Ahsoka Tano, the hero of the live-action Star Wars series Ahsoka now airing on Disney+, went through some intense emotions on the return of her mentor Anakin Skywalker, according to actor Rosario Dawson.
In a behind-the-scenes video released by Entertainment Tonight, Dawson talked about working with Anakin’s actor Hayden Christensen and addressed what it was like for their characters to be together again. “It just was really really powerful for Ahsoka, to see her guard come down,” said Dawson. “You know her as a stoic, super powerful, on-top-of-it warrior, and all of a sudden she’s a Padawan again.”
Ahsoka and Anakin’s shared history in Star Wars
The character of Ahsoka was introduced as a Jedi training under Anakin Skywalker in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, voiced by Ashley Eckstein. Ahsoka returned in the Disney XD animated series Star Wars Rebels, again played by Eckstein, giving her a great deal of backstory before her latest incarnation came into play. Dawson first took the role for an appearance in The Mandalorian, the first Star Wars series to take off on Disney+.
Anakin, on the other hand, is none other than the franchise’s iconic villain Darth Vader. Christensen debuted as the young Anakin, before he turned to the Dark Side, in the second installment of the Star Wars prequel film trilogy. He reprised the role for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but Ahsoka marks the first time that Anakin and Ahsoka have been on the screen together in live action, despite their intertwined histories.
Dawson and Christensen both expressed excitement at coming together in a new Star Wars series, with Dawson pointing out they had known each other for a long time: “I met Hayden when I was sixteen, and we were in acting school together over a summer … It really was like seeing my old friend.”
New episodes of Ahsoka drop on Tuesdays on Disney+. The series will run for a total of eight episodes, with the last scheduled for October 3.
