'Ahsoka' Star Refreshingly Breaks Trend of Actors Not Watching 'Star Wars' Animation - Inside the Magic

Adapting a preexisting character into live-action is no easy feat, especially when it comes to the extensive world of Star Wars animation. With the franchise continuing to bring more and more familiar faces from cartoons like Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars into the fold for upcoming Disney+ projects, one Ahsoka actress is showing her love for Star Wars animation and revealing why she chose to avoid copying previous iterations of her character, Sabine Wren.

Related: Dave Filoni Might Remove 32-Year-Old ‘Star Wars’ Icon In ‘Ahsoka’

The release date for the Disney+ Ahsoka series is right around the corner, promising an action-packed return to the galaxy far, far away. Rosario Dawson will be reprising her role as the fan-favorite ex-Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, as she sets out on a dangerous mission to track down a familiar adversary long thought to be dead: Grand Admiral Thrawn. It’s been all but confirmed by showrunner Dave Filoni that Ahsoka will be the de facto Season 5 of Star Wars Rebels and will pick up on many of its loose plot threads.

Check out the latest trailer for Disney and Lucasfilm’s Ahsoka below:

In Ahsoka, Thrawn will be played by his Star Wars Rebels voice actor, Lars Mikkelsen. But him aside, virtually every Rebels character will be portrayed by a new actor, including Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Hera Syndulla, and Eman Esfandi’s Ezra Bridger, among others.

Of course, this is only natural, considering voice actors aren’t usually selected for their likeness to animated characters. However, in rare instances, veteran voice actors are asked to make the leap to live-action, including Katee Sackhoff, who voiced Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze in The Clone Wars for several seasons before she eventually popped up in Season 2 of The Mandalorian. 

Related: Ahsoka Won’t Be THE Leading Character in Her Own ‘Star Wars’ Show

There’s also the rare scenario where an animated character might be brought to life in live-action via CGI, like Steve Blum’s Star Wars Rebels character, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, who made an unexpected cameo in the latest season of The Mandalorian. While it has yet to be confirmed whether or not we’ll see him reunite with the Ghost crew in Ahsoka, all signs point toward “yes.” There are undoubtedly more surprises in store, with rumors of Captain Rex’s live-action debut also making their rounds across the internet.

Recently, speaking with SFX Magazine about her character, Sabine, Natasha Liu Bordizzo spoke on the challenges of bringing the Mandalorian warrior to life in Ahsoka, which will mark her first live-action appearance.

In Rebels, Sabine was voiced by actress Tiya Sircar for the entirety of its four-season run, where she served as one of the series’ leading characters. With her character having such extensive lore in the Star Wars canon, Bordizzo admitted that she proactively avoided copying the animated version of Sabine for Ahsoka, telling the publication, “I never want to try to copy someone” despite greatly admiring Sircar’s take on the character:

 loved Tiya Sircar’s Sabine!… I loved the energy, the sarcasm, and playfulness that really made Sabine Sabine, but obviously, it’s a delicate balance because I never want to try to copy someone. I want to be inspired by the energy they put into the character and then make the role my own.

Unlike other Star Wars actors who refused to watch the animated series their characters starred in before jumping to live-action, Bordizzo made sure to clarify that she did indeed do her homework and “watched everything,” including the Original Trilogy, The Mandalorian, and of course, Rebels:

And of course, I watched everything… including the original films, The Mandalorian and, of course, ‘Rebels.’ But I didn’t watch anything after we started filming because otherwise, it gets too much. You want to have space, take all the experiences and memories and inspirations from everything you’ve watched, and then let the live action you’re creating find its own truth, its own journey.

 It’s refreshing to hear that Bordizzo isn’t ignoring her character’s history, especially after Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Rupert Friend received backlash for his opposite approach of not watching Rebels before stepping into the role of the Grand Inquisitor for the live-action Disney+ show. While it’s understandable that an actor would want to be something other than an exact replica of an animated character, honoring their previous performances in live-action while leaving room for their own quirks seems like the best way to balance both iterations of a character, whoever it may be.

And from the sound of it, Ahsoka will certainly require some sort of Rebels knowledge, with the new series set to pick up on many storylines introduced in the animated show. However, Ahsoka will feature an older, wiser version of Sabine, who Bordizzo previously teased has “been through a lot” since the Rebels finale and is “still a stubborn cookie.” The actress also noted that she is “only thinking about the obligation she has towards [Ezra Bridger],” which makes sense, given Ahsoka will likely see Sabine still searching for him.

When it comes down to it, changes aren’t bad when bringing an animated character into live-action. Meaningful adjustments more than make sense in the context of Ahsoka, given that the series will pick up several years after the events of Star Wars Rebels, during which the Ghost crew has drastically changed. Still, it’s crucial to have a full picture of who these characters were in earlier iterations, and being well-versed in their personal history will only help actors to adapt them to live-action properly.

Ahsoka will air its first two episodes on Disney+ on August 23, 2023.

What do you think of Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s recent remarks? Do you agree with her decision not to “copy” Tiya Sircar’s Sabine? Let us know in the comments below.