After Star Wars: The Clone Wars was discontinued following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, Ahsoka wasn't seen again until she appeared in another animated show, Star Wars Rebels. The character finally appeared in live-action for the first time in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, played by actress Rosario Dawson. Not long after, Disney and Lucasfilm officially announced that Dawson would be headlining her own Disney+ series titled Ahsoka.
The series is set to release on Disney+ sometime in 2023. Nothing has been officially released to the public as far as a teaser, but fans that were able to attend Star Wars Celebration were given an exclusive sneak peek of what Ahsoka will look like. The footage reportedly included a shot of Hera Syndulla and Ahsoka inside the Ghost ship, as well as the reveal of Sabine Wren, who will be played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo.
Even though there is not a lot known about the show as a whole, Dawson has recently been able to open up about the project and talk about her personal excitement.
Rosario Dawson on the Excitement Ahsoka Brings
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actress Rosario Dawson sat down to talk about headlining the upcoming Disney+ series, Ahsoka.
Dawson talked about "the most exciting part" of the show, and even used the word "mysterious" when describing Ahsoka as a character:
"What I love is that these little things we’ve gotten to hint at in these other shows, we get to more deeply explore. think whether you’ve seen the previous animations or have only seen these episodes, she’s still quite mysterious at this stage and point in her life. That’s what I think is the most exciting part of Ahsoka having her own series here, that you get to better understand her in this part of her journey."
The actress also talked about the character of Ahsoka going from animation into live-action, as well as "what's really fun" about the entire process:
"I think a big part of it is because you got to… if you’ve seen her in the animation, you’ve gotten to grow up with her and watch her grow up… She was a spunky spirited teenager…who’s really growing into her wisdom and her experiences and we’ve grown up with her. It’s not like we were suspended in animation during that time. Like we’ve evolved. And when you go back, and reflect. and you watch those things, you see yourself differently. And so I think that’s just what’s really fun is… it feels very real, whether it’s animation or not."
Dawson then went on to praise Dave Filoni's decision to showcase Ahsoka "evolve and mature" throughout her journey:
"To see a character… that you love evolve and mature, like literally mature, I love that that was a decision that was made by Dave [Filoni], like, ‘I’m not putting it all out there.’ She has some milestones to achieve."
Making sure Ahsoka feels "as real as possible" is something that Dawson alluded to being extremely important when playing the character:
"That is something that I found really, really special and what I keep going back to when we’re filming is… to make sure she’s not flat. That she’s… as real as possible, and that she’s struggling with her humanity, and her experiences, and her desires, and goals, and like finding that balance in herself."
The Ahsoka actress also talked about how the character of Ahsoka, as well as the show itself, is "interwoven" with other projects and aspects of the galaxy far, far away:
"What’s been amazing, I think, about Ahsoka and her journey over all of these different shows is how she’s interwoven. And I think that’s what’s also really exciting about the Ahsoka series, is that it’s interwoven. The world building is so huge."
Dawson also talked about the intense makeup for Ahsoka, which "was a three-hour process" when filming first began, and how it is "remarkable" when finished:
"It was a three-hour process when we first started [the makeup]. We have gotten it down now just for at least the makeup to an hour and a half. The whole look is about two hours and it’s just remarkable. It’s such a team effort, you know, and we’re doing it at 4:30 and 5 o’clock in the morning. And just the sort of level of joy and detail, because you gotta love it every single day. You’re not like dialing it in. There’s no dialing it in in Star Wars. There’s no like, ‘Okay, I did this. It’s old hat.’"
The Pressure of Playing Ahsoka
Actors who have previously had roles in Star Wars have talked about the immense pressure of going into a franchise that is so established in the entertainment world. However, Rosario Dawson definitely has some added pressure on top of that due to how big of a character Ahsoka is. Out of the hundreds of characters that were featured in The Clone Wars, Ahsoka arguably became the most popular, so fans already have an established connection with her and want the transition to live-action to be flawless.
For the most part, the audience has expressed pleasure with how Dawson has portrayed Ahsoka in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The only major complaint has been that the prosthetics for her lekku and montrals, the "head tails" and "horns" that Togrutas have, weren't long enough, but that is nothing that Dawson has control of and it doesn't affect the important aspects of the character. It is important to note, however, that her lekku has been confirmed to be significantly longer in the upcoming series than it was in her previous appearances.
Since her first appearance in The Mandalorian, Dawson has been extremely positive and showed a lot of excitement about playing Ahsoka in live-action. Now that she has her own series on Disney+, fans will be able to spend even more time with this version of the character, and, if nothing else, Dawson seems to be excited for everyone to see it.
Ahsoka is set to be released sometime in 2023 on Disney+.
