The droid smugglers seen in the opening are members of the Vanguard Axis, a crime syndicate made up of deadly droids.

Gungi first appeared in the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, one of several younglings sent to find a kyber crystal and build their first lightsabers; it's a rite of passage called the Gathering, and one of the final challenges before becoming a Padawan.

As a Jedi, Gungi was brought to the Jedi Temple for training at a young age and is unfamiliar with his tribe or other Wookiee traditions. In this episode, we see the young Jedi begin to learn the ways of his people.

Wrecker says it's "been a while since we've been to Kashyyyk," a reference to an unfinished arc of Star Wars: The Clone Wars also penned by the writer of this episode, Matt Michnovetz. That Clone Wars arc featured several of the same elements, including the netcasters, mylayas, and Trandoshans.

Early ideas for this episode included use of the wyyyschokk spider, recently seen in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. But as the story developed, it was decided to go with the slightly less fearsome netcaster, originally meant to appear in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The netcaster design is based off the kinrath spider from the Knights of the Old Republic video game.

This episode shows the Empire's early occupation of Kashyyyk, which would continue until the regime's fall almost 25 years later.