I suspect that the Thrawn mention will come into play next season. Wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t see Ahsoka again until then.
Upon reflection, I was really impressed how this episode felt like every kind of Star Wars coming together in a unified whole and not feeling disjointed. PT (Clone Wars, Corouscant), OT (Yoda, explaining the Force, McQuarrie-ism), ST (the village, the guards), cartoons (Ahsoka, Thrawn), and EU (Thrawn, imperial remnants, Tython): it all felt like it belonged together.
Will be interesting to see how and when they get to Tython, and how that affects the show. It’s a Core World iirc, and this show has been very based in one corner of the Outer Rim. If we assume that S2 will conclude with dark troopers & Gideon, possibly with a kidnapping Grogu cliffhanger, then S3 is set up for traveling to Tython.
How did the village and the guards remind you of the ST exactly? Just outta curiosity.