‘Ahsoka’: Shin Hati Actress Ivanna Sakhno Provides Details On New Villain
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that debuted on a recent episode of their Dagobah Dispatch podcast, actress Ivanna Sakhno gave small details about her orange-lightsaber-wielding character Shin Hati in Ahsoka.
Shin was first revealed in the Ahsoka trailer that debuted at this year’s Star Wars Celebration. In it, she appeared igniting the dark-orange blade before attacking New Republic officers, as well as piloting a ship through space and shooting at an unidentified target. It was also revealed that Shin Hati is the apprentice of Baylan Skoll, played by the late Ray Stevenson.
When speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the character, Ivanna Sakhno emphasized how she wanted audiences to be able to empathize with Shin, despite the character’s evil side:
“I hope that despite her darkness of a character, we’re able to also expand our understanding of that darkness within someone and the reason behind it. I love her. I really care so much about her, and I feel like it’s my job to take care of her and protect her.”
Sakhno also provided some details about the character’s aspirations, the training that went into the lightsaber combat, and how she trained mentally and emotionally for the role as well.
“Shin is quite an intense and ambitious Force-wielder. She is very skilled in lightsaber combat …
The training has to do with your connection to your mind and heart and body. And you really begin to — through understanding the history of Star Wars and the Force itself — see how that placates itself into your own life through the flow and learning how to navigate it within your movement.”
Sakhno also credits the show’s fight coordinator, Ming Qiu, for helping with the extensive training, and explained that with the lightsaber practice came a need to do ice baths twice a week to recover.
Listening to the conversation, it is also evident that Sakhno, and the rest of the cast who was present, had a warm friendship with the late Ray Stevenson. The interview was conducted right after the Ahsoka panel in London, and in it, Sakhno was joined by other dark-side related characters in the show, including Ray Stevenson himself. They all joked around with them, and Sakhno shared a humorous anecdote about a Shin song that Stevenson used to sing — check out that part of the interview here. The actress also gave a warm tribute on Instagram to the late actor, which can also be read here.
Ahsoka is set to debut sometime in August on Disney Plus.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
