Star Wars Needs An Ahsoka Tano Video Game

Star Wars’ Ahsoka Tano has become a mainstream breakthrough character thanks to The Mandalorian season 2. Actress Rosario Dawson played Ahsoka in The Mandalorian Chapter 13, and fans overwhelmingly loved what they saw of her in the role. Now talk is turning towards what’s next for Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars franchise, with one obvious step being an Ahsoka Tano spinoff of The Mandalorian, to stream on Disney+. However, There’s more opportunity for Ahsoka Tano than as a Star Wars TV character – There’s plenty of room for Ahsoka to carve out a big space in the Star Wars video game series.

Who Is Ahsoka Tano?

If you’re not familiar, Ahsoka Tano was introduced in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series as Anakin Skywalker’s padawan learner. After a rocky start to their mentor-student bond, Anakin and Ahsoka became very close, as she was on her way to surpassing even her master’s skill as a Jedi and military commander. However, dark side schemers managed to frame Ahsoka and put her loyalty to the Jedi and Republic in question. Even though she was eventually cleared, Ahsoka left the Jedi Order having been disillusioned about its ideals; she made it out just in time to avoid being slaughtered in Darth Sidious’ Order 66 attack. Even though she wasn’t officially a Jedi, Ahsoka still forged her own path, guided by a deep connection to the light side of the Force. She fought against Empire from the shadows and eventually joined the Rebel Alliance in its formative years. She would continue fighting Imperial and dark side forces after the Empire’s fall, and even reached out through the Force to help Rey defeated Sidious II in The Rise of Skywalker.

So what makes Ahsoka Tano good for a Star Wars game? Several good things:

Ahsoka’s Spotlight

First, in the era of Star Wars projects that have to all fit inside one big shared universe, Ahsoka Tano is the ultimate continuity clean-up character. Ahsoka has been filling in important faps in Star Wars storytelling since her inception. What she hasn’t had is a dedicated chunk of spotlight in which to shine on her own. The final season of Clone Wars gave Ahsoka the most focus she’s had to date, but a game would give her exponentially more focus. There are a legion of fans who would automatically hand over their money for a chance to play as Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars Universe. And that fanbase is only growing bigger by the day.

Animated Series Cliff Notes

The issue with Ahsoka Tano is that she occupies a strange in-between place in the franchise. Ahsoka is a major figure within the Star Wars animation fandom – but no matter how popular series like Clone Wars and Rebels get, there’s still a large percentage of fans who don’t watch the Star Wars cartoons, at all. An Ahsoka Tano video game could actually help with that, by letting players re-visit some key events from the Clone Wars and Rebels series. It would let those who didn’t watch learn more about those key storylines – while people who did watch Clone Wars and Rebels could get to actually play through some of their favorite battles and duels.

Star Wars Heroines

The great thing about Ahsoka’s rise as a major Star Wars heroine is that she didn’t do it alone. Tano’s story intersects with other major Star Wars female characters: She helped Bo-Katan Kryze fight for Mandalore against the Palpatine and The Empire; she fought alongside Mandalorian rebel Sabine Wren and partnered with her to search for one of their teammates who disappeared with Imperial mastermind, Admiral Thrawn. Since Thrawn’s return was a big twist of Ahsoka’s story in The Mandalorian, her time with Sabine and Bo-Katan are now more important events that could help fill-out the playtime of a game, by giving players additional characters to play as. Even Clone Wars villain Asajj Ventress would be on the table. Fans would love seeing the ladies of Star Wars getting that kind of attention.

Big Enough For Two

The other big discrepancy about Ahsoka Tano is that she’s been brought to life by two different actresses: Ashley Eckstein is known as the voice and soul of the original, animated, Ahsoka; but now Rosario Dawson is getting major mainstream focus for appearing in The Mandalorian. The actresses have been nothing but supportive of one another, but it would be special to get them in the same project together. Given how long Ahsoka is active in the Star Wars Universe (for the entire Skywalker Saga), a game that covers both the younger and older portions of her life, could have the novelty of featuring both Eckstein and Dawson’s voicework.

Finally: The Mandalorian showed just how awesome Ahsoka is in action. Who doesn’t want to jump in and play through that epic experience?