Dave Filoni Describes Ahsoka as the Bridge Between “What Came Before and What’s Really Possible” in ‘Star Wars’
The upcoming Disney Plus series Ahsoka is the focus of the latest issue of Empire Magazine, and as such, the publication is slowly revealing new images and quotes from the cast and crew. After revealing two covers, they have now posted a brand-new still from the show (see above) and snippets from an interview where Dave Filoni talks about the character’s journey in the show, particularly where she starts.
Filoni, who created and wrote the entire series (and also directed multiple episodes of it), has had the Ahsoka story in his head for a long time, or at least parts of it. One of the most referenced moments from her animation arc is when she says “I’m no Jedi”, a phrase that is often taken out of context. As Filoni explained to Empire, it’s not that she doesn’t wield a lightsaber or adhere to the values of what Jedi (should) stand for, but that she’s lost faith in the institution, which forces her into a lonely position. This is where we met her in The Mandalorian, and where her journey starts in Ahsoka:
“She’s a wanderer at this point, and is in a lot of ways wary of any organisation as such because of the power that comes with it as a group… She walks a path that basically died out a long time ago. And there aren’t many like her left, if any. So that’s a lonely thing. What is that life like? If you are a loner, you have a very small circle of friends. What is it like, then, when you try to open back up?”
There’s also been much talk about how Ahsoka might be difficult to jump into for people who are not familiar with her journey in animation, particularly for people who have not watched Star Wars: Rebels. After all, and despite Filoni insisting this isn’t necessarily the case, the new show is essentially a fifth season of Rebels. The writer-director-producer talked to Empire about how this was one of the big challenges of writing Ahsoka:
“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.”
Filoni also hinted to Empire how he’s a bit nervous about what his mentor, George Lucas, will think of the show:
“It’s almost like when you turn in a big paper at school. It’s like, ‘Here it is!’”
A release date has not been set for Ahsoka, though it was announced at Star Wars Celebration in London that the series is targeting an August debut on Disney Plus. More interviews with Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Diana Lee Inosanto, Lars Mikkelsen, and more, along with new pictures, will be revealed over the next few days leading up to the new issue’s release.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
