Star Wars Celebration: Ahsoka Panel Live Recap

By Brandon Davis

Star Wars Celebration played host to 4,500 fans in their Celebration Stage for a panel centered around the upcoming Ahsoka series. It followed the Lucasfilm Showcase which took place on Friday, featuring a brief segment showcasing footage from Ahsoka with a cast Q&A. More looks at the upcoming Disney+ series and insights from the creators and cast were promised for the panel on Saturday, set in London. Below, find a live recap of the Ahsoka panel from 2023's Star Wars Celebration!

The first panelists were Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the show's executive producers. "Originally when we did Clone Wars, I was working with a writer named Henry Gilroy...we weren't sure George would want us going anywhere near his characters, Anakin and Obi-Wan...in our first meeting with George, he really wanted it to star those characters," Filoni explained. He explains that Ahsoka's name started from his cousin's name Ashley. George Lucas wanted Anakin Skywalker to have a padawan. "That's how it kind of happened," he said, "and he named her Ahsoka." Filoni goes on to credit the animators, actors (including Ashley Eckstein), and more for helping bring the character to life and bring the journey to this point. 

"I knew that part of Dave's plan as he started dipping his toe into live-action...there was a larger goal of eventually bringing the characters that he created to the screen in live-action," Favreau said. "It was a long process getting used to the new medium but also getting used to seeing these characters in live-action." He explains he wants the new versions of characters to honor longtime fans and welcome new viewers. He also notes how Filoni's background with animation brought a thorough and unique artistic vision to the series. 

Rosario Dawson joins the panel, along with Chopper. "She's still stubborn now," Dawson said of the character. "It feels like memories. When I think of the show, it feels like I have actual visual memories to reflect upon," she said of Eckstein's work with the role in animation. "It's really such a remarkable space and as a fan, it's been really incredible to be part of Mandalorian and Boba, obviously, but to have this show..has just been exceptional and I'm so excited for all of you to see where she is now."

What will be driving Ahsoka in the show? "She is not a Jedi, she definitely has so much of that at heart for her," Dawson said. "She recognizes a threat that other people aren't necessarily seeing and she's just keeping her eye on the ball. He is formidable and not someone to just take ightly. The idea that he's just dead but she's getting these rumors, she has sense, there's something that she just knows... these foes are not easily dismissed." She has another mission, involving Sabine. "Her relationship with Ezra is something that's really powerful and I think that's something that's always top of mind with her," she said. "She brings some really interesting, awesome people along with hero on the journey to help her out."

Dawson also notes that they heard and listened to fans about Ahsoka's appearance, making tweaks for the look and functionality of the entire costume she will be wearing for the character in the Disney+ series. 

Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Mary Elizabeth Winstead join the panel as they'll be portraying Sabine and Hera. Winstead started researching the character with Rebels. "We had the best resources you could imagine with Dave and Carrie and Jon helping us through everything," she said. "I kind of just trusted in Dave that he would tell me if I wasn't accomplishing that."

Bordizzo points out there was "a lot of training," for the part. "It was definitely the kind of role that I didn't want to feel like a fraud when I put on the armor," she said. "I just wanted to get to the point where it felt like just putting on a t-shirt, like, 'I belong in this.'" Such a process took months. 

Winstead describes Here as an "Incredible leader but also this maternal figure as well." It was important to her "to try to combine those things and to try to aspire to be this person who people come to for guidance in so many different ways..those are such different personality traits but somehow she encompasses them all." Dawson offers compliments to Winstead and Bordizzo for their commitment to the roles.

David Tennant will voice Huyang in the live-action series. 

The villains of the series are now the focus of the panel. Diana Lee Inosanto, who debuted as Morgan Elsbeth in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, is the first to join the panel. Favreau points out that George Lucas was on set to watch Inosanto's day on set where her character dueled with Dawson's. "We all know that she's coldhearted," "She absolutely is very loyal to someone, to Grand Admiral Thrawn. We also know that she's a hard worker and I think one thing you're gonna love is you're going to learn more about her background, so I'm really excited about that."

Ray Stevenson and Ivanna Sakhno join the panel, playing Baylin and Shin, respectively. The group talks about lightsaber training and other skills they had to develop to play the parts.

Filoni will direct multiple episodes in Ahsoka. Other directors include Steph Green, Peter Ramsey, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Patel, and Rick Famuyiwa. Filoni is reuniting with Kevin Kiner for the music of the series. Ludwig Goransson also gets involved, having collaborated with Kiner for Ahsoka's sound in The Mandalorian. 

The panel is concluding with an Ahsoka trailer similar to the previously released version but with more footage. It includes the first look at Thrawn's face, boasting red eyes and all. Lars Mikkelsen will be playing Thrawn. He takes the stage. "We met through Skype," Mikkelsen said. "At some point, finishing up that series, David asked me, 'Have you ever been to LA?' I went, 'No, no/' 'We're gonna make that happen,' he said...I've never been on a set with so much passion, I must say. People are so passionate about bringing this to life for you guys."

Filoni credits Tim Zahn's books for Thrawn. "You would walk past the bookstore in the mall and see this standee and it said, 'Heir to the Empire,' and you wouldn't believe it," he said. He describes Thrawn as, "Strategically brilliant. He doesn't have the Force and it doesn't matter. He will outsmart you and he will trap you."

"We want to make sure we get it right," Filoni said of Thrawn. 

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