Credit: Inside the MagicMore details are coming to light about the upcoming Disney+ Ahsoka show as it gears up for its August release, particularly in regards to the character—or, rather, characters—that will take center stage in Season 1.
At long last, fan-favorite Star Wars character Ahsoka Tano is getting her time to shine in the upcoming Disney+ series, where she’ll be played once again by Rosario Dawson.
Ahsoka has a long history in the galaxy far, far away, dating back to director Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), where she was first introduced as the Padawan of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. She gradually became a staple of the franchise over the Clone Wars show’s seven-season run, where she was voiced by Ashley Eckstein before the story concluded in 2020.
But The Clone Wars was just the beginning for Ahsoka Tano. She also became a recurring character in Dave Filoni’s other animated Star Wars project, Star Wars Rebels, and more recently, had her backstory fleshed out in Season 1 of the Tales of the Jedi anthology series.
In 2020, Ahsoka finally made the jump to live-action in Season 2 of The Mandalorian and again in an episode of The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+. These appearances were all set up for her self-titled spinoff series, which Lucasfilm confirmed back in December 2020. Now, Ahsoka is mere weeks away from releasing on Disney+, and it’s safe to say that anticipation is at an all-time high.
Check out the official teaser trailer for Ahsoka below:
We’ve known for a while now that Ahsoka will serve as a sort of spiritual successor to Star Wars Rebels and that the new show will see the titular ex-Jedi reuniting with some of the Ghost crew for her next mission: tracking down missing Jedi Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Nefarious Rebels supervillain Grand Admiral Thrawn will also play a crucial part in Ahsoka, where he’ll be played by his Rebels voice actor, Lars Mikkelsen.
Live-action casting for Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla, both pivotal characters to the Rebels storyline, was confirmed at previous Star Wars Celebrations, with Natasha Liu Bordizzo set to play the Mandalorian warrior and Mary Elizabeth Winstead set to play the cunning starpilot. Other surprise cameos from Rebels are likely in-store, especially considering Zeb Orrelios’ (Steve Blum) surprise appearance in the latest season of The Mandalorian.
So, yes—we know that Hera and Sabine will star in Ahsoka in some capacity. But recently, the show’s executive producer, Carrie Beck, all but admitted that they’ll be equally as important to the series as Ahsoka herself.
Speaking with Total Film magazine, Beck revealed that this trio—Ahsoka, Sabine, and Hera—will be front and center in Season 1, which, in her words, is about “a Jedi, a warrior, and a general.” The producer gave context to this decision, adding, “These characters are defined by their roles and responsibilities to each other and the galaxy.”
While not entirely surprising, the choice to take the spotlight away from Ahsoka might ruffle some feathers with fans if showrunners fail to designate the correct amount of time to each character, which could end with similar backlash The Mandalorian faced in response to its third season.
This also furthers the confirmation and Lucasfilm’s idea of embracing a female-led Star Wars project, something Dawson called “quite beautiful” in the same interview:
When you watch the 15 years of Ahsoka’s journey in animation – it took me a second to even appreciate how many women were on the show. And that was Dave’s proclivity. That was George Lucas’s proclivity. And now to see it continue on with Jon and Kathleen [Kennedy] – it’s really quite beautiful.
It’ll be interesting to see if Dave Filoni can strike a balance between delivering the Ahsoka solo series we were promised while also tying in plot threads from Star Wars Rebels, all without making it seem like a de facto Season 5.
There’s also the matter of making the story accessible to audiences, some of whom may not have seen Rebels or any of the animated shows going into Season 1. Fitting Hera and Sabine into the new series without having to exposition-dump their entire backstories will prove especially important if Filoni and the Ahsoka creative team want to make these characters sympathetic and relatable to more casual Star Wars fans.
It seems likely that Ahsoka could bounce between each of these characters’ perspectives, showing flashbacks of what’s happened since the last time we saw Hera and Sabine in the Rebels finale. This could easily fit alongside the bigger story of Ahsoka and Thrawn’s return, giving much-needed insight into what’s going on in the galaxy, and in their lives, post-Rebellion. With the story Filoni wants to tell, Sabine and Hera need to be a part of the narrative—though to which extent remains to be seen.
It’s also likely that calling Hera and Sabine “leads” in the upcoming show is simply an over-exaggeration, and that they’ll feature alongside Ahsoka only when they’re necessary to the story. In either case, prepare to see more of these two characters—just maybe not in every scene or, even, every episode.
If Filoni can manage to juggle these things successfully, then Ahsoka easily has the potential to become one of, if not the best, live-action Star Wars TV shows to date. And with characters as likable and well-written as Hera and Sabine at the helm alongside Ahsoka, it certainly has a good chance at being precisely that.
Ahsoka will begin streaming on Disney+ starting August 23.
What do you think of Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren getting leading roles in Ahsoka? Share your thoughts in the comments below.