'Star Wars: Ahsoka' Review: A Rebels Sequel Rather Than Stand Alone
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- Published: Tuesday, 22 August 2023 21:16
- Written by Lupe R Haas
For someone not well-versed in Dave Filoni's Rebels and The Clone Wars story and characters, the Ahsoka characters will feel a bit foreign in their relationship to each other but casual Star Wars fans will be steeped in a familiar world of Jedis and cool lightsaber duels. However, don't fret! There's plenty of exposition setting up the characters and their past history so viewers are in the loop. The first two episodes are action-filled with no downtime.
Like The Mandalorian, the Lucasfilm series is set after the fall of the Empire. Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano isn't the only one searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn. The events pick up after her introduction in the Mandalorian.
Ahsoka stars Rosario Dawson as the titular character, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera, the late Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, Ivanna Sakhno as the fierce Shin, David Tennant, Lars Mikkelsen as Thrawn and Diana Lee Inosanto (The Mandalorian).
Dave Filoni is front and center of this Disney+ series Ahsoka as the creator, writer and director as it should be considering The Clone Wars and Rebels were his babies. The new Star Wars series is a continuation of those characters and stories but in a live-action format.
Rosario Dawson kills it as the live-action Ahsoka with a cast of great performances from familiar character names but with new flesh-and-blood actors while the first two episodes introduce new characters like Stevenson's Baylan Skoll and Sakhno's Shin. The lightsaber-wielding villains are a mysterious duo with Jedi powers, and part of the story will seek to answer how they gained those powers.
As someone not familiar with Filoni's animated series, the character's relationship to each other is explained but some may feel left out of the history between the characters. You'll get more enjoyment out of Ahsoka the series if you're a fan of The Clone Wars and Rebels, and for those who are not, it'll inspire you to perhaps binge the animated series to know more about Ahsoka and her cohorts. Or you can always watch those recap YouTube videos like the one below.
The visual effects are top-notch with beautiful production designs of dozens of environments.
Regardless of your knowledge of the Star Wars universe, Ahsoka lives up to its sci-fi roots.
Six more Ahsoka episodes will premiere every Tuesday with the finale airing October 3.