Rosario Dawson returns to a galaxy far, far away in Ahsoka trailer
First appearing as the former Jedi in The Mandalorian, Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka spin-off premieres on Disney+ in August
TV News Rosario Dawson
While there was a moment when Star Wars films seemed to have been hit with their own Order 66 following 2019's Rise Of Skywalker, the same could never be said for TV shows set in the galaxy far, far away. Though there were a few changes revealed about the future Star Wars theatrical releases at the Star Wars Celebration on Friday, Lucasfilm also showed off a few of their upcoming Disney+ series. Among the teases for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte, Lucasfilm released the first trailer for Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson as the titular force-user.
Set around the same time as The Mandalorian (which marked Dawson’s first appearance as the character), the Disney+ spin-off follows Ahsoka Tano, the former padawan of Anakin Skywalker who first popped up in Dave Filoni’s animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (voiced by Ashley Ekstein) before becoming a fan-favorite in the subsequent series of the same name. After leaving the Jedi Order due to being framed for bombing the Jedi Temple, Ahsoka re-emerged in the 2014 animated series Star Wars Rebels as a key figure in the Rebel Alliance under the codename “Fulcrum,” not letting the Galactic Empire breathe for a minute.
“Something’s coming… something dark. I sense it,” says Ahsoka in the trailer, which features all the usual Star Wars fare of lightsaber fights, intergalactic ship battles, and a wisdom-feeding droid. We also get our first look at Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Birds Of Prey) as Rebel Alliance leader Hera Syndulla, which she announced on stage at Friday’s panel for the show.
“I’ve had so many pinch me moments, even on the last day of shooting, when we turn the lightsabers on and I’m in the world of Star Wars,” said Dawson before introducing Ahsoka’s trailer at Star Wars Celebration, via The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m poised and ready, because if this does well we’re going to get a second season.”
Along with Dawson and Winstead, the cast features Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Day Shift) as revolutionary leader Sabine Wren, Eman Esfandi as Jedi-in-training Ezra Bridger, Ray Stevenson (RRR), and Ivanna Sakhno (High Fidelity).
The series comes from Star Wars powerhouse Dave Filoni, who is a writer, director, and executive producer on Ahsoka. Jon Favreau (The Mandalorian), Kathleen Kennedy, and Carrie Beck join Filoni as executive producers on the Disney+ show, including Karen Gilchrist as co-executive producer. Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse) will also be directing an episode of the series.
Get ready to save the galaxy (once again) when Ahsoka premieres August 2023 on Disney+.
34 Comments
They had me at Rosario Dawson.
They had me at Rosario Dawson Mary Elizabeth Winstead
They had me at (in no particular order)
1) Chopper
2) the Ghost
3) Thrawn
4) Heir to the Empire.
Omg that was her?? I’m excited now
It looks like the re-shot the epilogue to Rebels, except Sabine has different hair.
This is the Star Wars we’ve been waiting for.
Seems like this is basically a direct follow-up to Rebels. Which works for me.
Man, Filoni really has to start explaining/detailing just when and how Ahsoka and Luke met, and soon. Like, in this season of this series.
Stealth Heir to the Empire adaptation, apparently? Get me some goddamn ysalamiri.
and a mad Jedi clone.
This time it’s AAAnakin. (I heard you need your cruiser’s battery jumped Skips)
Just one?
No point in getting greedy now is there?
It was a clone joke!
still..
It’d be funny if they had Mara Jade show up.
As long as Chewie eventually gets crushed by a moon.
I’m pessimistic about new Star Wars stuff at this point, but this looks rad.1) Contrary to the Andor-inspired “Star Wars is better without Jedi” sentiment, I think that the force and the Jedi are the coolest and most distinctive thing about Star Wars (not that I didn’t love Andor like everyone else). I just think the Skywalker set of Jedi are overdone at this point. So, I’m stoked to see some good lightsaber duels with Ashoka and presumably Ezra.2) There seems to be an actual premise that makes sense and is interesting. Not Boba Fett wanting to be a crime lord who doesn’t engage in crime for …reasons. 3) We don’t know the fate of the main characters like we did in the Obi Wan series.4) Assuming it is basically getting the Rebels crew back together, these are interesting, fleshed out characters, again unlike Boba Fett.
There has been no primary Star Wars content in which the Jedi characters and storylines weren’t worse than the non-Jedi stuff. However, it’s possible that we are due for Jedi stories that aren’t tiresome.
I’d argue Clone Wars was better on the Jedi side, especially when Ahsoka was involved. Which of course makes me more optimistic for this.
That’s certainly the best argument; to me, it was a pretty even split, which is far better than any films. I’m not ruling out the possibility of a good Jedi story (provided it is as distanced from the damn Skywalker dynasty as possible), and I think this offers the best conceivable chance, especially given that Ahsoka is a rogue Jedi anyway, and that Stevenson presents the real possibility of a Sith-y antagonist with actual personality.But I remain fully perplexed by anyone who really comes to Star Wars for the failed space monks rather than the Western badassery, the rebel thing, or just the sheer Muppet weirdness.
Meh, but at least it’s nice to see Titus Pullo getting work.
I’m definitely warmer toward this than ‘meh’, but I’ve never seen Ray Stevenson be anything less than solid.
Yeah, his presence here increased my interest tenfold.
Will Lizzo be in this?
She’ll be playing Megan Thee Wookiee
I wonder if playing a wookiee will improve her line readings.
Lizzo should be in everything.
Am I just imagining it, or does the music in the trailer sound like it’s doing some kind of orchestral version of an alt-rock song (in the vein of The Batman’s “Something in the Way” rendition)? I can’t quite place it, but the chord progression feels very familiar.
Rosario Dawson? Yay.Apparent sequel to a mediocre cartoon with a ridiculously culty fanbase? Meh.
Yeah; I hate to be a crank, but Filoni is just not my cup of tea. He seems more focused on making every movie/show cohesive, which is impressive on paper; but I don’t actually *need* the prequels to dovetail with the OT. The fact that the universe is more rewarding if you’ve watched every cartoon is offputting.
yeah like, he was the guy who made ‘bad star wars stuff’ enjoyable, and i appreciated that as a mission statement/goal, and peppering in some real grown up star wars stuff in his ancillary projects. but his stuff was always ‘this is good for what it is’ not ‘this is the best of star wars’ (IMO!)so now that he’s turned all of star wars into his ancillary project…it’s just not very good. he’s as good as he’s ever been, and he’s doing his thing, but it all feels very small now that it’s front and center what star wars is.i also think bringing back OT characters, etc, works so much better in animated because everything flattens out in the art style. having a young luke skywalker walking around feels weird, even if it shouldn’t.
This looks really neat, although I wish they’d let Dawson as Ahsoka have an emotion besides “grim determination”. Stevenson looks cool as a Jedi master.
They only showed Thrawn from behind, which makes me wonder if his casting is going to be some big surprise to lead in fans.
I’m going to be very disappointed if Sabine doesn’t cut off that hair. She had a cool punk butch aesthetic before.