In Ahsoka, the fan-favourite padawan steps into her own spotlight at last, connecting several eras and separate corners of the Star Wars universe.
For the titular heroine of the latest Star Wars show to hit Disney+, the real-world journey has been as much of a roller coaster as her actual in-fiction arc. Introduced in the unlikely animated “film” Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2008, Ahsoka Tano started out with a Jar Jar Binks-ian reception. She quickly won over fans in the proper Clone Wars series, returned to huge applause in Star Wars Rebels‘ second season, and made the jump to live action in The Mandalorian, portrayed by Rosario Dawson.
As a student of Anakin Skywalker, a Rebel Alliance spy, a Jedi who walked away from the Order, one of the most senior Force-using characters left alive after the Original Trilogy, a personal favourite of Star Wars executive creative director Dave Filoni, and so much more, Ahsoka is one of the most important characters in the franchise today. So, it’s refreshing to finally see her get her own star turn on screen.
The two-episode premiere of Disney+’s Ahsoka sets the stage for a series that bridges many distinct eras of the Star Wars franchise—simultaneously picking up where Rebels‘ epilogue left off, continuing her quest from The Mandalorian season 2, and venturing into a brave new corner of space. Chances are, we’ll see her unpack some baggage from her padawan days along the way as well.
As showrunner, writer, and director, Filoni kicks the series off with a sequence that demonstrates everything he learned studying under George Lucas and introduces the show’s main antagonists: Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Though the character may not be a Sith, Stevenson’s chilling performance immediately oozes all the malice of Vader or Palpatine.
The series also features the return of Diana Lee Inosanto as Morgan Elsbeth, the Imperial loyalist Ahsoka duelled on The Mandalorian. Immediately the combined threat of these villains, and the knowledge of their larger plans, set up a compelling conflict.
Ahsoka‘s opening episode calls upon classic Lucasfilm traits from not only A New Hope but Indiana Jones as well, as the heroine follows the intel earned from Elsbeth. Her quest soon leads back to Lothal, the crux of Star Wars Rebels‘ plot. It’s immediately endearing to see its familiar locales in live-action (or live-action supplemented by Disney’s mighty Volume), with some shots recreated directly from the animated series. Some time has passed, and fans will have plenty of opportunities to recreate the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Natasha Liu Bordizzo, like Dawson before them, bring two beloved Rebels heroes to life: Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren. Between performances and costuming, they do the original depictions justice. The writing may not have the same vitality as the previous show—which, granted, was aimed at younger audiences with shorter attention spans—but fans of the Ghost Crew can rest assured that the beloved characters are in good hands (and lekkuu prosthetics).
If you aren’t the type to watch everything Star Wars, don’t be alarmed by all the talk of previous shows and larger plot threads. While Ahsoka is carrying several torches, it ensures audiences of all kinds can get up to speed. Hera chiding Ahsoka for her handling of Sabine’s Jedi training is little different from Han and Leia discussing the bounty hunter who attacked them off-screen between films in The Empire Strikes Back or Obi-Wan namedropping “the Clone Wars” in 1977.
(Plus, you don’t need to have watched five seasons of a cartoon to appreciate the floofy glory of a live-action Loth-cat.)
That being said, it’s hard not to see Ahsoka as a live-action season 5 of Star Wars Rebels. Much of the first two episodes hinges upon that series’ epilogue and questions some have been waiting five years to see resolved. As the show relays, Lothal’s prodigal son Ezra Bridger made a sacrifice play to take Grand Admiral Thrawn off the board. It seems neither man is gone for good, however, and it’s a race between Ahsoka and Elsbeth’s teams to see who recovers their ally first.
Tonally, I couldn’t help but wish the premiere would pick up ever so slightly; the pacing I love on The Mandalorian isn’t a perfect fit for everything Star Wars on Disney+. The second episode revs the engine a little higher, but there’s a touch of tonal whiplash that comes with drawing so much inspiration from a perkier cartoon.
Legacy characters also run the risk of overshadowing a production, as Ahsoka herself almost proved with her cameos on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. At times the show nearly loses sight of its title protagonist while establishing Sabine, for instance. It will be interesting to see how it juggles all the narrative weight when Lars Mikkelsen eventually arrives as Thrawn, as teased in the trailers already.
Almost four years into the Disney+ era, though, I know a little patience will go a long way, and Ahsoka will surely be a thrilling ride. With familiar heroes in live-action, a promising crop of new antagonists, and heavy implications for the future of the Star Wars universe, this could be one of the most impactful and fulfilling tales to debut on the streaming service yet.
However, I also hope that it remembers the titular hero along the way and doesn’t use her as just a vehicle to move bigger plots along again. Snips has come so far, after all. (And if Ashley Eckstein could get a nod along the way for pioneering the character, that would be even better.)
