Ahsoka Tano might be gearing up for her very own Disney+ spinoff show, but believe it or not, she was once one of the most hated characters in all of Star Wars. Ahead of the series’ release, her original voice actor, Ashley Eckstein, opened up about the harsh backlash she received following her debut in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), where she admitted she “cried” over fans’ adverse reactions.
It’s no secret that Star Wars fans have a reputation for being notoriously brutal when it comes to expressing their opinions. With a certain subsect of the fandom making it their personal goal to “gatekeep” the galaxy far, far away from fans who might enjoy the content they don’t, it’s not always a fun community to engage in. There’s also a long-running issue with select members of the fanbase harassing Star Wars actors online for any number of reasons, including their skin color, gender orientation, sexuality, or onscreen personas.
Ahmed Best, who played Jar-Jar Binks in the Prequel Trilogy, experienced suicidal thoughts over criticism of his character, Jar-Jar Binks. In more recent years, we’ve seen Finn actor John Boyega and Rose actress Kelly Marie Tran get relentlessly bullied for their roles in the Sequel Trilogy, with Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s Moses Ingram, who played Third Sister Reva, being the target of some particularly vile racist backlash online.
And even though Ahsoka is now a beloved, fan-favorite character in the Star Wars universe, her original voice actress, Ashley Eckstein, was no exception. A sad reality of the fandom is that virtually any new addition to canon material is going to be met with controversy, which was the case with Ahsoka, who made her franchise debut as the Padawan of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and its accompanying TV show.
Initially, fans despised this new character, who was the creation of showrunner Dave Filoni and George Lucas himself. Ahsoka was intentionally written as a wise-cracking teenager who paralleled her equally headstrong master, who was powerful in the Force but needed somewhat of a guiding hand. However, many chose to overlook her more redeeming qualities in favor of blasting the character for being a glaring “retcon” in the Prequel Era, as Anakin never had a Padawan in the movies.
Credit: Lucasfilm
Speaking on stage at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (via PopVerse) earlier this week, Ashley Eckstein admitted that early backlash to her character affected her mental health, explaining that “so many people hated Ahsoka.” This led the voice actor to “[sob] into [her] cheesecake” and throw herself a “pity party:”
It’s been quite the journey., it really has. From the very beginning where she was hated. And one thing to note, we were always a season ahead of what you all saw. We were well into season two by the time you all saw the first movie, so I knew how far she had come. When it came out, so many people hated Ahsoka. First, I sobbed into my cheesecake… But then I took a day to have a pity party.
Credit: Lucasfilm
Of course, there’s a happy end to Eckstein’s trials and tribulations, as Ahsoka gradually became a highlight of The Clone Wars throughout its seven-season run. While collecting herself, the actress decided to place her confidence in Ahsoka, who she firmly believed was an “amazing” character, even if certain fans didn’t share her opinion:
Then, I was like, no – this character is amazing. And everyone else is going to see what I see if they just give her time. And so, I asked fans for their patience. I said look, no character is perfect in the beginning, and if they were, then they’d be really boring. So please go on this journey with her.
Credit: Lucasfilm
And what a journey Ahsoka has taken us on. Since then, there’s been a complete 180 for the character, with the former Jedi getting her own spinoff show and becoming an unquestionable fan-favorite. Although Eckstein isn’t our live-action Ahsoka, she continues to be heavily involved in the franchise, voicing the character in animated projects like Star Wars Rebels and, more recently, the Disney+ Tales of the Jedi anthology series. She also founded Her Universe, a “fangirl fashion company” that celebrates the franchises like Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Doctor Who, the DC Universe, and more.
As for Ahsoka, the beauty of a long-running TV series is that characters get to evolve and grow over time—a luxury not afforded to movies. Still, Eckstein claimed that early viewers thought she was “too bratty” off the bat without giving her time to grow. It makes perfect sense that Ahsoka would start out as the snarky and perhaps immature shadow of Anakin before ultimately coming into her own, culminating in what might be one of the best character arcs in Star Wars history.
Credit: Lucasfilm
All this is to say that sometimes, characters just need a little time to grow and develop. It’s impossible to imagine what the Star Wars universe would be like without Ahsoka, considering the number of spinoff projects featuring this character and her expanded presence in Dave Filoni’s “Mando-Verse” moving forward. If Eckstein had given up on Ahsoka all those years ago, the revival of the Prequel Era might’ve faltered entirely, and those stellar last few seasons of The Clone Wars might not have ever existed.
It’s pretty remarkable that we’ve gotten to witness nearly every phase of Ahsoka’s life over the years—and yes, her “bratty” teen phase included. Even though Dawson might be guiding the character’s live-action appearances from here on out, hopefully, Ashely Eckstein can still be involved in future projects in some capacity. We can only hope she gets a chance to shine in Season 2 of Tales of the Jedi or maybe even in a live-action High Republic Era project somewhere down the line.
What do you think of the Star Wars fandom initially rejecting Ahsoka Tano? Let us know in the comments below.
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Credit: Lucasfilm
