Star Wars: Ahsoka


Ahsoka, also known as Star Wars: Ahsoka, is an American space fantasy television series created by Dave Filoni for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise and a spin-off from The Mandalorian, taking place in the same timeframe as that series and its other interconnected spin-offs after the events of the film Return of the Jedi. Ahsoka follows former Jedi apprentice Ahsoka Tano and her allies as they defend the fledgling New Republic against remnants of the Galactic Empire.
Rosario Dawson stars as the title character, reprising her role from The Mandalorian. Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ray Stevenson, Ivanna Sakhno, Diana Lee Inosanto, David Tennant, Eman Esfandi, Evan Whitten, Genevieve O'Reilly, Hayden Christensen, Ariana Greenblatt, Lars Mikkelsen, and Anthony Daniels also star. Ahsoka Tano was co-created by Filoni for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Dawson was cast to bring her into live-action for the second season of The Mandalorian, and a spin-off series starring Dawson was announced by Lucasfilm in December 2020 with Filoni as showrunner. It serves as a continuation of the animated series Star Wars Rebels. In addition to Filoni, Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson returned from The Mandalorian as executive producers and were joined by Carrie Beck.
Ahsoka premiered on August 22, 2023, with the first two episodes of the first season. The other six episodes were released through October 3. The season received high viewership, generally positive reviews from critics, and several accolades including a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award. A second season was confirmed in January 2024.

Premise

After the fall of the Galactic Empire in the film Return of the Jedi, former Jedi apprentice Ahsoka Tano joins with her own former apprentice, Sabine Wren, and other characters from the animated series Star Wars Rebels to prevent Grand Admiral Thrawn—who is stranded in another galaxy—from returning and uniting the remnants of the Empire against the fledgling New Republic. The first season ends with Thrawn returning from the other galaxy, leaving Ahsoka and Sabine stranded there. In the second season, Ahsoka and Sabine go on a journey related to the mysterious Mortis gods and confront the fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll while Thrawn leads the Empire against the New Republic.

