Tales of the Empire: Diana Lee Inosanto on How Morgan Elsbeth is Ahsoka Tano's Dark Opposite

The new Star Wars animated series premieres this weekend.

By Jenna Anderson

This year's May the 4th festivities are set to bring a lot by way of the Star Wars universe, including the launch of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire. The new animated series is dedicated to exploring the stories of Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) and Barris Offee (Meredith Salenger), two antiheroic women who have had a unique role in the franchise thus far. Morgan Elsbeth's appearance comes after live-action roles in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Ahsoka, and it sounds like we will get even more of an indication of her dark origin story. While speaking with ComicBook about her role on Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, Inosanto argued that Morgan and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) represent characters who could have taken very similar paths, but instead mirror each other.

"I have, definitely, more sympathy for Morgan, now that we really have a confirmation of her history on Dathomir," Inosanto said in our interview, which you can check out above. "But I also feel she's a cautionary tale, too. She's a cautionary tale in the sense that, if you look at Ahsoka and her, these are two characters that have both have seen horrible things growing up as children. Yet, you have the Ahsoka character who would take a road of light and be a force for good. And then you have Morgan, who really, for whatever reason, it was her anger that carried her through. Her attitude of revenge, and just remembering her people, and in one way or another, she was gonna make sure that the galaxy was gonna pay back for what had happened. She was gonna keep to her vision of what will happen for her people, hopefully restoring Dathomir, which we see in Ahsoka. But I just love the prequel, and I think what's more fascinating — and I say this over and over — is that we get to see too, that she was capable of loving people too. I think that's very important."

Is Star Wars: Ahsoka Renewed For Season 2?

Earlier this year, with the announcement that a new movie surrounding The Mandalorian and Grogu is officially in the works, Lucasfilm also confirmed that a second season of Star Wars: Ahsoka has been greenlit. A release date for the project has yet to be set, although series creator Dave Filoni has already teased work on it.

"I'm absolutely putting it out into the universe. We're joking about it, but I'm manifesting it because I feel like I helped Dave [Filoni] manifest this role," Dawson previously shared with Empire Magazine about a second season. "So I'm ready. I'm excited. I'm willing. I got my ice-packs ready to go for Season 2 and beyond! I would not be mad at that."

What Is Star Wars: Tales of the Empire About?

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is a six-episode journey into the fearsome Galactic Empire through the eyes of two warriors on divergent paths, set during different eras. After losing everything, young Morgan Elsbeth navigates the expanding Imperial world toward a path of vengeance, while former Jedi Barriss Offee does what she must to survive a rapidly changing galaxy. The choices they make will define their destinies.

The voice cast of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire includes Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth), Meredith Salenger (Barriss Offee), Rya Kihlstedt (Lyn aka Fourth Sister), Wing T. Chao (Wing), Lars Mikkelsen (Thrawn), Jason Isaacs (Grand Inquisitor) and Matthew Wood (General Grievous). Dave Filoni created the series and is the supervising director. He is also an executive producer along with Athena Yvette Portillo and Carrie Beck. Josh Rimes serves as co-executive producer and Alex Spotswood is the senior producer.

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Star Wars: Tales of the Empire launches exclusively on Disney+ on Star Wars Day, May 4, with all six episodes. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here. 

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