Star Wars: Ahsoka: everything you need to know about The Mandalorian spin-off

Date:
Tue, 30 Nov 2021 17:00:21 +0000

Description:
Anakin Skywalker's former apprentice is getting her own Disney Plus show here's all the key intel on Ahsoka.

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If youre yet to watch the animated Star Wars TV shows, you may be asking why Ahsoka Tano warrants her own TV show. Everyone else, however, will simply be wondering why its taken so long.

Arguably the most important Star Wars character who hasn't appeared in a live-action movie, Ahsoka Tano was Anakin Skywalkers Jedi apprentice throughout the Clone Wars. Thanks to The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels TV series, shes been present for many of the most pivotal moments in the history of that galaxy far, far away. Now that shes made her live-action debut (Rosario Dawson played her in The Mandalorian season 2 episode The Jedi), the Ahsoka TV show is poised to continue the former Padawans story.

The spin-off couldnt be in better hands either, with Dave Filoni the man who oversaw both The Clone Wars and Rebels, and co-created Ahsoka calling the shots as showrunner. So, as Filoni works his way through the scripts for this eagerly anticipated limited series, weve been diving into some Force visions to find out what Ahsoka will have in store when it lands on Disney Plus . The Mandalorian season 3 : all the intel on Din Djarin's next mission Here's why we think Taika Waititi isn't more suited to Flash Gordon than Star Wars New Star Wars shows and movies coming over the next five years

Release date: Disney is yet to confirm Ahsokas release date but, seeing as the shows still at the writing stage, wed be surprised if we see it before 2023.

Story: Rosario Dawson reprises her Mandalorian role as Ahsoka Tano,
alongside Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Star Wars Rebels Mando Sabine Wren. Hayden Christensen is also reportedly set to return as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

Cast: Plot details are, as is standard, hidden behind Lucasfilms impregnable defense field. It seems likely, however, that the story will send Ahsoka and Sabine on a quest to track down trainee Jedi Ezra Bridger and his Imperial nemesis, Grand Admiral Thrawn.

SPOILER ALERT! Proceed with caution if youre yet to watch The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels or The Mandalorian. Ahsoka on Disney Plus release date
Ahsoka release date: probably not before 2023 (Image credit:
Disney/Lucasfilm)

It was one of many new Star Wars and Marvel TV shows announced at the Disney Investor Day in December, but it looks like well have to wait some time for
an Ahsoka TV show release date.

Disney and Lucasfilm have given little indication of when the limited series will land on Disney Plus and, with an article in Empire revealing that showrunner (and Lucasfilm executive creative officer) Dave Filoni is still working on the scripts, theres clearly some way to go.

The Book of Boba Fett , Obi-Wan Kenobi , Andor and The Mandalorian season 3 are all ahead of the Ahoska TV series in Lucasfilms effects-heavy production pipeline, so wed be surprised if it appears any time before 2023. Ahsoka on Disney Plus trailer Is there an Ahsoka trailer? (Image credit: Lucasfilm / Disney)

With the show still at the scripting stage, its way too early to expect an Ahsoka trailer especially as Lucasfilm rarely debuts footage more than a few months ahead of launch.

For the moment ,well have to make do with the logo above, or rewatch some Ahsoka-focussed episodes of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels on Disney Plus. Ahsoka on Disney Plus: Who is Anakin's ex-Padawan? Who is Ahsoka Tano? (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

When gone am I, the last of a Jedi will you be, a dying Yoda told Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.

But he was only correct from a certain point of view. Ahsoka Tano isnt technically a Jedi because she never passed the relevant trials but in all other regards, she has all the necessary qualifications.

Making her first appearance in Star Wars canon in the animated 2008 Clone
Wars movie that set up the long-running TV show, the Togruta was Anakin Skywalkers Padawan apprentice throughout the eponymous conflict. A highly respected commander in the Republic forces, she fought with a distinctive two-lightsaber style, and was nicknamed Snips by her master, owing to her supposedly snippy attitude. She referred to Anakin as Sky Guy.

Ahsoka went on to play a key role in Star Wars Rebels, set in the run-up to A New Hope, and shes since returned in The Mandalorian season 2 episode The Jedi . Her voice can also be heard among the choir of Jedi giving Rey a pep talk in The Rise of Skywalker . Ahsoka on Disney Plus story Whats Ahsoka
Tanos backstory? (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

For the benefit of anyone yet to watch the animated Star Wars shows, heres a brief history of Ahsoka Tanos life and times.

Having served the Republic with distinction throughout the Clone Wars, she left the Jedi Order under a cloud during season 5. Although she was
eventually exonerated for bombing the Jedi Temple shed been framed by her friend and fellow Padawan Barriss Offee she decided not to return, and went out into the galaxy solo.

During the final days of the Clone Wars, she helped Bo-Katan Kryze remove Darth Maul from the Mandalorian throne, and was on her way to return the former Sith Lord to Jedi custody when the Emperor initiated Order 66. With some help from her old friend Captain Rex whose mind-controlling inhibitor chip she surgically removed Ahsoka survived the Jedi purge and went into hiding.

She showed up again in Star Wars Rebels, set around 15 years after the
Emperor came to power. It was eventually revealed that Ahsoka was the mysterious Fulcrum, an agent who helped pull disparate cells of freedom fighters together to form the Rebel Alliance.

She also fought a fateful duel with her former master when she removed a portion of Darth Vaders helmet with her lightsaber, she became one of the few people in the galaxy to know his true identity. The Vader/Skywalker
connection wouldnt become common knowledge across the galaxy for several decades, and the secret was eventually leaked to damage Leia Organas
political aspirations, as detailed in Claudia Grays 2016 novel, Bloodline.

