‘Ahsoka’: Eman Esfandi and Diana Lee Inosanto on Joining the Show, Ezra’s Final Line, and More
Following an in-depth conversation with Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Ivanna Sakhno, StarWars.com has released a second part of their Ahsoka post-strike interviews with the cast. This time, they paired up Eman Esfandi and Diana Lee Inosanto.
The two of them were a big part of the story of Ahsoka, both on and off-screen. Take Diana Lee Inosanto, who had almost given up on acting before Jon Favreau called her about The Mandalorian, and then, more than a year later, she found out her part was even larger than she had imagined:
“I’ve always loved acting, but I could never find my break and my voice as an artist. I was honestly thinking, ‘I guess I’ll go back to college. I’ll continue teaching martial arts’. But here I am. And it’s just been magical for me to be able to have this newfound career and to be able to be an actress in something I love so much. I’ve loved [Star Wars] since I was a child, and it’s just a real miracle for me.”
The actress was also recently at LA Comic-Con, as The Cosmic Circus documented. There she said that not only she didn’t think she’d ever be back — but up until she watched Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian she didn’t even know her character had a name:
“Until the night ‘The Jedi’ episode appeared on Mandalorian season two. I was just stunned. Like, I got a name. I just knew I was the magistrate. I know everybody’s like, ‘Oh, Grogu!’ but I had no idea it had been Morgan until Rosario [Dawson] said the character’s name. So that gives you an idea [of the] kind of secrecy that they keep, you know?
So yeah, I wasn’t privy to it. And then when I found out that I was going to be possibly considered for Ahsoka, ironically, I was at Disneyland with my family when I got the call from my manager. And I just literally screamed and cried in the middle of Disneyland.”
The actress has talked before about the connection she formed with her father through Star Wars ever since they saw it together in the theater in 1977. But she also told StarWars.com about her autistic son, who gravitates toward these stories:
“My oldest son has autism and for whatever reason he really gravitated toward the whole Star Wars universe. I loved sitting down and watching The Clone Wars and later on Rebels. They’re almost like modern-day Aesop’s Fables. There’s always some cool life lesson. And I think it’s even more amazing that, down the road when I would be asked to audition for Mandalorian, in the beginning, it was my son that I would read lines [with to prepare].”
Inosanto is a prolific martial artist, and her talent was finally on full display during the finale, when she fought Rosario Dawson with the Blade of Talzin. Apparently, stunt coordinator Ming Qiu had some input on the story of that scene, and it was Inosanto who asked for the weapon to kill her character:
“Ming came up with the idea of taking the spine of the Talzin blade and using it, redirecting the [Nightsisters] magik. I wanted so much to have a powerful ending. I requested that [Elsbeth] would die by her own weapon.”
When asked about the significance of her character, she explained:
“Ahsoka, one way or another, was able to find her way through the darkness and into the light, so to speak. Morgan, to me, is [a different] example of what happens when people have been traumatized. They are willing to take risks in a way that can be harmful and hurtful.”
Another big story for the show was the casting of live-action Ezra Bridger, a dream come true for Star Wars: Rebels fans, Dave Filoni, and most importantly, Eman Esfandi. The actor also spoke to StarWars.com about how close he felt to the character:
“I literally feel like Ezra spoke to me in my living room, which is strange, but it’s what happened. It felt like anytime I was on set and wasn’t sure what to do, I would in my head be like, ‘All right, Ezra, can you take care of this? You got this right?’ It just felt like he was there.”
He also explained his preparation process and how it did not involve rewatching Rebels on a loop. Instead, he took a deep dive into Star Wars lore through reading articles and watching videos on YouTube:
“I did not watch Rebels ad nauseam because I didn’t want to get too much of the younger version of the character locked into my body. But I watched key episodes that Dave recommended so I could understand the relationship between Ahsoka and Sabine and the rest of his crew. And I also researched Ezra like a public figure. I read all these articles… and then watched a ton of videos on YouTube about the Force, and interviews with George [Lucas] and interviews with Dave. I inundated myself with all things Star Wars to understand the tone and the idea of the show.”
Ezra ends Ahsoka by landing a shuttle on a New Republic ship and telling Hera “I’m home”. That was a key moment years in the making for Dave Filoni and the fans. Eman Esfandi talked about the simplicity and the weight of that line:
“I’m in the enemy’s outfit and I’m being received with guns and blasters pointed at me, except this time when I take my helmet off and they actually see who I am and what I look like, they realize that I am not an enemy. I’m a friend. And to them, and in this world, I am a hero who is not dead after all. That was a very, very impactful moment for me as a human being.
It really means a lot and sort of epitomizes my feeling about what it is for someone who looks like me and comes from my background to be playing a character like Ezra Bridger.”
The actor, who says he didn’t grow up on Star Wars, took the opportunity to thank the cast of Rebels for their efforts to bring the character to the point where he picked it up: “I want to thank the whole original Spectre crew because we stand on the shoulders of giants in all of them.” He then added that it was a huge honor to be a part of something that teaches these morals of hope and kindness:
“I didn’t realize Star Wars was such a conduit of goodness and hope, kindness and compassion, humanity and understanding. Being a part of it now…is the highest honor.”
He wrapped it up with the message he hopes fans take away from his character’s arc:
“It’s okay to lean on your friends and to allow people who love you and who want to help you to help you. And that’s for everything in life, not just getting back to a different galaxy.”
Ahsoka season 2 has not been confirmed yet, but Eman Esfandi is expected to return as Ezra Bridger at some point in the near future.
Check out the full interview with StarWars.com here.
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.
