Star Wars: Ahsoka Actor Eman Esfandi Reveals How He Manifested Ezra Bridger Casting
Eman Esfandi was sending photos of Ezra to his agent and manager long before his audition.
Star Wars: Ahsoka was released on Disney+ last year and the new series featured the live-action debut of many fan-favorite animated characters from the franchise. Rosario Dawson first played Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Mandalorian, but Ahsoka saw the live-action debut of Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), and more characters from Star Wars Rebels. Recently, Esfandi spoke with Entertainment Weekly's Dagobah Dispatch podcast and talked about how he helped himself land the role of the beloved Jedi.
"I sent all these pictures that I found online to my agent and manager of [Ezra] in the animated series and pictures of me with different hairstyles that I just happened to have," Esfandi shared. "It was like, 'Hey, guys, when this character is casting for live action, I'm gonna play him. Use these photos. It will come in handy.' They were all like, 'Why are you saying this? Did you get information? Do you know about a role we don't know about yet?' I was just like, 'No, it's just a feeling. Just trust me.'"
During the interview, Esfandi also talked about filming his first big battle as a Jedi.
"It's the first time you see Ezra use a lightsaber in the show against the Night Troopers, and it was the first time anyone was going to see me do my own stunts," Esfandi shared. "I start, and right away I slipped and fell. I fell right away with the first hard step I took because there was gravel and dirt on the ground, and I didn't know there would be gravel and dirt on the ground. It was new! So I slipped, and it was definitely a moment where everyone was like, 'Whoa. Can he do this?'"
"Once they swept the dirt, it was a lot faster," Esfandi added with a laugh. "I got through the whole thing. But there's something really special about slashing a bunch of troopers with a lightsaber, and the practical effects are blowing up and going off. It's pretty surreal. It feels like you're in a video game."
Is Star Wars: Ahsoka Getting a Season 2?
After Ahsoka's first season ended, Deadline reported that "Ahsoka Season 2 is more of a reality in the conversation, though nothing is locked yet." This week, it was finally announced that a second season of the series is officially in development. Disney revealed in their announcement, "The Mandalorian & Grogu will lead Lucasfilm's ongoing feature-development slate, including films helmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, and Dave Filoni, who is also currently developing Ahsoka Season 2, among those in the works."
Stay tuned for more updates about Star Wars.