Though no new Star Wars movie was released this year, the franchise still had a busy 2023, releasing multiple seasons of television, countless books and comics, and a AAA video game in the form of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
In general, Disney+ really was the home for Star Wars, with The Bad Batch Season 2, The Mandalorian Season 3, Star Wars: Visions Season 2, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures‘ debut, and, finally, Ahsoka. Meanwhile, on the publishing side, the High Republic completed its second phase, and there were more comics than one could shake a meaty rancor’s fist at.
But the top ten most searched character pages across Wookiepedia in 2023 all had one thing in common: a deep tie to Ahsoka Tano and her brand new show, which is especially notable because it debuted in the second half of the year. Many of the other shows and games had a much longer lead time to garner visits, but Ahsoka still came out on top to the point where there were characters that didn’t even have names or pages before the show began airing that made the list.
So, who made the list and why do we think they did? Let’s take a look…
Though Kanan Jarrus wasn’t present in Ahsoka, his spirit was. The cowboy Jedi, who started life as a young Caleb Dume and was forced to fend for himself in the wake of Order 66, first debuted in John Jackson Miller’s novel A New Dawn, which was a tie-in to Star Wars Rebels, which itself was the first television show made in the Disney era of Lucasfilm ownership.
The reason Kanan is likely on this list is because he was part of the crew of the Ghost and Ezra Bridger’s master. He’s also the father of Hera Syndulla’s son Jacen and warranted a brief mention from Huyang in the fourth episode of Ahsoka. X-Wing Pilot and New Republic Ranger Carson Teva is lamenting the orders to keep searching for Ahsoka when Huyang explains that the boy who gave them the tip is the son of Kanan Jarrus. Many likely raced to their keyboards to get a bead on who that was and how his influence could affect future storytelling. That wasn’t the only nod to Kanan in Ahsoka, though. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, Hera has a picture of Kanan on the control panel of the Ghost and Jacen Syndulla sports the same symbol his father had on his shoulder pauldron on his own shoulder. Basically, if you wanted to know more about Ahsoka’s allies, you would inevitably find yourself researching Kanan.
A new character introduced in Ahsoka, Marrok was the silent Snake Eyes-type among the group of mercenaries hired by Morgan Elsbeth. Marrow was a former Inquisitor, but little else is known about the character. He made his debut in the first episode of Ahsoka and did his best to aid Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll in their endeavors for Morgan Elsbeth.
Marrok leans into the wolf motif that Dave Filoni has brought to the show starting with Hati and Skoll—both wolves in Norse mythology. In Arthurian myth, Marrok was a knight who attempted to heal Sir Urry, but had at one point betrayed his wife and was forced to spend seven years as a werewolf. It was interesting to see Marrok arrive on the scene and go out so quickly on Ahsoka, and it’s no wonder fans wanted more information about him, especially if he made it all the way through the Dark Times, the Galactic Civil War, and into the time of the New Republic. Of course, the fact that he emitted a dark green mist when struck down also raises more questions about just what sort of being Marrok was. It seems like there are plenty of story opportunities left to fill in his backstory and maybe one day we’ll get them.
As the most obscure character on the top 10 this year, Abeloth was a character from late in the Legends continuity. She had a brief moment in the twin suns this year thanks to rampant theorizing and rumor mongering on the internet, amplified again by a big moment in the Ahsoka finale.
In the non-canon, Legends continuity, Abeloth was a terrible and powerful Force entity known as the Bringer of Chaos—though she called herself the Beloved Queen of the Stars. She was awakened by Jacen Solo in his turn to the Dark Side and was a powerful God-like being. Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, traveled to the ends of the galaxy in the Fate of the Jedi series to confront and deal with Abeloth. In Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, Abeloth was tied to the Force Gods of Mortis, Father, Daughter, and Son who appeared in some of the most important episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She wasn’t necessarily a fan-favorite, but there were enough touchstones in Ahsoka that some fans thought she might be connected to Baylan Skoll’s quest.
Though there were large statues of the Force gods of Mortis – Father, Son, and Daughter – in the final episode of Ahsoka, there was no sign of Abeloth. Since so many fan theories said Ahsoka was heading there, it’s no wonder she came in at 8th on the list, with folks trying to understand why that theory even came about and just who the “Mother” of this group could be in the wake of seeing those statues. For now, that’s a question we still don’t have a canon answer for.
Played by Diana Lee Inosanto, Morgan Elsbeth was a character first introduced in the second season of The Mandalorian. As a disciple of Grand Admiral Thrawn and a former Imperial bigwig, Ahsoka was hunting her down on the planet of Corvus. It wasn’t certain Elsbeth had survived her encounter with Ahsoka, but we got her answer when she showed up as one of the driving villainous forces in Ahsoka, as she was freed from New Republic captivity at the start of the series.
Elsbeth turned into a much more fascinating character when her origin as a descendent of the Nightsisters of Dathomir was revealed and that helped fuel the plot of Ahsoka and the distant galaxy where Grand Admiral Thrawn had been exiled. The Nightsisters are a well known element of Star Wars lore for The Clone Wars viewers but likely a brand new concept for many watching Ahsoka, leading to increased interest in Morgan. As the season progressed, she became became increasingly powerful, even gaining the sword of Talzin and showing off her Dathomiri magic – though it wasn’t enough to defeat Ahsoka Tano.
Characters from Ahsoka dominate this list completely, and it’s no wonder that the dark apprentice of Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, appears at number 6. Played by Ivanna Sakhno, Shin Hati bears a Padawan braid and a loyal devotion to her master and has an intensity that made her a quick favorite character, even with very few lines.
