There’s arguably been a disturbance in the Force that has disrupted its balance for years now. Some may argue the trouble goes back to 2012 when Disney bought Lucasfilm. Many may point to “Solo: A Star Wars Story” (the first “Star Wars” movie that flopped at the box office in 2018), while others might ascribe the pain points to the recent era of episodic “Star Wars” television, which has been decidedly hit and miss (2019—current). Fortunately for the devout, “Star War: Ahsoka,” the new Lucasfilm series that centers on former Ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano, is not one of those failures, and in fact, in its brief new preview (two episodes) is quite engaging, intriguing and even quite promising.
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Perhaps this is because it’s run by Lucasfilm’s shining new hope: animation filmmaker and storyteller turned live-action writer/director Dave Filonli. George Lucas’ own Padawan, essentially, Filoni worked under the tutelage of his master on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” co-creating Ahsoka, Anakin Skywalker’s own pupil in the process, and was basically handpicked to be Lucas’ creative successor. And maybe not so coincidentally, Filoni helped co-create and run what many “Star Wars” disciples consider the best piece of content to come out of the post-Disney sale: the animated series “Star Wars Rebels” (2014-2018), which re-introduced Ahsoka as an older, wiser character and a host of now-beloved new ‘Rebels.’
And so, with ‘Ahsoka,’ Filoni begins to confidentially further manifest his multi-pronged life-long dream at Lucasfilm:
- Transporting his animated characters into live-action.
- Transitioning from animation to live-action himself as a writer/director (which he started with on “The Mandalorian,” handheld a little bit by the more experienced Jon Favreau).
- Creating a two-headed sequel to two of the characters he gave birth to: Ahsoka Tano and the ‘Rebels’ crew.
No one knows these characters more intimately than Filoni, and this is conceivably why ‘Ashoka’ pops to life, running out of the starting gate with purpose in a way a lot of its sluggish and episodic TV counterparts have not.
Beginning with a variation of the classic “Star Wars” crawl—this time in red and not presented in the same angled design— “Ahsoka” doesn’t have the most complex plot. Still, what it lacks in story (so far), it makes up with captivating characters, dynamic energy, and potential.
First introduced in live-action via “The Mandalorian,” episodes that included Grogu Baby Yoda and Deep Fake Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka is a fan-fave character, and her new series is essentially a continuation of the inklings teased in ‘Mando.’ Ashoka (Rosario Dawson) is tracking rumors that whisper to conspiracy and another potential disturbance in the galaxy: the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen, who also voiced the character in animation), a malevolent Imperial strategist thought to have been killed at the conclusion of “Star Wars: Rebels.”
To Ahsoka, Thrawn is the heir to the Empire, the key to the next Imperial generation, and finding him before his allies do is essentially circumventing another galactic war before it begins. But the revelation that Thrawn lives is also personal: that the masterful Imperial architect is still out there somewhedre encourages the idea that long-lost Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger (played by Eman Esfandi in live-action) also survived (he and Thrawn were thought to have vanished or died at the Battle Of Lothal at the end of ‘Rebels’ in a big, greater-good sacrifice play prompted by the young would-be Jedi).
Whether ‘Ahsoka’ will confuse those who have not seen ‘Rebels’ or aren’t familiar with Ahsoka’s growth and journey throughout two animated series is only for those audiences to say (I know these shows intimately). Still, it feels like the difference between enrichening storytelling knowledge rather than being entirely left in the dark and puzzled.
With the possibility of Ezra still out there somewhere in the galaxy, Ashoka finds herself with two initial missions: finding a star map that may point to Thrawn’s rumored location and re-enlisting her old Star Wars Rebels” teammates in order to find their missing old colleague (which feels a little recycled from the plot of finding Luke Skywalker in ‘The Force Awakens’).
And in many ways, re-engaging old friends and allies proves to be more complicated (and as equally action-packed) than tracking down a map— especially and specifically the young hot-headed Mandalorian Sabine Wren (played by newcomer Natasha Liu Bordizzo in live-action).
This is where things get a bit complex for “Star Wars” fans and perhaps the tenant that major revelations shouldn’t be told off-screen in passing dialogue. “Rebels’ ended with Sabine and Ahsoka going off into space to comb the galaxy to find Ezra.
