Star Wars: Ahsoka Features Surprising Franchise First

The first two episodes of Star Wars: Ahsoka dropped on Dinsey+ this week, and fans have been taking to social media to celebrate seeing some of their favorite animated characters debut in live-action. Many fans have also been posting about the show’s focus on women. In addition to Rosario Dawson playing the titular role, the show also stars Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Sabine Wren), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Hera Syndulla), Ivanna Sakhno (Shin Hati), and Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth). With such a rich line-up of women, Star Wars was able to hit a big milestone with Ahsoka. In case you missed it, the show is actually the first time two women have ever had a lightsaber battle in live-action. Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

At the end of the first episode, “Master and Apprentice,” Sabine and Shin face off in a lightsaber battle that ends badly for the Rebel. While fans have seen women engage in live-action battles before, this marks the first time in the franchise’s history that women have faced off with the iconic weapon first seen in the original Star Wars back in 1977. Of course, lightsaber duels between women have happened in animation in the past, but it’s something special to see it brought to life in a new and exciting way. 

Dave Filoni Talks Bringing Animated Star Wars Characters Into Live-Action:

Filoni is currently an executive producer on Star Wars: The Mandalorian and served as the showrunner for Star Wars: Ahsoka. Earlier this year, Filoni revealed to The Wrap that bringing animated characters into live-action isn’t his priority, but he did tease more to come in Ahsoka. 

“Very rarely,” Filoni revealed when asked how often he thinks about bringing his cartoon characters to live action. “I know people think it’s the other way around, which is fascinating to me, but I think there’s two ways to look at that, which is that, yes, they were animated characters, but to me, they’re just characters. And now I’m over here working in live-action. I’m comfortable with those characters, I know them, I like them and I like to see them around.

“At the end of the day, I’ve been very happy with the ones that have gone over,” Filoni said of the characters who have moved from animation to live-action. “There may or may not be more in Ahsoka, if that’s your thing. If you’re excited about that, I’m just saying that one might have a few more, which makes sense, by the way. As you know, I wrote it. You can’t fault me there.” 

What Is Ahsoka About?

Fan-favorite Star Wars hero Ahsoka Tano returns in the brand new series on Disney+. Rosario Dawson stars in Star Wars: Ahsoka, premiering August 23rd on the streamer. The series picks up after the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, in which we saw the former Jedi searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and helping Luke Skywalker train Grogu. Ahsoka will be joined on her new mission alongside longtime allies Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they attempt to track down Thrawn, who was last seen disappearing to the far reaches of space after a confrontation with Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Star Wars: Ahsoka is the latest live-action series from Lucasfilm’s creative duo of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.