Ashley Eckstein and Rosario Dawson finally met on set of Ahsoka

After voicing fan favorite Ahsoka Tano for 14 years on both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, it might have been weird for Ashley Eckstein to meet Ahsoka's live action portrayer, Rosario Dawson in person. But according to Eckstein, it was anything but on her recent set visit to the Ahsoka live-action series currently in production. "She was just lovely. We just really hit it off, which I knew we would," Eckstein told EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast about meeting Dawson for the first time.

"I've been waiting to meet her for three years, and I was so excited," the actress recalled a few days before her new Ahsoka project, Tales of the Jedi was released on Disney+. "It was such an incredible moment."

As to whether her visit included a cameo appearance similar to the one her Clone Wars costar Matt Lanter had in season 1 of The Mandalorian, Eckstein said: "I don't wanna start a rumor. People are like, 'She's on the set. She played a character.' No, it was just a set visit. So I have not filmed a cameo for the Ahsoka series." But she does hope for one if the show gets a second season. "I talk about throwing your dreams out into the universe, so it would be a dream come true if I got to do a cameo, because my background is in live action."

Lucasfilm Ltd. Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in 'The Mandalorian'

When asked about putting Ahsoka's boots back on for Tales of the Jedi after originating the character for the 2008 Clone Wars film and playing her throughout the long-delayed final season of the series in 2020, Eckstein said, "It was just incredible. You know, I never take anything for granted. Every single time I finish a project, I never think, 'Okay, well, what's the next one?' I just look at it with gratitude and I'm just so happy that I still get to voice Ahsoka all these years later."

Made up of six short films about two of the "lost" Jedi, Tales of the Jedi tells three stories of Ahsoka and three of Count Dooku (voiced again by Clone Wars vet Corey Burton) at key moments in their lives. While Dooku's deal with his slow descent to the Dark Side, Ahsoka's cover everything from her birth to how her Master Anakin Skywalker inadvertently prepared her to survive Order 66 to how she decided to start working for the Rebellion at the urging of Bail Organa. For Ahsoka fans, they are a gratifying glimpse at unknown moments in her past before the live-action show takes her character into her unwritten future. "I love how connected these shorts are. They really fill in moments of time that we wanted to do more about."

Jesse Grant/Getty Images

Eckstein also enjoyed getting to record again with her fellow Clone Wars actors, albeit over Zoom since the show was made during the height of COVID. "We were all in our various studios, all in different states, but the crew was there and I recorded with Matt [Lanter] and James [Arnold Tayor], so it was really special, especially during that time in COVID where we were all just craving connection."

Having been promised that she will always be the voice of Ahsoka in Star Wars animation, Eckstein hopes these first batch of Tales are received well. "There's so many moments that we didn't get to see and so many questions we have and I think this is a great way to explore those questions and answer those questions. So, we're starting with six, but man, it would be a dream if we got to make more."

To hear the rest of EW's interview with Ashley Eckstein, including what it was like to meet Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor for the first time, check out the latest episode of Dagobah Dispatch.

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