Ariana Greenblatt's Young Ahsoka Just Made Star Wars History

The actress that portrayed the younger version of Ahsoka in Episode 5 just made Star Wars history.

By Nathan Johnson Updated:
Young Ahsoka

Ariana Greenblatt just made Star Wars history after the actress appeared in Episode 5 of Disney+'s Ahsoka.

Even though Greenblatt just made Star Wars history, fans knew that Episode 5 of Ahsoka would be a notable installment in the galaxy far, far away when it was announced that it would be specially screened in select theaters.

The show as a whole already etched its name into the record books in many different ways. It featured the first time that characters such as Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla made appearances in live-action and the first time that the World Between Worlds made its way onto TV screens in the same manner.

At some point in the remaining episodes, it will make history again when Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger are shown for the first time.

How Ariana Greenblatt Made Star Wars History

Ariana Greenblatt
Ariana Greenblatt

Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Ahsoka.

In Episode 5 of Ahsoka, Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker took Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano back in the past in order to teach her one last lesson.

This resulted in multiple live-action flashbacks being shown on-screen from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, including the Battle of Ryloth and The Siege of Mandalore.

Ariana Greenblatt as Ahsoka Tano and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in Ahsoka
Disney+

In these scenes, Ahsoka, who was much younger at that point in the timeline, was not portrayed by Dawson anymore, but by actress Ariana Greenblatt.

Ariana Greenblatt as Ahsoka Tano in Ahsoka
Disney+

Greenblatt appeared in both flashback scenes, and by doing so, became the first actor in Star Wars history to play a younger version of a character in live-action that was originally introduced in animation.

For example, characters such as Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan Kryze and Rupert Friend's The Grand Inquisitor made the jump from animation to live-action, but no actor has ever played a younger version of them in any live-action project.

How Ahsoka's Flashbacks Open the Door for Star Wars

Ariana Greenblatt's appearance in Ahsoka isn't just a nice moment for fans of The Clone Wars - it completely opens the door for the future of Star Wars in terms of flashbacks.

For the first time ever, an actor played the younger version of a live-action character that was originally animated, but at the same time, not just one, but two flashback scenes from The Clone Wars were featured in live-action.

This means that Ahsoka has now taken the leap of faith and tried to pull something off that many fans have asked for, but never received.

In the future, if it is necessary to the story, other Star Wars shows don't have to be afraid to go back in time a little bit, because Ahsoka proved that it could work.

It is even possible that fans may even see Greenblatt back as Ahsoka at some point in the future.

As for the Ahsoka show, there probably won't be any more flashbacks in the remaining episodes. They served their purpose in this episode, yes, but now Ahsoka's training is finally finished and she can go find Sabine.

Episode 5 of Ahsoka is now streaming on Disney+, and new episodes will be released every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET.

- In This Article: Ahsoka
Release Date
August 22, 2023
Platform
Actors
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Natasha Liu Bordizzo
- About The Author: Nathan Johnson
Nathan is a writer at The Direct where he covers Star Wars, the MCU, and DC news. He joined The Direct in April 2021 and currently writes news and feature articles about all three brands mentioned above, but his main specialty is his knowledge about anything and everything Star Wars.