‘Ahsoka’ Star Addresses Her End With the ‘Star Wars’ Franchise

One Star Wars actress has divulged new information about her end with the franchise and how it came to be.

This past August, Lucasfilm debuted the next installment in its “Mando-Verse” story — Star Wars: Ahsoka. The series, which, like The Mandalorian and The Book of Bobe Fett, takes place around five years after the events of the original trilogy, brought Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano back into the game.

Her quest to find a foe and a friend from the past led her to reunite with old comrades Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Ghost Captain Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). But in doing so, more dangers surfaced, including the return of former antagonist Morgan Elsbeth, played by Diana Lee Inosanto.

Inosanto recently sat down with the official Star Wars website to address her shocking end with the franchise and how it came to be.

The Star Wars actress explained that her entrance and subsequent battle with Ahsoka in The Mandalorian Season 2 was a significant one, highlighting the blend of Filipino martial arts with Wushu — an umbrella term, like Kung Fu, of various Chinese martial arts disciplines. “That was a really important moment,” Inosanto told StarWars.com, “that defining intro for Morgan Elsbeth.”

Inosanto’s debut in the galaxy far, far away came as Ahsoka was hunting down the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). The former Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) laid siege to the city of Calodan on the planet Corvus, intending to capture and interrogate the magistrate, Inosanto’s Morgan Elsbeth.

In her interview with the Star Wars official website, the actress went on to address her end with the franchise and how it came to be. “Ming [Qui] came up with the idea of taking the spine of the Talzin blade and using it, redirecting the [Nightsisters] magik,” she explains. “I wanted so much to have a powerful ending. I requested that [Elsbeth] would die by her own weapon.”

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The death of Morgan Elsbeth came after Ahsoka, Sabine Wren, and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) attacked Thrawn’s base, intending to damage his chances of heading back to their home galaxy. In the end, Thrawn and the Nightsisters would escape, with Bridger secretly in tow. As for Ahsoka and Wren, the former would strike Elsbeth down using her own blade, with the two then being left on Peridea with droid Huyang (David Tennant).

It’s unlikely the pair will stay there, though. As the final moments of the Ahsoka series suggested, everyone is where they are supposed to be (including Anakin, who appeared in his Force ghost form). And then there is the very real element of The Mandalorian Season 4 eventually heading into production, and the announced “Mando-Verse” crossover movie helmed by Dave Filoni.

The Lucasfilm executive was recently confirmed as the Chief Creative Officer of the Star Wars studio, which is still presided over by President Kathleen Kennedy. His “Mando-Verse” movie was announced at this year’s Star Wars Celebration Europe, alongside new movies from James Mangold and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

As for an Ahsoka Season 2, the Star Wars series is classed as limited, but there is still a small chance that Lucasfilm, or The Walt Disney Company that owns it, will see promise in a second outing for Ahsoka and friends before the major movie event in the near future.

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Ahsoka did something largely unfamiliar in terms of live-action projects. It fully committed to exploring a more supernatural element of the franchise, bringing the mystical ways of the Nightsisters — encountered in the likes of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series — into full view. This, along with the new galaxy and the ominous planet Peridea, adds a new dynamic to the Star Wars story and could hint at where James Mangold’s movie, a movie about the origins of the Force, may take us.

All episodes of the Star Wars: Ahsoka series are now streaming on Disney+. Ray Stevenson (Baylon Skoll), Ivanna Sakhno (Shin Hati), and Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma) also star in the miniseries. Other Star Wars TV shows, including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Star Wars: Andor, can also be viewed on the platform.

Do you think Star Wars is going in unexpected places after the Ahsoka series? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!