Ahsoka: Is Sabine Wren Force-Sensitive Now?
The latest "Ahsoka" trailer heavily features the Mandalorian freedom fighter Sabine Wren, played in the upcoming Disney+ series by Natasha Liu Bordizzo. We've known for some time that the "Star Wars Rebels" character will be a major player in the show, assisting Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) on her quest to find Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and stop Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). However, the new trailer also hints that this time, Sabine may be Force-sensitive.
Though she trains extensively with the Darksaber in "Rebels," even taking lessons from Jedi Kanan Jarrus, Sabine is never directly implied to have access to the Force. Many Mandalorians have used the Darksaber without being Force-sensitive, including Din Djarin, Pre Vizsla, and Bo-Katan Kryze. For that reason, it never seemed strange that a regular person like Sabine could attain mastery of the weapon. But in the new Ahsoka trailer, she shows a lot more than that.
Not only does Sabine refer to Ahsoka as her master in the trailer, suggesting that she is officially becoming the former Jedi's apprentice, but she boasts a new green lightsaber in the show that's much more traditional than the Darksaber. Many have assumed that this is Ezra's lightsaber, which he leaves with her before vanishing at the end of "Rebels." However, with David Tennant returning as Huyang, an ancient droid who helps young Jedi craft lightsabers in "The Clone Wars," it's also possible that we'll see Sabine build a new weapon as part of her renewed training.
But while all indicators seem to point to Sabine now being a Force user, we've yet to get any hard proof.
How Sabine could have Force powers in Ahsoka
You'd think that if Sabine was Force-sensitive, we would have known by now. Roughly half of "Star Wars Rebels" consists of Ezra learning the ways of the Jedi from Kanan, and Sabine is on their crew the whole time. They use holocrons, explore ancient Jedi and Sith sites, and both Ezra and Sabine learn how to fight with a lightsaber. As a young adult, Sabine is also well past the age in "Rebels" when most Force users become aware of their abilities. And through it all, she never once shows any overt evidence that she possesses the powers of a Jedi.
There are, however, some subtler moments that could be interpreted as Force sensitivity. For instance, at a few different points in "Rebels," Sabine seems clued into Ezra's location and intentions without being told. These instances can be read as simple intuition, or they could be the crumbs of a real connection to the Force.
The other option is that Sabine and Ahsoka are simply using the "master" and "apprentice" language in the new live-action show out of respect. Ahsoka technically isn't a Jedi anymore, and she reiterates that fact in "Rebels" when facing off against Darth Vader. Maybe she simply takes Sabine under her wing after the end of the animated series, continuing her lightsaber training and mentoring her in other ways. But given that Sabine is shown fighting the Force-sensitive Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) in the new trailer — raising her hand as if using the Force in their lightsaber duel — that seems unlikely.
The Star Wars timeline leaves plenty of room for Ahsoka to train Sabine
In the "Ahsoka" trailer, Ahsoka says that she walked away from Sabine when she needed her. The two don't have much of a relationship in "Rebels" aside from working on the same team, so it's likely that she's referencing events we haven't seen yet.
The "Ahsoka" series takes place years after the fall of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic, so there's lots of room to retcon in a more complex relationship between the two characters. Plus, the main action of "Star Wars Rebels" ends before the events of the original trilogy. We still don't know where Ahsoka is during George Lucas' first three films, but "Rebels" suggests that she's exploring the mysterious "World Between Worlds" — a mystical realm accessible through the Force that allows visitors to travel through time.
In short, a lot of Ahsoka's timeline is still waiting to be filled in, leaving plenty of room for her to help Sabine discover her latent Force powers. There's no guarantee yet that that's what's actually going on, but if the "Ahsoka" trailer footage is any indication, the young Mandalorian still has a lot of secrets in store. After all, Princess Leia didn't take ownership of her Force powers until adulthood, so why couldn't the same be true for Sabine?