A fraudulent Jedi arrived on the planet of Shili sometime between the years of 36 and 33 BBY. This imposter's goal was to enslave Ahsoka Tano, a child who was Force-sensitive, prior to her becoming a member of the Jedi Order. The encounter with this false Jedi endangered Tano's life. However, the young Togruta survived because she could sense Jedi through the Force. Shortly after, Plo Koon, a Jedi Master, journeyed to Shili, located Tano, and brought her back to the Jedi Temple to undergo training.
Dave Filoni, the supervising director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, first alluded to the false Jedi in a featurette. This featurette was about the three-episode Zygerria arc from The Clone Wars' fourth season, and it was included in the Season Four boxed set, which was released on October 23, 2012. Filoni stated that the " coyote people" appearance of the Zygerrian species, who were introduced into canon in that arc, was initially created for a "trickster" character, specifically the false Jedi. This character was to be featured in an unreleased story written by Filoni, which would depict how Ahsoka Tano was discovered by the Jedi Order. Subsequently, the novel Ahsoka, penned by E. K. Johnston and published on October 11, 2016, mentioned the false Jedi.
Several months before the release of Ahsoka, sketches of the false Jedi, who was named Latrans, were displayed at Celebration Europe in 2016. This occurred during the Ahsoka's Untold Tales Panel on July 15. The panel's initial segment featured sketches by Dave Filoni for the story he had written about how Tano was discovered by the Jedi. The story involved Latrans, an alien female Jedi, arriving in Tano's town on her homeworld, Shili, with the intention of taking the child back to the Jedi Order. However, the truth was that Latrans was a bounty hunter impersonating a Jedi Knight in order to abduct Tano. Eventually, Master Plo Koon, a genuine Jedi, would appear and bring Tano to the Jedi Temple for training. A brief portion of this narrative, showing Koon and Tano on Shili, was included in the opening "newsreel" of "The Gathering," an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars that aired on November 3, 2012.
Filoni explained that the story was intended to convey the message that one should not "judge a book by its cover" and that "appearances can be deceiving." The beautiful appearance of Latrans, the story's antagonist, would contrast sharply with the more "creepy" and "sinister" appearance of Plo Koon, a Kel Dor who was the story's hero.
Filoni speculated that the rarity of Force-sensitive individuals in the galaxy made them highly desirable targets for potential kidnappers. The residents of Tano's town, having never encountered a Jedi before, would have been easily fooled by Latrans' deception.
The first of the three Latrans sketches presented during the panel depicted her wearing Jedi robes. The second showcased concepts for her bounty hunting attire, and the third provided a closer examination of her hair. During the panel, Filoni reiterated that Latrans' design served as inspiration for the Zygerrians' design in The Clone Wars. He noted that while queen Miraj Scintel had a "rat-like" appearance, he envisioned Latrans as resembling a "coyote person" to better portray her role as a trickster who deceives the people of Shili into believing she is a Jedi.