“Star Wars: Ahsoka” is finally here.
The Disney+ series starring Rosario Dawson shines a spotlight on the former Jedi apprentice-turned-Rebellion hero. But some casual fans and newcomers may not realize that the character debuted to a fair amount of controversy 15 years ago.
It was 2008 –– three years since the polarizing prequel trilogy wrapped up –– and the circle was complete. We’d followed Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker from childhood slavery through awkward adolescence and galactic heroism to his downfall and transformation into the dreaded Darth Vader.
但智慧h “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” an animated series set between Episodes II and III, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas saw an opportunity to further humanize Anakin by giving Skywalker a Padawan apprentice to teach and learn from. Enter Ahsoka, co-created by Lucas and the new live-action series creator Dave Filoni, who felt there was plenty of room for her in the canon.
Many fans didn’t see it that way, though and railed against the continuity implant. But thanks to a winning characterization and charming voice acting from Ashley Eckstein, Ahsoka eventually won over many of those skeptics.
“Ahsoka”:Science fiction. Starring Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Created by Dave Filoni. (TV-14. Eight 45- to 60-minute episodes.) First two episodes are available to stream on Disney+ starting 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22; one new episode each Tuesday through Oct. 3.
Through animated appearances in “The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars: Rebels” and other projects, her character has benefited from an arc that’s just as expansive as those of Anakin, Luke, Han Solo and other beloved “Star Wars” icons.
With “Star Wars: Ahsoka” carrying forward many of the plot developments from the preceding 15 years, now is a perfect opportunity to dip into Lucasfilm’s back catalog of stories to catch up on Ahsoka’s essential moments:
(Warning: Some spoilers ahead)
‘Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi’: Season 1, episode 1 — ‘Life and Death’ (2022)
说:“每一个故事都有一个开始宣传materials for 1999’s “Star Wars: Episode I.” This was in reference to Anakin Skywalker’s cinematic journey but for Ahsoka that beginning came in the 2022 animated anthology series “Tales of the Jedi.” Starting with her birth, we follow adorable Baby Ahsoka (step aside, Grogu!) into toddlerhood as she demonstrates her sensitivity to the Force.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’: Animated movie (2008)
The “Clone Wars” feature, essentially the pilot episodes of the series, is generally considered one of the weaker efforts –– and rightly so. With a weak villain and uneven tone, they were clearly still figuring things out. The movie would be entirely forgettable but for the fact that it was Ahsoka’s first appearance and saw the character assigned to Anakin as his apprentice, making it a key part of her chronology.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’: Season 3, episode 16 — “Altar of Mortis” (2011)
On a mission to the planet Mortis with Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka is kidnapped and tempted by the Dark Side. Given what we know happens to Anakin, there’s an obvious layer of irony in this episode. Just as important, it shows how far Ahsoka’s own experiences have moved her from the excitable youngling of the pilot film.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’: Season 5, episode 20 — ‘The Wrong Jedi’ (2013)
Falsely accused of crimes by the Jedi Council, Ahsoka proves her innocence in the fifth season finale but chooses to leave the Order anyway. After several years of fighting alongside each other during the Clone Wars, Anakin and Ahsoka (or “Snips,” as he called her) forged a bond that made it even more heartbreaking when she walked away from her friends and the only life she knew.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’: Season 7, episode 12 — ‘Victory and Death’ (2020)
In the 2020 series finale of “The Clone Wars,” the focus is squarely on Ahsoka as we experience the events of 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith” from her perspective. Through the Force, she senses her former master’s turn to the Dark Side. Even though she’s no longer part of the Order she is nearly taken out by brainwashed Clone Troopers subject to the Emperor’s “Order 66.” (Don’t worry, she lived.)
‘Star Wars: Rebels’: Season 2, episodes 21 and 22 — ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’ Parts 1 and 2 (2016)
In the second season finale of “Rebels,” set three years before the original “Star Wars” film, Ahsoka finally crosses lightsabers with Darth Vader, learning in the process that the black-clad villain who hunted down the Jedi is her friend, now scarred and evil. It’s a powerful, painful moment of discovery that will hopefully play a role in the “Ahsoka” Disney+ series.
‘The Mandalorian’: Season 2, episode 5 — ‘The Jedi’ (2020) and ‘The Book of Boba Fett’: Season 1, episode 6 — ‘From the Desert Comes a Stranger’ (2021)
Ahsoka makes her triumphant live-action debut, vividly played by Rosario Dawson as a natural progression from where we saw the character last in “Star Wars: Rebels.” In “The Jedi,” five years after the fall of the Empire in “Return of the Jedi,” she meets the Mandalorian, also known as Din Djarin, and makes the acquaintance of Force-sensitive child Grogu. In “From the Desert Comes a Stranger,” we catch up with Ahsoka at the site of Luke Skywalker’s future Jedi temple, giving her former master’s son a knowing smile as she says, “So much like your father.”
Zaki Hasan is a freelance writer.