When Ahsoka arrives on Disney+ in August 2023, it will come complete with many character fans of the galaxy far, far away loved from Star Wars Rebels, including Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, and, obviously, Ahsoka Tano.
These characters originated in animation with different actresses and are now being brought to life in live-action by Mary Elizabeth-Winstead, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, and Rosario Dawson, respectively. IGN had the chance to speak to all three of the actresses at Star Wars Celebration 2023, and they shared with us how they are bringing their characters to life in live-action.
A Hyperspace Jump From Animation to Live-Action
Luckily for these three, there are so many stories of these characters from Star Wars Rebels and, for Ahsoka, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. However, Dawson said live-action allows for the actresses to bring a whole new dimension to these established heroes.
“I think we all have the benefit of being able to watch the volumes of work in Clone Wars and Rebels to have literal memories,” Dawson said. “It plays to me like memories when we’re on set, and it’s just been really powerful. But I think [Elizabeth-Winstead and Bordizzo] have such a beautiful way of talking about the essence of the character that you download and then reconfigure and turn into something new as you’re bringing it to this genuine 3D space.
“It’s really even cool talking to Dave [Filoni] about it. He had so much control over the characters and the lines and every single angle. And now in live-action, it’s different. We bring so much to it, and it’s really fun to be able to say, that’s what it is on the page, but this is how it is in my body. And to just take it to something, another level and a different level. And we all discover it anew, but definitely still with this history there.”
“And live action has its own truth that you find in the moment on set that you can’t predict. So it’s really exciting,” Bordizzo added.
What won’t change, however, is the bond between these characters and the relationships they’ve built over countless episodes. Hera and Sabine spent most every episode of Star Wars Rebels together and, even though Ahsoka only showed up for a few, they began the foundation of the story that will be explored in Ahsoka.
“Complicated, lots of history, lots of stuff to work through, but it’s kind of the start of a journey,” Bordizzo said of her relationship with Hera. “It’s like a new chapter. And for Sabine personally, she’s sort of focused on the promises. She made a friend at the end of Rebels and Ahsoka really ties in with her journey there.”
Lastly, Dawson spoke about the amount of women in Ahsoka and Rebels and how it shows the strength of these three and all the others who make it on screen.
“I would add that I think that’s something that’s really wonderful about this project is these women have such great history with each other, but they’re also just so fierce in their own right, and the lore of them, the leadership of them,” Dawson said. “So there’s absolute teamwork, but they just bring a lot of strength to the storyline in it very individual ways.
“And it was definitely one of those things that was quite striking when we started filming it. Not something that I noticed or we noticed right away because I don’t think we even noticed it right away in Rebels, but just how many female characters are in this show. It’s really exciting and rewarding to see them come back together on another mission, another adventure, a big mission. A big mission.”
The Moments That Meant the Whole Galaxy
We then moved the conversation to the actresses’ favorite moments from the animated series, and if there were any that made them go, “Oh, this is a pivotal moment for this character that i’m playing.”
“I think a lot about when Kanan was trying to train Sabine to wield the darksaber and her mental state and frustration getting through and trying to overcome her mental state,” Bordizzo said. “I think that that’s something Sabine struggles with. So I rode with that kind of frustration that can sometimes be her downfall in the show as an energetic thing. I think that was an episode I watched a lot.”
“I think for me it is actually where we left off [in Rebels],” Dawson said. “When you see her and Sabine connect and go off together and search for Ezra, it’s a moment where you see Ahsoka go into the white and so you know that it’s unspoken. You don’t have a lot of details there, but that there’s been a shift in her. And I just love that that’s something that we’ve experienced so much with Ahsoka is watching her grow up and develop.
“So it’s so nice. Even someone who’s a master, even someone who’s just so capable that there’s still evolution possible for her. And I think that that really sits with me a lot to think about what that must be like to graduate from a space that I can’t even imagine being at, let alone moving on from.”
“I think there’s probably a couple different sides of [Hera] that were incredibly important for me to try and harness,” Elizabeth-Winstead said. “For one, her confidence and joy that comes with flying for her I think was really important to capture. And that episode of The Bad Batch where you get to see her as a kid and get to see what that meant to her was just really instrumental in figuring out who she was and what kind of sparks her.
“And then her more kind of maternal side as well with Sabine and Ezra and scenes where you get to see her taking up for Ezra and speaking to Kanan and that kind of mother side of her I think was really important for me to capture and try and have those two sides of her in one, which was like, it’s a very complex kind of person or Twi-lek, so it was great to get to see such a complex, varied character throughout the seasons of Rebels and have so many moments to pick and choose from.”
Ahsoka will premiere on Disney+ in August 2023, and we were treated to the first trailer of the much-anticipated series at Star Wars Celebration.
For more, check out our interview with Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau on their new Star Wars movie, Ahsoka, and more, how Dawson trained 14 hours a week to recreate animated show stunts, and our look at who’s who in the Ahsoka trailer.
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