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The second season of The Clone Wars covers the events surrounding the Siege of Mandalore. These events were also briefly covered in flashback in the novel Ahsoka. However, besides the broad strokes (Ahsoka captures Maul on Mandalore), the details of the two stories are very different. For instance, Ahsoka captures Maul in a ray shield in the book, whereas she duels him to a standstill and captures him with help from her allies in the TV show.

Since Disney is in charge now, and has people like Pablo Hidalgo to maintain the continuity of the storyline, this change must have been an intentional choice, as opposed to a mere oversight. The changes are also striking in light of the fact that the author of Ahsoka, E.K. Johnston, was subject to restrictions on the flashbacks to this period, to avoid possible contradictions with the planned upcoming Clone Wars season.

Has anyone commented on the reasoning behind the decision to change the story behind the Siege of Mandalore?

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Siege of Mandalore Development

The Siege of Mandalore was first mentioned in "The Lost Commanders", the premiere episode of the Star Wars Rebels television series' second season. The episode, which was written by Matt Michnovetz, aired on October 14, 2015. Michnovetz included the mention of the event as a reference to the unreleased series finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the television series that preceded Star Wars Rebels. The word "siege" in the battle's name was first capitalized in DLC for the 2017 video game Star Wars Battlefront II.

Previously, as the head writer for The Clone Wars, Michnovetz detailed the Siege of Mandalore for a story arc that would have concluded the series' eighth and final season. According to Supervising Director Dave Filoni, the story arc revolved around the possibility that Ahsoka Tano would rejoin the Jedi Order. However, the episodes were not completed prior to the series' cancellation in 2013. The Siege of Mandalore first appeared in author E. K. Johnston's young adult novel Ahsoka, which was released on October 11, 2016. For her novel, Johnston drew upon plot points that Michnovetz had mapped out with Filoni. Prior to then, Filoni had released a number of details about the Siege of Mandalore in various forms, including concept art as well as a panel presentation entitled "Ahsoka's Untold Tales" at Celebration Europe in July 2016. Notably, Johnston's Ahsoka explained how the Siege of Mandalore tied into the events of the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. The novel also confirmed that Tano confronted Darth Maul on Mandalore, an encounter that was first referred to in "Twilight of the Apprentice", the second season finale of Star Wars Rebels.

At San Diego Comic-Con on July 19, 2018, Lucasfilm announced a twelve-episode revival of The Clone Wars, which included the Siege of Mandalore. When she wrote Ahsoka, Johnston was asked to not include action scenes to not conflict with Lucasfilm's plans for the season.

Source Wookieepedia

As explained above, Johnston took inspiration by the draft made for the Siege of Mandalore, and Disney asked not to include action sequences for the continuity sake, as they were to develop the new season wich will include the Siege itself.

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Disney has shown that the EU is canon UNTIL they decide it isn't. At the moment the only pieces that are considered rock-solid canon are:

  • Ep I - IX
  • Rebels
  • Resistance
  • Rogue One
  • Clone Wars
  • The Mandalorian

Current writers have specified that the EU (novels, comics, VG, etc.) is taken into account as inspiration and nothing more.

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  • Quick question: Do you have a source reference you can provide that documents this stance? It sounds like G-canon/T-canon/S-canon/N-canon all over again.
    – G_Hosa_Phat
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 21:11
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    Unfortunately no. I watch too many interviews and read too many articles to remember particulars. But yes, it is "G-canon all over again", if it falls into Legends then Disney can adopt it, update it, take pieces of it, or flush it down the toilet at any point in time.
    – Jalex23
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 15:55
  • I'm kinda wondering about the new novels and other extra-cinematic media. If they're going to override what is supposedly a canon novel with the events on-screen, then we're absolutely back to canon-tiering. <sigh>
    – G_Hosa_Phat
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 16:00
  • True. In fact you have to also add financial results. Solo was supposed to be canon under their own definitions (new content/cinematic universe) but after its disaster they simply ruled it out.
    – Jalex23
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 16:21

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