Ahsoka barely made it out of the duel alive, but she was saved by a future version of Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger. He pulled her into the World Between Worlds, a mystical realm where the usual rules of time and space do not
apply. By the time of the Rebels epilogue set some time after Return of the Jedi Ahsoka had somehow returned to the normal reality of that galaxy far, far away.

Her most recent canonical appearance came in The Mandalorian, where she met Din Djarin (aka The Mandalorian) and Baby Yoda. While communing with the Child, she learned that real name was Grogu, and gave Mando some pointers to help find some other Jedi. (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

So what do we know about the Ahsoka TV shows story? Well, it'll have plenty
of existing canon to work from, and theres nobody on the planet who knows how to navigate the Star Wars timeline better than Dave Filoni. During his previous life as supervising director on The Clone Wars, Filoni co-created Ahsoka Tano with George Lucas. He then went on to shepherd her through seven seasons of The Clone Wars and several guest appearances on Rebels. He also directed her episode of The Mandalorian.

Asked about his experience writing the new show, Filoni told Empire that, Its thrilling, I gotta tell you. Its something you imagine doing for a long time, and then its kind of startling when youre sitting there, and now you have to do it.

I thought of this adventure for Ahsoka for a long time, and its interesting
to see how its evolved. Years ago, I never would have imagined that it was sprung from a branch of a tree that had anything to do with a guy[like]Din Djarin [aka the Mandalorian], or a child that looks like Yoda. Its a great lesson for me on how, when you have other creatives like [The Mandalorian showrunner] Jon Favreau, they can help lend such dimension and depth to what youre doing.

Going by StarWars.com s original announcement about the series, it looks like the new series will pick up soon after Ahsokas meeting with Mando and Grogu: After making her long awaited live-action debut inThe Mandalorian, said the site, Ahsoka Tanos story will continue in a limited series.

Its currently unknown, however, whether that Rebels epilogue takes place before or after Ahsoka showed up in The Mandalorian.

That's not necessarily chronological," Filoni told Vanity Fair in November 2020. "I think the thing that people will most not understand is they want to go in a linear fashion, but as I learned as a kid, nothing in Star Wars
really works in a linear fashion. You do [Episodes] 4, 5 and 6 and then 1, 2, and 3. So in the vein of that history, when you look at the epilogue ofRebelsyou don't really know how much time has passed. So, it's possible
that the story I'm telling inThe Mandalorianactually takes place prior to that. Possible. I'm saying it's possible .

One thing that both the Rebels epilogue and the Ahsoka TV show will have in common is Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren. Deadline has confirmed that
Natasha Liu Bordizzo will take the character into live-action, which potentially offers up more clues about the Ahsoka story.

In the Rebels finale, the duo set out to find their lost friend, Ezra
Bridger, assumed to be trapped in the World Between Worlds. This could also tie in with Ahsokas primary mission in her episode of The Mandalorian. There, she revealed that shes on the hunt for Imperial bigwig Grand Admiral Thrawn, who just happened to be with Bridger when he went missing. The way Ahsoka pressed Calodan town magistrate Morgan Elsbeth about the location of her master, aka Thrawn, suggested hes already back to make a nuisance of himself. Maybe Bridger isnt far behind?

And while revenge isnt traditionally the Jedi way, we wouldnt be surprised if Ahsoka gets to settle a few scores with Barriss Offee. Being framed for
murder is going to leave a few scars. Ahsoka on Disney Plus cast Ahsoka cast: who'll be appearing in the show? (Image credit: StarWars.com)

Here's the rumored cast so far: Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker

Although Ashley Eckstein voiced Ahsoka throughout The Clone Wars and Rebels, Sin City/Daredevil star Rosario Dawson played the character in The Mandalorian, and she'll reprise the role in Ahsoka. Dawson will be joined by Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who replaces Rebels voice actor Tiya Sircar as Sabine Wren.

In other casting news, these are particularly good times to be Hayden Christensen. Not only is he playing Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker in Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Hollywood Reporter says hes now joining the Ahsoka cast. As yet, its unclear whether hell be playing the Sky Guy or Vader incarnations of the character or both. But, seeing as hes dead at this point in the Star Wars timeline, chances are hell either be appearing in flashbacks or as a Force ghost.

Entering the realms of speculation, Katee Sackhoff seems a likely candidate for a return as Mandalorian princess Bo-Katan Kryze. She was the one who told Mando that Ahsoka was hiding out on Corvus, so theyre clearly still in
contact and you never know when you might need to call on an old friend.

Were unsure about the current whereabouts of friendly ex-Clone Trooper
Captain Rex but, considering he was one of Ahsokas best friends in The Clone Wars, a reunion would be most welcome. That could mean a cameo for The Book
of Boba Fett star Temuera Morrison, whose Jango Fett was the model for all
the Clones.

And itll be interesting to see who if anyone joins the Ahsoka TV show cast as Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn. Sackhoff is the only voice star
from the animated series to play their character in live-action, so it would be surprising if both Taylor Gray and Lars Mikkelsen (brother of Rogue Ones Mads) reprised their roles. If you picture Mikkelsen with a blue hue,
however, its immediately clear that hed make a brilliant Thrawn.

Perhaps the most intriguing possibility for the Ahsoka cast, though, would be a return for digital Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. As the two most powerful (known) Force practitioners in the galaxy, theyd surely have plenty to talk about as well as reminiscing about Lukes dad, they could discuss why Ahsoka turned down the opportunity to train Grogu while Luke grabbed the opportunity with two hands. Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 : what we know so far



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/star-wars-ahsoka-everything-you-need-to-know-ab out-the-mandalorian-spin-off/


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