New 'Ahsoka' Hero Refused to Watch Essential 'Star Wars' Series

After making his franchise debut in Season 1 of Dave Filoni’s Ahsoka series on Disney+, the new face of Ezra Bridger, Eman Esfandi, recently admitted he purposefully avoided watching all of Star Wars Rebels before stepping into the role, continuing a disappointing trend for actors making the jump to live-action.

Related: ‘The Mandalorian’ Star Teases Massive Live-Action ‘Clone Wars’ Crossover

Ahsoka brought Star Wars fans many things: the live-action introductions of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), Star Wars Rebels’ Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), a trip to the World Between Worlds, epic lightsaber fights, and even the return of Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker, via Force Ghost.

Although it was somewhat of a given since Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy initially announced the spinoff series during Disney’s Investor Day event in 2020, Ahsoka also brought a beloved character into live-action from Rebels: Ezra Bridger.

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Those who watched all four seasons of Rebels already know the origins of Ezra Bridger and his rise to self-sacrificial Jedi hero, during which he was voiced by Taylor Gray. In summary, Ezra is a Force-sensitive orphan living on the planet Lothal, waiting out his days in his lonely watch tower, wanting to enact revenge against the Galactic Empire for killing his parents. When a band of Rebels known as the Ghost crew arrive on Lothal without warning, Ezra quickly becomes a part of the team and learns how to harness his full potential with a little help from Order 66 survivor and ex-Jedi Padawan, Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.).

Rebels remains somewhat of a mixed bag with fans, but it’s gained new appreciation in recent years. Now, the series is enjoying a resurgence thanks to Ahsoka, which debuted on Disney+ in August. Following the eponymous former Jedi (Rosario Dawson) we all know and love from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the show picks up roughly around the same time as The Mandalorian Season 3 and sees her calling on old friends when the lingering issue of Thrawn’s return becomes impossible to ignore.

Sabine and Ahsoka’s strained relationship takes center stage in the first few episodes, as the latter abandoned her pseudo-Padawan in the middle of her Jedi training out of fear. Justifiably resentful, the Mandalorian warrior is reluctant when Ahsoka asks her for help to unlock a strange map that supposedly leads to Thrawn’s location in the Unknown Regions. She also harbors an enormous amount of guilt about Ezra, who disappeared with Thrawn after he defeated the Imperial warlord with some hyperspace-traveling purrgil during the events of the Rebels finale.

Knowing — or rather, hoping — Ezra is still alive, Sabine ends up betraying Ahsoka, following Dark Sider Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), his apprentice, Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), and Thrawn’s right-hand woman, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) into a second galaxy with the hopes of finding Ezra. Luckily, she does and finds him living alongside the nomadic Noti on the distant planet of Peridia in “Part Six: Far, Far Away.”

Ezra and Sabine’s reunion, which has been ten years in the making, is an especially heart-wrenching part of the Disney+ series, and their onscreen banter perfectly encapsulates the charm of their animated counterparts. Sadly, their time together is brief, and Sabine and Ezra find themselves in an ironic Uno reverse situation when Sabine is stranded on Peridia with Ahsoka. Meanwhile, in typical Ezra fashion, Ezra sneaks onto Thrawn’s Star Destroyer disguised as a Night Trooper to return to the known Star Wars galaxy.

Although the “Mando-Verse” is just getting started, it might be a while before we see Ahsoka, Ezra, Sabine, Hera, and Chopper together again. While talks of an Ahsoka Season 2 are reportedly underway at Lucasfilm, our safest bet is likely Dave Filoni’s upcoming crossover event, which will culminate The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Skeleton Crew, and Ahsoka in an “Heir to the Empire” style team-up against Thrawn.

Still, that’s a long way away, and until then, it’s worth looking back on Ahsoka, which is one of the highest-rated Disney+ Star Wars entries to date. As more details from its production come to light now that the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved, its cast and crew are sharing more behind-the-scenes details from the series, including Esfandi, who raised eyebrows with some recent remarks he made during a panel at the recent LA Comic-Con.

While chatting with moderator Eric Goldman (via The Direct), Esfandi revealed he purposefully avoided watching Star Wars Rebels before filming his scenes for Ahsoka. Although these things tend to be controversial, Esfandi defended his decision, explaining, “[He] didn’t watch all of Rebels” because he “didn’t want to get too caught up in the younger version of Ezra:”

I admittedly – which, if you would have found this out prior you might have taken my head off, but maybe now you don’t think that – I didn’t watch all of ‘Rebels’. I didn’t want to get too caught up in the younger version of Ezra. I felt very connected to an older version the way he was written.

To clarify, Esfandi added that even though he didn’t see all of the series, he watched some, namely core episodes where “[Ezra] had scenes very intimately with like Sabine and the Spectre Crew” and ones with “Ahsoka in particular:”

And I watched the episodes where [Ezra] had scenes very intimately with like Sabine and the Spectre crew and Ahsoka in particular. And just to understand that dynamic. Obviously, the hologram message, and also my TikTok became flooded with the scene–rest in peace Kanan. So I was inundated with a lot of it.

Esfandi then admitted that he might’ve delved more into Rebels had he not consistently received overwhelmingly positive feedback from showrunner Dave Filoni and “everyone else who was directing [him],” so clearly, he was doing something right:

But I didn’t watch it until after the show. Because Dave [Filoni], and everyone else who was directing me were so like, reaffirming. Like, ‘no, yeah, that’s Ezra. Oh, that’s also so Ezra. And we’d be backstage, that’s Ezra. I was like, okay, so then I think we’re good. Like, I’ll watch it later. So I didn’t actually do the immersion thing until all the way after shooting.

Although Bordizzo’s Sabine and Dawson’s take on Ahsoka are somewhat controversial amongst specific sections of fans, it’s widely agreed upon that Esfandi’s casting as Ezra for Ahsoka was spot-on. Impressively, the actor managed to pay homage to the same goofy, energetic teen from Rebels while interjecting him with a bit of newfound wisdom and worldliness — a natural development for the character.

Still, fans have come after Star Wars actors in the past for willingly avoiding animated TV series so as not to “ruin” their live-action portrayal of the character. Famously, Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Rupert Friend, who played the Grand Inquisitor, ruffled feathers for skipping Rebels in preparation for his gig despite the character having played a substantial part in the story. Natasha Liu Bordizzo also held off on re-watching Rebels until after shooting wrapped, so maybe she and Esfandi had a much-needed watch party to celebrate. On the other hand, Filoni himself curated a watch list of Hera-centric episodes for Winstead.

Ultimately, it never seems like a great idea to advise an actor to avoid the source material that created the very character they are tasked with bringing to life in live-action — especially when it comes to the galaxy far, far away. After all, there are dozens of iconic Star Wars characters with legacies that span decades, meaning there’s a lot of pressure to get it right.

However, it is a bit of a different situation for Ahsoka, given that Dave Filoni — who created Rebels — was involved every step of the way and could give actors like Esfandi tips in real-time to help them better portray their characters. Plus, Esfandi is correct in saying teenage Ezra is very different than his nearly 30-year-old self in Ahsoka, so maybe it was for the best that the character wasn’t influenced by all of Ezra’s previous stories in Rebels.

Whether or not you believe actors should watch pre-existing source material before stepping into a new role is entirely subjective, but thankfully, not watching Star Wars Rebels seems to have paid off for Esfandi. And by the sound of it, he’s got an exciting Star Wars future ahead of him.

All episodes of Ahsoka are now streaming exclusively on Disney+.

Do you think Star Wars Rebels should be a required viewing for those looking to join the galaxy far, far away? Let us know in the comments below!