What happened in the interim years? While not explicitly spelled out, it appears that not only were their efforts were in vain, but Ahsoka attempted to train Sabine as a Jedi and failed (echoing Ahsoka’s own journey, a hot-headed teen Padawan that Anakin Skywalker had trouble training before she quit the Jedi Order all together).
It’s a good organic story choice—that with time together searching for Ezra, Ahsoka would think to train Sabine— and it creates interesting baggage and complex personal dynamics—the two women have issues and essentially gave up on one another. But the way this information is relayed through dialogue and characters essentially saying, repeatedly, “Boy, you guys have some issues to work out, huh?” it’s certainly not the most elegant fashion. More importantly, the show and the trailers have suggested that Sabine is Force sensitive all of a sudden, which was never the case on ‘Rebels’ and is always a thorn in the side of those who are retcon sensitive (which everyone should be, retcons always feel like a convenient narrative cheat).
Regardless, the drama has been set: Ashoka must find Thrawn, but there are obstacles at every turn: Empire loyalists working in secret in many branches of the New Republic—imagine Trump partisans working in the Biden administration and trying to actively undermine the plan—but she has to rely on old friends.
Some of those friends include additional members of the Spectors Ghost Rebels team beyond Sabine, including General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the bellicose droid Chopper, the lightsaber-crafting droid Huyang (David Tennant), and eventually Ezra Bridger himself (eagle-eyed fans already spotted alien ‘Rebels’ member Zeb Orrelios in season three of “The Mandalorian” so we know he’s out there too).
The series’ three antagonists are entrancing too. They include the designer Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), who has ties to the mysterious Nightsister witches of Dathomir (last seen in the animated world), Baylan Skoll (the late Ray Stevenson to whom episode one is dedicated), an Ex-Jedi turned Dark Force user (not officially a Sith, but close), and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno).
Some of these actors fare better than others. Rosario seems deeply comfortable in the skin of Ahsoka, and Stevenson and Winstead fit like gloves into the world of “Star Wars.” Natasha Liu Bordizzo, however, feels like a question mark that hopefully improves over time. And If there’s another valuable note to add somewhere, maybe its humor; Ahsoka herself is a tad humorless and self-serious, a mood that sometimes overwhelms the show.
But if “Star Wars” TV has taken too long to get exciting or even interesting (looking at you, ‘Book Of Boba Fett’ and more recent dull and disposable seasons of “The Mandalorian”), then “Ahsoka” strikes a good balance between thrilling, well-crafted action set-piece sequences (Ashoka vs the Dark Force users for one), and not just overcorrecting and over-cramming in action sequences for the sake of adding them.
The dark web of collusion bubbling in the back of ‘Ahsoka’ is definitely fascinating, making the series feel like something of a mystery, and the ‘Search For Ezra’ is essentially the story ride-or-die ‘Rebels’ fans have wanted to see for years. Not all of it is graceful, but nothing borders on the “hey there!” fan service that many fans worried about.
If there’s anything to be apprehensive about—a common concern for all it’s-all-connected storytelling— it’s that “Ahsoka’ already seems like it could simply be about laying a narrative pipe rather than a tale of consequence. I.e., it seems pretty clear that “Ashoka” will meet up with the characters and events of ‘The Mandalorian’ and maybe ‘Book Of Boba Fett,’ to form an ‘Avengers’-style team-up movie that’s essentially all the Rebels and New Republic Leaders versus Thrawn in a live-action movie that Dave Filoni is already scheduled to direct (and many assume will be titled, “Heir To The Empire,” which takes its titles from an old now non-canon book where Thrawn has become the new Darth Vader, essentially, minus the Sith elements).
That seems so obvious; it feels like a fait accompli. And that’s fine. Marvel made five films in the run-up to “The Avengers,” but those were stand-alone stories that worked and made the big payoff that much richer. Let’s hope Lucasfilm can pull it off while making something like “Ahsoka” stand on its own two feet rather than just a building block in service of something bigger. Until then, may the force be with us that cherish good, meaningful storytelling that’s more than just a map to the stars. [B]