So here's where I disagree, basically Ashoka follows the legacy books of "Heir to the Empire" as we all know. Since the books included the original cast which at this point I believe they are in the process of creating a new family to proceed forward using those legacy stories and will only be mentioned occasionally. They can't use Mara Jade (yet) so speculation is that the Shin Hati character is replacing her. This now gives Ahsoka the ability to rebuild a small force of Jedi who then return and continue to rebuild the Jedi Order.
The show is 7 years after the battle of Mandalore which means Darth Vader is dead and at the timeline of Ahsoka there are only a few remaining Jedi still alive, according to the link there are 14. During Ahsoka Inquisitor Marrok is killed and I think that going forward Palpatine and Snoke aren't going to play much of a role I hope.
Oh wow, I have no idea how anyone could stretch and twist this show into anything remotely connected to the OG Thrawn Trilogy.
This is set 7 years later, the books are set 5. We can't be past the books event's, cos Thrawn, spoiler alert, is still alive. So let's just ignore this discrepancy in the timeline.
The books are a series of battles, some spy action, political scheming, and ofc the story of a crazed clone of a jedi, Jorus C'boath trying to capture Luke, and also Leia's twins for his needs.
None of this is even hinted at.
In the books Thrawn hasn't gone anywhere since he was at Endor, he controls what's left of the Empire, about 1/3rd of the Fleet, and poses an actual threat.
Here he has a broken ship, some fanatical troopers (something he would never ever allow), and a bunch of magical hags who don't even really support him, and that's it. He is a total moron here, instead of being a genius. And fat, and bent. He is trying to get back from the galaxy he is at, but for what reason? Dunno...
I do see how introducing a mad Dark Jedi could lead to Ashoka and maybe some apperentice of hers taking the place of Luke+twins in that arc.
But so far we had a Dark jedi with a red lightsaber, a proper screen presence, but nothing pointing to him being mad with lust for power or going anywhere near the og storyline. So again, he is out as a possible connection. He is also, sadly passed away and won't be in any S02 if those even happen.
We do have Luke, we have seen him multiple times in the babyYoda shows. He is doing what he is supposed to, searching for more potential Jedi and rebuilding the order. What he is not doing is going after the crazed dark jedi, or assisting in the stopping of Thrawn, because... why? Oh yeah right, we don't actually have a threat to stop. After a full season. There is no stakes, no threat to fight, because the supposed main villain is still a galaxy away, with nothing to his name.
We can't have Mara Jade because she is strong of character, the antithesis of the stronk-female character. She is also a readhead, so nope. Can't have her. Apart from these, there is no reason why we couldn't have had her introduced in any of the shows that fall into this timeframe. I'm glad they didn't butcher her just yet though...
We are not introduced to any of the sub plots of the books either. There is no equivalent in sight for the character of Talon Karde or the Smugglers Allience. There is also no mention of spies, there is no mention of anti-force pets, there is no Noghri (bodyguards/assassins of very high ranking Imps like Vader), there is nothing pointing to this ending up at a cloning facility where they will have to fight Luuke (not a typo).
This show doesn't really do anything. It does jangle some keys (Anakin still has the skills yo, wipes the floor with the rest of the saber wielders), and shows us some characters you either know from the cartoons or get no idea why you should give a damn. But it spends 8 hours with what can only be described as: - Some sidecharacter from an old cartoon finds a thing, thing leads to guy they search for, they get there via space whale farts. They find blue man. They leave. The end.
Why the hell is it important to find this fat blue guy? Just because he is dangerous. Do they show he is dangerous? No, quiet the opposite.
Do we get to know and care about our "heroes"? Nah, not really. One is a condescending socksforhair who can't move faster than a turtle despite her original drawn character being the equivalent of a bouncy ball in a small box, always full of energy and acting fast. One with the wokehair is just an outright bad person who should be in jail, not becoming an apprentice without any force sensitivity. The third should also be in jail for bringing a kid into a battle, and for getting a bunch of pilots killed in the process of what was supposed to be a stealthy scout missions. Or at least demoted to potato peeler aka kitchen manager assistant, cos she sure as hell isn't showing any of the skills needed to be a 5dot General. Nice ass though.