Ahsoka showrunner Dave FIloni revealed the biggest challenge that he faced working on the live-action Disney+ series.
Ahsoka, who has been a part of the Star Wars canon since her debut in 2008's The Clone Wars movie, is about to get her own live-action series for the first time after years of winning over fans in animation.
The series will see a number of animated Star Wars characters similarly jump to live-action as Ahsoka did during The Mandalorian Season 2, including Star Wars Rebels fan-favorites Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, and the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn.
And, as was the case when Ahsoka made her live-action debut, these will not be the same versions of these characters fans know and love, with changes expected for nearly every one of them.
The Biggest Challenge of Making Ahsoka
Speaking in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Ahsoka showrunner Dave Filoni broke down some of the things he had to juggle in developing the Star Wars show.
Filoni remarked that the biggest challenge of it all was making something for both the "audience that know her" and those "that don’t," balancing " what came before and what’s really possible:"
“The biggest challenge was, there’s a whole bunch of audience that know her, and a whole bunch that don’t. She has one foot in the Star Wars that a lot of people know because of her connection to Anakin, and yet she’s all new and can go in her own direction, in her own way. I think that makes her an interesting bridge between what came before and what’s really possible.”
Looking back on what it was like working on Ahsoka in both animation and live-action, the Star Wars creator added that "at the time [he] did the [Star Was Rebels] epilogue" he knew if he was going to come back to that story he was going to need a new challenge, which the transition to live-action ultimately became:
“Even at the time I did the 'Rebels' epilogue, I felt like, ’If I go forward with this, this has to be challenging in another way.’ And the challenge was going to be live-action. I wanted to resolve these things about her, but I wanted to do something new with it. [Lucasfilm president] Kathy Kennedy knew [of ] my interest in live-action and was looking for a way for me to make that jump. So she would get me on set, because I was not trained in it at all, and I’d sit there and watch J.J. [Abrams, on 'The Force Awakens'], Rian [Johnson, on 'The Last Jedi'], and Gareth [Edwards, on 'Rogue One'].”
Why Only Dave Filoni Could Make Ahsoka
Not only is Ahsoka going to move along both the MandoVerse story and follow up on those hanging threads from Star Wars Rebels, but it is also kind of a full-circle moment for Dave Filoni and the Ahsoka character.
Ahsoka is Filoni's original Star Wars creation, and he has described how much it means for him to bring the character into live-action. He has called working on Ahoksa "a religious experience" as he gets to see the character's story through.
And because of all this, nothing was going to be too big for Filoni to get Ahsoka off the ground. No balancing of animated legacy and live-action future, meticulous costume changes, or even a global pandemic was going to stop the Clone Wars creator from moving ahead with Ahsoka.
While some would look at plates Filoni has to spin on a project like this and turn away, he seems almost excited by them, getting to solve the ultimate puzzle around a character that he lives and breathes.
Given how involved Filoni is in the series (having written every episode), fans should be excited that Lucasfilm has the right man on the job when it comes to a live-action Ahsoka project.
Ahsoka comes to Disney+ on August 23.