We still don’t know a whole lot about her, but her story is fascinating if you read between the lines of her and her master and what their ultimate goals are. Add to that and her near instant rivalry with Sabine Wren, and you have the makings of an excellent foil for the heroes of Ahsoka and fans (myself included) are clamoring for more of her story, both before and after the events of Ahsoka.
First introduced in Star Wars Rebels, Ezra Bridger is really one of the key MacGuffins in the new Ahsoka show, making him a no-brainer for inclusion on this list. Ezra spent all but the last two episodes of Ahsoka being mentioned but unseen, so fans would naturally want to bone up on answers about who he is and what his importance to the story is.
As Rebels viewers already knew, Ezra Bridger was a young street rat on Lothal who blundered his way into the Ghost crew. His latent Force abilities made him a perfect candidate for Kanan Jarrus to train as a Jedi and though he flirted with the Dark Side thanks to the influence of Maul, Ezra became quite a fine bokken Jedi and was able to fight back Grand Admiral Thrawn at the Battle of Lothal with an elaborate plan that relied on the Force and the help of the purrgil. While that plan took Grand Admiral Thrawn out of commission for rest of the Galactic Civil War, Ezra was forced to sacrifice many years of his life as well, traveling to an unknown galaxy alongside Thrawn and living among locals until he could be rescued by Ahsoka and Sabine.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is likely the most popular character in the Star Wars universe who first made their debut in a book. First appearing in Timothy Zahn’s seminal Heir to the Empire, Thrawn made the jump to the updated Star Wars canon on screen in Star Wars Rebels but still didn’t make his live-action debut until Ahsoka’s last two episodes. Though he was always a popular character, far more people watch live-action content than watch the animated series (it’s their loss for missing out on the animation, but that’s a different article) and far more people watch the animated series’ than read the books, so it’s natural that more casual fans would come into Ahsoka wanting to know more about the Grand Admiral.
Played by Lars Mikkelson (who also voiced the character on Rebels), he’s a blue-skinned Chiss from the fringes of the known galaxy. He’s also the most skilled and brilliant tactician the Empire has ever seen, able to discern the motives of his opponents through their culture, art, and histories. In the Legends universe, he was one of the greatest threats ever faced by the heroes of the Republic and Luke Skywalker, but they found a way to end him that was artistically done. For more about the Grand Admiral, Timothy Zahn has written six books about him that are in the current timeline, but the previous adventures in the Legends timeline are still worth checking out, too.
Someone had a brand new show released, so it makes sense why people were spending time looking her up. Ahsoka Tano debuted in live-action in the second season of The Mandalorian, introducing even more viewers to a fan favorite character. Though she finally got her own show this year, Ahsoka was introduced back in 2008 with her debut in the full length feature film debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. That film established a young Ahsoka (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) as the Padawan of a very reluctant Anakin Skywalker. It initially took a while for some fans to warm up to herm but that changed in a big way over time and now, she’s one of the most important figures in all of Star Wars, rivaling the Skywalkers.
With the debut of her live-action show, with Rosario Dawson reprising the role after playing her on The Mandalorian, a whole new group of fans were introduced to Ahsoka and the stories she took part in. She not only carried much of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, she took a major part in a season of Star Wars Rebels, as well as its shocking finale. And if you weren’t a Star Wars Rebels viewer, there was a lot to catch up on her story and why she was searching for Thrawn and Ezra in the first place.
On Ahsoka, Sabine Wren played a central role (where she’s played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo), as it was revealed that Sabine had actually trained to be Ahsoka Tano’s Padawan, despite no obvious abilities in the Force. It’s easy to imagine many were heading to her profile to see who she was and why Ahsoka Tano would take her, of all people, on as an apprentice. When they got to Sabine’s entry, they would find a storied character that has been a part of the Star Wars canon for almost a decade.
Sabine (voiced by Tiya Sircar on Star Wars Rebels) was a Mandalorian warrior who grew up and learned her skills during the time of the Empire, and to that end she was asked to do some pretty terrible things in their name. Eventually she left and joined the fight against the Empire and worked alongside the crew of the Ghost, which is what put her on a path to meeting Ahsoka. Why she wanted to take up the mantle of not-quite-a-Jedi Padawan still remains a question left to be answered more completely. Though she once wielded the Darksaber, there wasn’t anything in her background that showed she had any particular aptitude with the Force other than being a living person in tune with her body to the point of being a formidable warrior. She has a lot of history to deal with, including the loss of her people, and it will be fascinating to see where her future in Star Wars goes.
With Baylan Skoll coming in at the top of the list of most searched characters in 2023, it’s fair to say that Ahsoka had a clean sweep. Baylan was one of the first new characters we were introduced to on the series and but feels like he has such a rich history and backstory that some likely assumed hemusthave come from some other media. That’s just not the case, though. He’s brand new for Ahsoka and was one of the standouts of the show.
Played by Ray Stevenson, who sadly passed away before Ahsoka aired, there is a massive question mark hanging over the character. The show brought him to a cliffhanger (one literally on a cliff) for the next phase of his story, so it makes sense that interest in him is going to run high.
As a character, Skoll is so full of fascinating contradictions and cognitive dissonance that it makes approaching him more like a puzzle. How did he decide to train a Padawan in many of the traditional Jedi ways? How did he survive Order 66? How did he lean into the Dark Side of the Force but still lament the notion that he might have to kill Ahsoka, thinking it a regrettable waste?
His character asks us so many questions that slightly change our ideas of what a dark, former Jedi might be like, that it’s no wonder people are going to look deeper into him and try to divine what it is that makes him tick.
Now the big question is when will we see him next? Or will we see him at all? There is definitely going to need to be some recasting going on for the character to continue, even if it’s in an animated form. I think most want to see more from one of their favorite new characters of the New Republic era, though. It’s just a matter of when and how…
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