'Rebels' Actor's Exit from 'Star Wars' Will Leave 'Ahsoka' Fans Disappointed

Despite Ahsoka (2023) being a live-action sequel to the animated series Star Wars: Rebels (2014), there’s one Rebels actor who won’t be returning — at least the actor who played him.

The trailer for the upcoming series Ahsoka, which will be the third in the “Mando-Verse”, following flagship show The Mandalorian (2019) and spin-off The Book of Boba Fett (2021), reveals several that characters from Rebels have brought to life in live action, all of whom replace the actors who voiced them in the animated show (with the exception of Lars Mikkelsen, who reprises his role as villain Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Steve Blum, who appears briefly as Zeb Orrelios in The Mandalorian Season 3).

zeb mandalorian s3 cameo — Credits: Lucasfilm

Natasha Liu Bordizzo replaces Tiya Sircar Mandalorian Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead takes over from Vanessa Marshall as Twi’lek pilot Hera Syndulla, Eman Esfandi plays Jedi Ezra Bridger, who was previously voiced by Taylor Gray, and, of course, Rosario Dawson is the successor to Ashley Eckstein, having brought Ahsoka Tano to life in The Mandalorian Season 2. Even the erratic Astromech droid Chopper will be returning to the fold, with creator Dave Filoni returning to provide “vocal work” (who knew he could speak Binary).

But there’s one member of the “Ghost crew” who won’t be returning: Kanan Jarrus. Okay, so the Jedi Master and husband to Hera Syndulla was killed off in the Rebels Season 4 episode “Jedi Night”, so, in theory, he probably won’t show up in Ahsoka anyway, but seeing as these Star Wars shows feature a ton of flashbacks, and not to mention Force Ghosts, naturally, fans have been expecting to see Kanan, who’s known also as Caleb Dume, return to the fold.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla in 'Star Wars: Ahsoka'. Credit: Lucasfilm — Credit: Lucasfilm

Well, that still may happen, but Freddie Prinze Jr., who voiced the character in Rebels, won’t be coming back.

In an interview on Kristian Harloff’s YouTube channel, the actor explained that he only returned to reprise his role (in voice-form, that is) in Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1 because he wanted to, but that he’s now “done” playing Kanan Jarrus.

ghost crew in rebels — Credit: Lucasfilm

When Prinze Jr. was asked about reprising his role as a young Caleb Dume in The Bad Batch pilot, he said, “I was asked to, yeah. I didn’t necessarily want to. I feel like every time you hear Kanan’s voice since Rebels ended, it really kind of dilutes his impact.”

The actor makes a pretty good point. Recently, Star Wars has faced a lot of criticism from fans by not committing to killing off any of its characters, whether that’s because it’s always hopping back and forth along its main 70-year-odd timeline at its own leisure, or by literally bringing characters back from the dead however it sees fit, with Darth Maul being a great example, among many others.

maul holding lightsaber in star wars rebels — Credit: Lucasfilm

The actor also commented on his very brief role in The Rise of Skywalker, in which he appears only as the voice of the dead Jedi, alongside many others, such as Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, and Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to do that either,” he said. “I was asked as a favor and I feel like all my — all their favors are used up now.”

When asked about whether or not he’ll be reprising his role in Ahsoka, he simply said, “No Ahsoka, I’m done with Kanan. I’m too old for that stuff.”

Kanan Jarrus blind in Star Wars Rebels — Credit: Lucasfilm

If Kanan Jarrus is set to make an appearance in Ahsoka, then it’s possible Freddie Prinze Jr. wasn’t asked to play him anyway, especially considering that many of his fellow rebels are being played by new actors. Either way, this will undoubtedly disappoint many fans of his character.

As per Disney and Lucasfilm, here’s the official trailer for Ahsoka:

Ahsoka stars Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Sabine Wren), Eman Esfandi (Ezra Bridger), Lars Mikkelsen (Grand Admiral Thrawn), Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Hera Syndulla), Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), Ivanna Sakhno (Shin Hati), Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth), and Ray Stevenson (Baylan).

Ahsoka will premiere on Disney+ in August.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren in Ahsoka — Credit: Lucasfilm

Were you hoping to see Freddie Prinze Jr. appear in Ahsoka? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!