Dave Filoni on if Ahsoka is essentially a live-action season 5 of Star Wars Rebels

The Mandalorian not only broke ground as the first ever Star Wars live action series, it also brought to life several characters that had only existed in the animated arm of the franchise. While folks like Bo-Katan and Cad Bane, who first appeared on cartoon shows like The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, have had significant storylines on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, they've had to operate on series headlined by people who originated in the live-action space. All that is about to change on Ahsoka.

Ahsoka was first introduced as Anakin Skywalker's apprentice on The Clone Wars and later made the leap to live-action on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. When Ahsoka premieres this August on Disney+, the character will step fully into the spotlight in a story that serves as a continuation of the storyline from Rebels.

Following the crew of the Ghost, Rebels ran for four seasons from 2014 to 2018 on Disney XD. The final scene depicted a time jump in which Ashoka and Sabine Wren embark on a mission to find their force-wilding friend Ezra Bridger, who sacrificed himself to be zapped through hyperspace alongside the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn to parts unknown.

"Ezra's out there somewhere," says Sabine to end the series, after gazing upon a mural she had painted of the Ghost crew. "And it's time to bring him home." That journey to find Thrawn — and thereby, also Ezra — has already been teased through Ahsoka's appearances (courtesy of Rosario Dawson) on The Mandalorian, and will now play out in full force on the character's own show.

Seeing as how we already know that Rebels notables like Ahsoka, Sabine, Thrawn, Ezra, Hera Syndulla, and Chopper will be part of the new show — and don't forget Zeb Orrelios' cameo at Adelphi base on The Mandalorian — is Ahsoka really just a season 5 of Rebels, only in live action? We asked Rebels and Ahsoka showrunner Dave Filoni exactly that when he and Jon Favreau stopped by EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast.

"That's an interesting question," Filoni replied. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it, because of the epilogue that I did in Rebels. Definitely all signs are indicating that there's a continuation."

However, the man who created these characters in animated form and now gets to shepherd them in live action prefers to take a more expansive view. "For me, when I'm telling those stories, I don't limit things like, 'Oh, well, I did it an animation, so I would do it distinctly different in live action.' There's just the story that it is, and I was telling it in one medium."

He continued, "Rebels is a different style than Clone Wars. Even visually, that changed the way I could execute certain things in Rebels. The story kind of evolved since I worked on Rebels. Working with [Jon Favreau] and setting things down in The Mandalorian created an opportunity to see: How does Ahsoka work as a character in live action?"

Considering Filoni created the character himself, transitioning "Snips" to live action was both meaningful and nerve-wracking for the director/producer. "With the head tails and the makeup, what does that look like?" Filoni wondered. "Can a performer bring that to life in a way that is meaningful?"

It took seeing Ahsoka in human form right in front of him to assuage his concerns. "I was very fortunate," he recalls. "The whole thing kind of came together for me with Rosario when we talked with her and when she put on the costume and became Ahsoka. I was like, you know, this is going to work. It really kind of was as simple as that."

Filoni also credits some sage advice from the president of Lucasfilm for calming his nerves about the transition. "It goes back to a quote that Kathleen Kennedy gave me when I was really going over the casting of Ahsoka. I said, 'How do you know when it's the right person?' And she just looked at me and said, 'Dave, you just know.' I'm in a very privileged position to have a mentor like her advising me and just giving the knowledge that you need to make the choices creatively that you end up doing. And she was right. I just knew when it was Rosario, and that kind of brought Ahsoka together for me, and off we ran."

Both Ahsoka and the Ghost crew are making the full hyperspace jump to live action in a show that may be named after the former Jedi, but sure does feel a lot like a new season of Rebels. Now if we can just figure out a way to bring Kanan Jarrus back from the dead. Force ghost action, anyone?

To hear our entire interview with Filoni and Favreau about Ahsoka, as well as their upcoming movie and The Mandalorian, Skeleton Crew, and more, check out the latest episode of Dagobah Dispatch.

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