything takes place is only going to get more confusing in the coming years – so, for now, here’s when Ahsoka takes place in the timeline.

When does Ahsoka take place?

Ahsoka takes place in 12 ABY, running concurrently with and after the events of The Mandalorian Season 3.

We’re firmly in the era of the New Republic at this time, but the hangover of the Empire still permeates areas of the galaxy, with spies and greedy traitors secretly serving Imperial remnants.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who plays the live-action Sabine Wren, told SFX (as per GamesRadar): “Ahsoka runs along the same timeline as The Mandalorian Season 3, and the shows are all connected. There’s just so many parallels.”

Ahsoka Star Wars timeline explained

Before we explain this, there are a couple of abbreviations you need to know: BBY and ABY.

The former indicates the time period before the Battle of Yavin, the mission to blow up the Death Star seen in A New Hope, while the latter marks the years after the Battle of Yavin.

When does Ahsoka take place in the Star Wars timeline?

We’ve made a comprehensive list of every canon Star Wars movie and TV show and their respective time periods below, from the earliest to the latest, including Ahsoka:

  • Star Wars: The Phantom Menace – 32 BBY
  • Star Wars: Attack of the Clones – 22 BBY
  • The Clone Wars – 22 BBY-19 BBY
  • Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith – 19 BBY
  • The Bad Batch – 19 BBY
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story – 13 BBY-10 BBY
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi – 10 BBY
  • Andor – 5 BBY
  • Star Wars Rebels – 5 BBY-1 BBY
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 0 BBY
  • Star Wars: A New Hope – 0 BBY
  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – 3 ABY
  • Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – 4 ABY
  • The Mandalorian Season 1 – 9 ABY
  • The Mandalorian Season 2 – 9 ABY
  • The Book of Boba Fett – 11 ABY
  • The Mandalorian Season 3 – 12 ABY
  • Ahsoka – 12 ABY
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 34 ABY
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi – 34 ABY
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 35 ABY

This explains why Ahsoka and Sabine weren’t available to help Bo-Katan and Din Djarin reclaim Mandalore and fight Moff Gideon. It also means we’re still in the New Republic’s earliest days, with the shadow of the Empire looming over the galaxy and the remnants’ illegal activity in the Outer Rim going mostly unnoticed or brushed under the carpet.

However, questions remain. There seems to be debate behind the scenes at Lucasfilm, with Jon Favreau throwing our grasp of the timeline out of the window when he suggested Grogu spent “many years” with Mando before spending two years apart with Luke Skywalker, which contradicts the official Star Wars: Timelines book.

There’s also Rebels’ epilogue to consider, which saw Ahsoka the White return to recruit Sabine in her search for Ezra Bridger. While the vast majority of the series appears to be canon again, this specific moment is likely to have been retconned to develop Ahsoka further in live-action – it remains to be seen whether or not we’ll see her navigate the World Between Worlds.

Ahsoka Episodes 1-7 are available on Disney+ now, which you can sign up for here. You can see our predictions for the finale here, and check out our other coverage below:

Episode 1 review | Episode 2 review | Episode 3 review | Episode 4 review | Episode 5 review | Episode 6 review | Episode 7 review | Ahsoka cast and characters | Who plays Grand Admiral Thrawn? | Who is Captain Enoch? | Who is Marrok?Where was Ahsoka during the original Star Wars trilogy? | Darth Sion and the Eye of Sion explained | Who is Jacen Syndulla? | What are purrgil? | The World Between Worlds explained | Why does Anakin call Ahsoka Snips? | Ahsoka budget: How much did it cost? | Dark Jedi vs the Sith | How old is Ahsoka? | The Siege of Mandalore explained | When does Ahsoka die? | Night Troopers explained | Dave Filoni divides Ahsoka fans with Thrawn casting

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