'Star Wars' Discourse Erupts After Yet Another Jedi Who 'Survived Order 66' Is Revealed

You may remember in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith when Palpatine orders the "execution of Order 66" that the clone troopers and Anakin wipe out all the Jedi, including the Younglings. This helped make Luke Skywalker's eventual and literal return as a Jedi very important in Star Wars Episode VI.

It also posed something of a problem for future real-world business executives who wanted to make Star Wars media set in the years between the prequels and original trilogy, as they'd have to create heroes who weren't Jedi … or would they?

A new Star Wars property called Ahsoka (centered around the Clone Wars character Ahsoka Tano) is coming out on Disney+ soon, and according to Empire, it will feature the late Ray Stevenson as Baylon Skoll, "a former Jedi that survived Order 66 and has since become a mercenary for hire." By some Star Wars fans' count, this apparently makes about 1,000 Jedis who somehow survived Order 66.

Granted, we are exaggerating a little, but many Star Wars fans were rolling their eyes at the introduction of Baylon Skoll yesterday, as it seems the franchise simply can't resist trotting out Jedi who miraculously survived the once-infamous purge.

While it's easy to joke and meme about the apparent ineffectiveness of Order 66 since the Star Wars franchise keeps introducing Jedi who survived it, the canon suggests it was still an extremely effective order.

According to Star Wars media, there were roughly 10,000 Jedi living upon the execution of Order 66. Afterward, there were about 50 who survived, meaning it was still pretty effective and certainly did enough to eliminate the Jedis' political influence in the galaxy by the time Luke comes around.

Still, it could be a fair criticism to say fans and viewers of the franchise never quite understood just how many Jedi existed in the time of the prequels, as the films only show a few Jedi. Each time Star Wars trots out a new "Jedi survivor" to focus on, it makes the idea that they were "nearly entirely wiped out" feel less important, even if it remains technically true in the canon.