So, after watching the finale, this is definitely a one movie series. There just isn’t enough meat for 2 films. The finale itself was a very action heavy 40mins, a lot of which can be heavily trimmed or cut like the TIE fighter attack.
The whole Peridea sequence could probably be shortened to an hour, which would fit nicely into a third act. That leaves an hour or so for the middle act on Seatos.
So for the through-line story I feel the focus of the movie, in order, should be.
- Thrawn’s return.
- Ahsoka and Sabine’s relationship.
- Ahsoka’s rebirth.
- Baylan’s quest.
And as has become a theme with these edits, the New Republic scenes (and thus Hera), add little to the overall plot and will be largely cut.
I’ll hopefully have a first cut completed by the end of the week.
This all sounds spot on to me. The only thing I would caution against is cutting the Anakin/Clone Wars scenes as they are an important part of Ahsoka’s journey. However, it seems like you have are feeling more inclined to keep them at this point.
I must confess I didn’t really like the finale. It was mired by the usual, contrived nonsense that characterizes most Disney Star Wars these days. Ahsoka, the character, lacks the charisma she had in The Clone Wars, and Sabine is never held to account for her reckless actions (and I definitely feel like those Force powers were unearned). The series lacked any real tension throughout, and the stakes never felt very high (although I would count episode 4 as a noteworthy exception).
I think you have the right idea. There’s a lot of fat to be trimmed here. There are no filler episodes, strictly speaking, as every episode does something to further the plot, but within each episode there is still a fair amount that can be cut.