‘Ahsoka’ First Look: Rosario Dawson’s Jedi and More in Disney+ 2023 Preview

Rosario Dawson is making her “Star Wars” leading role debut in “Ahsoka.”

A first look at the Disney+ series in the works for 2023 showed Dawson as the live-action version of the Togruta ex-Jedi, reprising her cameo in “The Mandalorian” for her own standalone series.

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Other shows given sneak peeks were “The Mandalorian” Season 3, “Loki” Season 2, and the upcoming new series “Secret Invasion” starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Dave Filoni executive produces “Ahsoka” alongside showrunner Jon Favreau, with the show set for a 2023 premiere.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ivanna Sakhno, Eman Esfandi, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo star alongside Dawson. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” actor Hayden Christensen reprises his role as Anakin Skywalker for a crossover, and Ray Stevenson is slated to play a mysterious villain admiral.

Ahsoka is best known for appearing in episodes of the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” animated series, voiced by Ashley Eckstein. Her appearance on “The Mandalorian” suggested that she might pick up one of the loose threads of “Rebels”: Her hunt for the Empire’s Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the Star Wars Expanded Universe’s fan-favorite villains, dating back to Timothy Zahn’s novel “Heir to the Empire” in 1991.

Dawson became attached to the project via social media: “Someone tweeted me and fan cast me,” Dawson said. “I retweeted back and I was like, ‘Absolutely, yes please’ and ‘#AhsokaLives.’ And apparently that got the attention of someone who has been doing the ‘Star Wars’ press for years. She forwarded it to Dave Filoni. That kind of started a whole thing. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, did I just get fan cast in something?’”

Dawson also already got in trouble for seemingly confirming Christensen was joining the cast before his official announcement. To note, Dawson’s titular character was previously an apprentice to Skywalker in the animated series “The Clone Wars,” so the crossover isn’t too surprising.

Dawson captioned, “Skyguy…They know!!! See you soon, Snips,” using the characters’ nicknames for one another from “The Clone Wars.” It was only later that Dawson learned the report was an unconfirmed rumor.

“I looked in my email, and ‘Star Wars’ was like, ‘You might want to take that down,’” Dawson explained. “I’m like, ‘Man, I can’t be trusted.’”

For more information on “Ahsoka” and all upcoming “Star Wars” series, click here.

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