Season two of The Mandalorian introduced a live-action Ahsoka Tano. First introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (voiced by Ashley Eckstein), the character is beloved by many Star Wars fans. And Ahsoka’s appearance in The Mandalorian was just the beginning. Ahsoka Tano got her very own live-action series. Ahsoka is coming to Disney+.
A recent new image released by Empire teases that the Ahsoka series will take us back to the epilogue of Star Wars Rebels, but this time deliver it in a live-action form.
Natasha Liu Bordizzo who plays the live-action Sabine Wren notes that the search for Ezra Bridger, which we saw begin in the Rebels epilogue will be on Sabine’s mind in the Ahsoka series. She offers, “She feels an obligation to him [Ezra Bridger]… When they freed Lothal, she was given this hero status. But she doesn’t feel that she’s earned that because she lost her friend in that whole debacle. She’s just focused on the promise she made to him to find him.”
Additionally, when it comes to Ahsoka herself, Dave Filoni explains, “She’s a wanderer at this point, and is in a lot of ways wary of any organisation as such because of the power that comes with it as a group. She walks a path that basically died out a long time ago. And there aren’t many like her left, if any. So that’s a lonely thing. What is that life like? If you are a loner, you have a very small circle of friends. What is it like, then, when you try to open back up?”
Ahsoka, Filoni also adds “has one foot in the Star Wars that a lot of people know because of her connection to Anakin, and yet she’s all new and can go in her own direction, in her own way. I think that makes her an interesting bridge between what came before and what’s really possible.” We can’t wait to see the adventures in store in this series.
Here is everything we know about Ahsoka so far.
Title
The logo revealed by Disney and Lucasfilm on December 10, 2020 simply says Star Wars: Ahsoka. But, we have a feeling that everyone will just call it Ahsoka.
Ahsoka‘s Plot
When Ahsoka turned up in “The Jedi” episode of The Mandalorian, she revealed she’s searching for the missing Grand Admiral Thrawn. Who, as Star Wars Rebels fans know, disappeared into the Unknown Regions with Ezra Bridger at the end of that series. The epilogue of Rebels sees Ahsoka and Sabine Wren take off together to search for their missing Jedi friend and the genius Imperial leader. Ahsoka is likely to pick up those story threads.
The official title card for the show, as seen above, seems to hint at the World Between Worlds factoring in somehow. This realm outside of time comes from an episode of Rebels and was the means by which Ahsoka escaped her fate at the hands of Darth Vader. If it appears, it would mean the very first use of time travel in a live-action Star Wars. Wouldn’t that be something to see?
We recently got our first good look at Ahsoka via its teaser trailer.
Director Dave Filoni told Vanity Fair the following about the series:
Ahsoka is a continuous story. It is definitely driving toward a goal, in my mind, as opposed to being little singular adventures. That’s what I want the character to be doing, and I think that’s what fans want now. They have such a relationship with her. I’ve only recently started to understand that all those kids that watched Clone Wars are now a lot older—they’re very excited about all the things they grew up with, as they should be.
Since Ahsoka does hail from the Star Wars animated series, fans might be wondering what they should watch before the live-action series. Well, creator Dave Filoni wants to assure everyone the true answer is none. However, for those looking to foray into Rebels specifically, he suggests the following, via Collider:
I would start, probably like the episode “Jedi Knight,” where the sad thing happens to Kanan. Even if you didn’t understand what that was, it would propel you forward. If you just watched Season 4, you’d be set. You can start with that and you get that these Rebels are fighting this tyrannical Empire and that would get you everything and everybody you need. You don’t need to do the entire gamut of Rebels, but you should. Once you watch that, you’ll be like “Well, I’m gonna watch it all.”
We will also see quite a few familiar faces, including Star Wars Rebels legend Hera. We cannot get over how cool this character looks in this photo. There will even be a mysterious Inquisitor in play.
Ahsoka won’t be the show’s only star. No, the series will bring Star Wars Rebels‘ adorable Loth-cat to live-action in a whole new way. And this animatronic creature will come from the creators of Grogu, so we can all rest assured it will definitely steal the show.
According to Empire, in The Mandalorian, the Loth-cats we saw were CGI. But in Ahsoka, we will get the full puppet experience, adding to the detail and cuteness of what’s on-screen, not to mention the Loth-cat’s ability to connect with its human companions. Natasha Liu Bordizzo, a.k.a. Sabine Wren, offered, “That was my little buddy! That cat, the complexity of the design… I mean, it has a real skeleton under there, because that’s how they control such intense facial expressions and everything.” Rosario Dawson, who plays Ahsoka, also noted, “It would snarl and look cute. Really, the detail was next level.”
We guess Grogu had better watch out.
Ahsoka‘s Cast
Rosario Dawson will star as the title character, reprising her introduction on The Mandalorian. Joining her is Hayden Christensen, reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. We actually don’t know what version of the Anakin Hayden will be playing. Will it be Clone Wars flashbacks? Force Ghost Anakin? Maybe a flashback to her climactic fight with Vader on Rebels? Heck, it could be all of the above. (We hope it is!)
Joining Ahsoka is her Rebels cohort, Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren. In live-action, she’ll be played by Australian actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. According to a release, Diana Lee Inosanto will play Morgan Elsbeth. Meanwhile, Ukrainian actor Ivanna Sakhno has also joined the cast as Shin Hati and Ray Stevenson will appear as Baylan Skoll. Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll appear to be villains in the series and wield orange-colored lightsabers. Eman Esfandi will play Ezra. We can’t wait to see Ahsoka and Sabine search for their lost friend.
Meanwhile, Birds of Prey star Mary Elizabeth Winstead has been confirmed to play Hera Syndulla on Ahsoka. Additionally, Lars Mikkelsen will reprise his Rebels role in live-action and play Grand Admiral Thrawn. David Tennant has also joined the cast; he will play the droid character Huyang, whom he previously voiced.
Additionally, Deadline reports that The Expanse and Hunger Games star Wes Chatham will also be a part of Ahsoka. Chatham will apparently play “the right-hand man to Lars Mikkelsen’s Admiral Thrawn.”
Behind the Scenes
The Mandalorian’s Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are running the show for Ahsoka. Filoni has confirmed that he wrote all the episodes of the season. Additionally, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Ramsey, co-director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, will direct at least one episode of the show. We still don’t know how many episodes Ahsoka will comprise of, though. But since Ahsoka as a character is a co-creation of Dave Filoni’s along with George Lucas, we’d say she is in excellent hands.
Ahsoka‘s Release Date
We officially know when this series will release via an unexpected but official source. According to the official Disney Movie Insiders website, which is affiliated with Disney’s brand, Ahsoka will arrive on August 31 (the page has since been edited but we’ve shared a screen capture below). That’s later this summer than we were expecting for Ahsoka‘s release date, but we’re thrilled to see this series arrive regardless of the date.
As of February, Favreau noted of the show’s progress, “I’ll talk about it so Dave [Filoni] doesn’t have to, but we’re in post-production…He’s done filming; the visual effects are starting to come in, and the music is starting to come in. Great cast, and what a rich legacy to build upon.”
Ahsoka will debut on August 31, 2023 according to Disney Movie Insiders.
Originally published on December 22, 2021.
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