Ahsoka Review: Star Wars Rebels Fans Are in for a Treat, But Others May Retreat
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The post Ahsoka Review: Star Wars Rebels Fans Are in for a Treat, But Others May Retreat appeared first on Consequence.
In a galaxy far, far away, former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) is looking for a lost map that might start another war — which would be a shame, because the Rebellion just got done winning that last war, which brought down the evil Empire and theoretically ushered in a new era of peace. However, people who are still loyal to the fallen Empire are hoping to track down the long-missing General Thrawn, who might be able to revive the Empire’s cause. And when Thrawn went missing in the wilds of hyperspace, lost with him was fledgling Jedi Ezra Bridger — making the map to their location of extreme interest to not just Thrawn’s disciples, but Ezra’s old companion Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who might be the only one who can help Ahsoka decode it…
As a Star Wars fan, some of the names above might be familiar to you. Some might not be. And that’s because there’s nothing quite like starting a brand-new TV show — only to discover that you’re technically four seasons behind. The new Disney+ series Ahsoka might look like the latest live-action entry into the Star Wars-verse, theoretically focused on exploring the galaxy through the perspective of its title character (who was first introduced in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars). But the first two episodes reveal that in truth, it’s primarily a stealth sequel to Star Wars Rebels, the Disney XD animated series that finished its run in 2018.
It’s not actually that stealthy about it, even. Ahsoka deliberately invokes A New Hope vibes from the jump, with an opening crawl and in medias res opening. But then it plunges head-first into its narrative, introducing characters with the brusque ease of previous familiarity, an approach which assumes that either you’re fully caught up on what’s come before, or you don’t mind looking up names and places on your phone while you watch.
When The Mandalorian premiered in 2019, it was groundbreaking on a few levels; for one thing, the world simply was not ready for Baby Yoda (and remains that way). The first episode also marked the live-action directorial debut of Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni, who was brought into the world of Star Wars by George Lucas himself in the 2000s to oversee the beginnings of what would become an ongoing underpinning of the franchise: universe expansion through animation.
The Star Wars animated shows which began with The Clone Wars (itself a spin-off of the 2008 film) have technically been canon from the beginning, with additional spinoffs and crossovers. However, these shows, which expand the franchise’s exploration of different time periods from the Clone Wars saga to the events of The Force Awakens, haven’t just colored in parts of the Star Wars story that haven’t previously been covered — they’ve skewed deliberately towards younger fans of the franchise, giving kids who might not be ready for the full scope of A New Hope a taste of space battles and lightsaber-wielding heroes and villains.
Filoni didn’t just cross over into the world of live-action adult-skewing fare with The Mandalorian — he also made the relatively unprecedented choice to bring some of his animated creations along with him. The first high-profile instance of this came with Katee Sackhoff playing the live-action version of her Clone Wars character Bo-Katan Kryze in Mando Season 2, followed shortly by Rosario Dawson making her debut as Ahsoka. They aren’t the only characters to previously appear in animated form, either, with the Mando hair, make-up, and costume departments all doing impressive work to replicate their original designs.
Ahsoka (Disney+)
It’s effort that may be lost on the non-completist Star Wars fan, though — the casual appreciator of space battles, or the adult enthusiast who might have been intrigued by the animated series, but never thought of them as essential viewing. The Venn diagram of Star Wars fans who might start watching the new show and have also watched Clone Wars and/or Rebels is not a perfect circle, which means Ahsoka is our punishment for that presumption, a limited series in name only that is so deeply seeped in elements of Filoni’s corner of the Star Wars universe that it may prove alienating.
Without going too much into spoilers, Ahsoka interlocks with the Rebels finale seamlessly, while also leaning hard into pre-established character dynamics from that show as well as Clone Wars. It’s the latter point that proves to be the biggest issue, as the first two episodes of the series do very little to provide the information needed to understand its biggest emotional beats.
Sure, there’s some very brief background provided for things like who Ahsoka Tano is and why she and Sabine Wren had a falling out, but it feels less like necessary context and more like a gentle reminder of something you’re supposed to already know. And characters like Hera (the always dynamic Mary Elizabeth Winstead, looking fabulous in green) and Huyang (voiced by David Tennant, reprising his role from the animated series) just show up with no fanfare and little explanation for the roles they’re meant to play in this drama.
Ahsoka isn’t the only live-action Disney+ show that requires some previous knowledge of the canon: Obi-Wan Kenobi also wouldn’t make much sense if you weren’t familiar with previous Star Wars properties. The difference is that your homework for Obi-Wan was, essentially, the three prequel films and A New Hope — movies you very likely had already seen, that have been a part of the cultural consciousness for almost 20 years. Meanwhile, Rebels is now available on Disney+, but it originated on Disney XD. If you’re a non-parent who knows where Disney XD is on your cable listings… congratulations, you’re probably hyped to see Chopper the droid in live-action form, and your moment is coming.
On a personal note, there’s something a bit maddening about watching Ahsoka as someone who has spent a lot of time and energy over the years being frustrated with the way Star Wars treats its female characters. Leia is my favorite Disney princess, of course, but prior to The Force Awakens… Well, beyond the gold bikini and dying in childbirth after losing the will to live, the best female characters have been so thinly scattered across various live-action properties that every time one of them passes the Bechdel test, it feels like a true miracle.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka is a feast of uniquely interesting women on screen, from different origins and following different creeds, a level of inclusion that’s remarkable for how effortless it feels. It is literally the adult live-action Star Wars adventure I have been wanting to watch since I was old enough to notice that in the original trilogy, girls never got to be Jedi. Unfortunately, my inner child has also not watched much of Clone Wars or Rebels, and so she was even more frustrated than me.
Ahsoka (Disney+)
Playing the game of interconnected stories is fine — it can be great, even — but the burden is still on each individual property to tell its own coherent narrative, featuring characters that the audience can relate to on some level even if they’ve never met them before. In Ahsoka, while the most basic basics do come through, none of the character stories connect on the emotional level wanted without prior engagement with the depths of their lore.
On a production level, Ahsoka is well-made Star Wars content, with solid lightsaber battles and space fighter hijinks and enough interest in how ordinary people adapt to the extraordinary circumstances of galactic conflict to inspire favorable comparisons to Andor. And the cast is bringing as much as they can to their respective roles — the late Ray Stevenson proving to be an early standout, though perhaps that’s because his character is one of the few that’s actually new to Star Wars, and thus he and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) get an actual introduction.
Also, after watching the first two episodes, I did go watch (for the first time) the Rebels series finale. It didn’t give me too many details about the Ahsoka characters I’d like to know better, but I was impressed by the degree to which it does interconnect with the new series. At the very least, I’m happy for all the Rebels fans out there, who will get to see the next chapter of Filoni’s story continue.
Because what Ahsoka ultimately does is confirm the full ascension of Dave Filoni as the primary creative voice of Star Wars. There’s Andor, yes, which is its own singular creative achievement. However, that show is operating within its own very specific and limited parameters. Meanwhile, with the film side of things still dormant (and with no signs of that changing anytime soon), it’s Filoni who’s currently driving the creative future of the franchise. In his eyes, everything that’s come before is fair game — and it’s our job to catch up.
The first two episodes of Ahsoka premiere Tuesday, August 22nd at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+. Check out the trailer below.
Ahsoka Review: Star Wars Rebels Fans Are in for a Treat, But Others May Retreat
Liz Shannon Miller
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