Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren is EVERYTHING in ‘Ahsoka’

Disney+‘s latest show might be called Star Wars: Ahsoka, but it’s Natasha Liu Bordizzo‘s live action version of Sabine Wren who somehow feels like the main character. Sure, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) is the one leading the charge to track down the nefarious Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). But Sabine Wren is the character who arguably is embarking on a far more important adventure, aka the hero’s quest. While Ahsoka has settled comfortably into the role of competent warrior (but reluctant mentor), Sabine is the character who finds herself most challenged and changed by the events of Star Wars: Ahsoka Episodes 1 and 2. She is the one inhabiting the role once held by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and even Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal). However, what’s even more important than Sabine finally accepting the cosmic call to embark on this quest is the fact that Natasha Liu Bordizzo gives the standout performance of Star Wars: Ahsoka so far.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren is everything in Star Wars: Ahsoka and I’m not afraid to say it!

Sabine Wren was first introduced to Star Wars fans all the way back in a 2014 short designed to promote the Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels. “Art Attack” was a three-minute clip that followed the sassy teenaged artist as she wrecked havoc on a lot full of Imperial TIE fighters. What set Sabine apart? Her interest in art. She was the first artistic Star Wars character we had ever met (barring jizz musicians and dancing girls). Over the course of Star Wars Rebels’s four seasons, we watched the teenager grow into a freedom fighting hero. Growing up beside her? Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger. Star Wars Rebels would end with Sabine’s friend sacrificing himself to transport Thrawn’s Imperial fleet far away from his homeworld of Lothal. Where Ezra and Thrawn wound up was the mystery that Sabine was supposed to solve with new mentor Ahsoka Tano.

When Star Wars: Ahsoka begins, Ahsoka Tano finds herself facing a snag in her hunt of Thrawn. She’s successfully located an ancient map that’s supposed to point her to her quarry, but she can’t figure it out. General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) points out that Sabine might be able to make more sense of the device. Ahsoka goes to Lothal, where Sabine has been holed up since the end of the Galactic Civil War. We learn that not only did the women fall out during their quest for Ezra and Thrawn, but that Ahsoka briefly took Sabine on as her apprentice.

The revelation that Sabine is Force-sensitive is huge. Sure, as Huyang (David Tennant) points out, she’s not very Force-sensitive. However, I’d argue that makes Sabine’s struggle to become a Jedi all the more interesting. Instead of being blessed with outrageous talent — like Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), Luke, or Rey — she has to humble herself to keep up. Not to mention the fact that it also ratchets up the tension in any fight scene. Rival Dark Side-using padawan Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) doesn’t have to struggle to win a duel against Sabine, but our girl needs to pull out all the stops just to survive. (It’s also fun that we’re getting yet another Force-using Mandalorian after Grogu.)

Perhaps what’s more exciting for Sabine Wren fans, however, is the realization that she is the character whom showrunner Dave Filoni has set up as the Joseph Campbell-esque hero. So far, we’ve seen Sabine resist the call to adventure, accept supernatural aid via Ezra’s lightsaber, and even literally signal she’s “ready” to embark on a hero’s journey. Though, instead of being swallowed by a whale in Campbell’s version, Sabine just cuts her hair.

Sabine’s ascension to true mythic hero status only works because Natasha Liu Bordizzo is so fantastic in the role. Besides being a lucky physical match for the animated character, Bordizzo is able to weave together the spunk that voice actor Tiya Sircar gave her with a world-weariness that speaks to how Sabine has matured since we last saw her in Rebels. She’s older, maybe wiser, but definitely more accustomed to the twin demons of guilt and loss.

My biggest takeaway from the first two episodes of Star Wars: Ahsoka is that Natasha Liu Bordizzo is going to be a major star. The 28-year-old Australian actress not only holds her own against industry vets like Rosario Dawson, but manages to anchor the wild swings Dave Filoni is taking with real human heart. Again, the series might be called Ahsoka, but I’m tuning in for Sabine.