Cast and characters

Starring

  • Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano:
    The Togruta former Jedi apprentice of Anakin Skywalker. She leaves the Jedi Order in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and learns that Anakin has fallen to the dark side of the Force in the follow-up animated series Star Wars Rebels. The repercussions of this are explored in Ahsoka, which begins with the character as a wandering rōnin similar to the main character of Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo. Borrowing from J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, in which the wandering Gandalf the Grey is reborn as the wise and powerful Gandalf the White, showrunner Dave Filoni depicted Ahsoka's development as "Ahsoka the Gray" becoming "Ahsoka the White". Dawson praised The Clone Wars and Rebels voice actor Ashley Eckstein and said she was building on that animated history. She embraced the training required to replicate the animated character's fighting abilities, and the makeup and prosthetics needed to adapt the character's alien appearance; Ahsoka has orange skin, white markings on her face, and blue-and-white montrals and lekku. New technology was developed to create the montrals and lekku, allowing them to be bigger and more realistic than in previous Star Wars series.
  • * Ariana Greenblatt as young Ahsoka, appearing as part of flashbacks that Ahsoka has to her time in the Clone Wars while inside the mysterious "World Between Worlds". To prepare for the role, Greenblatt watched many The Clone Wars episodes and also visited the set of Ahsoka to see Dawson's performance, hoping to combine the character's portrayal in The Clone Wars with Dawson's version.
  • Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren:
A Mandalorian warrior with a creative and rebellious spirit who fought the Galactic Empire in Rebels. The series reveals that Ahsoka took Sabine on as her Padawan learner after Rebels, but they parted ways when Sabine's family were killed during the purge of Mandalore. Filoni wanted to show someone training to be a Jedi who does not have a strong connection to the Force, feeling that would differentiate the story from previous Star Wars projects. Bordizzo found Sabine's challenges with learning to use the Force relatable to her own life. She watched Rebels to prepare for the role, describing it as a "memory book" for Sabine, and trained for three months to fight with a lightsaber. Bordizzo wore wigs for Sabine's colorful hair: first, a long wig that was made purple and orange with hair dye, then a short wig made purple with fabric dye.
  • Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla:
A Twi'lek general of the New Republic who is the pilot of the Ghost. She fought the Empire in Rebels. Winstead described Hera as a strong leader and fighter with maternal instincts, and felt this was unique compared to the usual depiction of army generals in media as "very masculine, hard figures". She added that it was a luxury to be able to see Hera's story told in Rebels when developing her portrayal. Hera has green skin and lekku, which took around three hours to apply to Winstead in the initial test. This was eventually reduced to an hour, which Winstead noted was a normal amount of time to get make-up applied for a series.
A former Jedi who survived the organization's destruction during Order 66 at the end of the Clone Wars. He has deemed the Jedi Order a failure and is now searching for a new power, related to the Mortis gods from The Clone Wars, to end the cycle of destruction between the light and dark sides of the Force. Despite being an antagonist in the series, Stevenson did not consider Baylan to be a villain and debated whether he was with Filoni during filming. Filoni wanted Baylan's fighting style to be like a medieval knight, wielding his lightsaber like a claymore. Episodic director Peter Ramsey felt this suited Stevenson's physicality and differentiated him from the Jedi characters. The character is named after the wolf Sköll from Norse mythology. The series premiere is dedicated to Stevenson, who died in May 2023 after completing his work on the first season. McCann felt it was the right decision to recast the role and continue the character's story. He said his experience sword fighting on the series Game of Thrones helped with his lightsaber training for the role.
  • Ivanna Sakhno as Shin Hati:
Baylan's apprentice, who he is teaching to be "something more" than a Jedi. Sakhno said Hati was calculated but impatient, and just finding her own voice in the series. She was encouraged by Filoni to help develop elements of the character's backstory. Sakhno said she and Stevenson were inseparable during filming and he had a big impact on her life. The character is named after the wolf Hati from Norse mythology.
  • Diana Lee Inosanto as Morgan Elsbeth: One of the last remaining Nightsister witches of Dathomir who is allied with Grand Admiral Thrawn
  • David Tennant as the voice of Huyang: A lightsaber-crafting droid that has been instructing Jedi for thousands of years
  • Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger: A former thief from Lothal who was trained as a Jedi by Kanan Jarrus and disappeared with Thrawn at the end of Rebels
  • Evan Whitten as Jacen Syndulla: The son of Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus who hopes to become a Jedi like his father
  • Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma: The Chancellor of the New Republic who was a leader of the Rebel Alliance
  • Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader:
Ahsoka Tano's former Jedi master who fell to the dark side of the Force and became the Sith lord Darth Vader, before being redeemed with his death in the film Return of the Jedi. Anakin appears as a Force ghost to finish Ahsoka's training. Filoni prioritized seeing Christensen's performance over the Darth Vader costume, which is only seen in brief flashes. Filoni kept the focus in these scenes on Ahsoka's character development, feeling that Star Wars creator George Lucas had already resolved Anakin's character arc in the Star Wars films and not wanting to change that. Christensen was digitally de-aged for the role. Hair designer Maria Sandoval closely studied Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith to replicate Christensen's mullet hairstyle from that film. For the Clone Wars flashbacks, she wanted to show what Christensen's hair would realistically look like if it grew from its appearance in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones to the Revenge of the Sith look, rather than directly adapt the "straighter and sort of chunkier" style seen in The Clone Wars.
  • Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn:
A Chiss high-ranking officer of the Empire who is known for his tactical cunning. He has been missing for years after disappearing with Ezra Bridger at the end of Rebels. Mikkelsen said Thrawn was "always seven paces ahead of anybody else", only ruthless when he had to be, and took advantage of others' creativity. He chose not to revisit his own performance as Thrawn in Rebels, instead focusing on creating "something new". Thrawn has blue skin and red eyes, and Mikkelsen spent two-to-three hours in make-up each day. His black hair is a wig because Mikkelsen did not have the right hairline for the character.
  • Anthony Daniels as C-3PO: A protocol droid who serves New Republic senator Leia Organa