Dave Filoni Discusses Whether Ahsoka Is a Direct Continuation of Rebels, Casting for Live-Action, and More

Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau recently visited Entertainment Weekly’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast to talk about their previous and upcoming Star Wars projects, in particular, whether Ahsoka could be considered to be a direct continuation of Star Wars: Rebels. While Filoni was hesitant to answer with a clear “yes,” what is clear is that he considers the narrative in Ahsoka to be part of the same story that he told in Rebels, albeit with added balancing efforts to adjust for live-action and other Mando-Verse narratives.



Asked whether Ahsoka could be considered Rebels season 5, Filoni mused,

Given the confirmed cast list of the forthcoming series with Ahsoka, Ezra, Sabine, Hera, Chopper, and Thrawn all returning, it’s hard to imagine this story not being a continuation of Rebels. I believe that having a primary person to shepherd these characters through an increasingly busy narrative in the Star Wars universe is weighted toward success.



Dave Filoni on the set of THE MANDALORIAN.



Speaking about Rosario Dawson’s casting and bringing Ahsoka into live-action for the first time, Dave Filoni said,

Based on the trailer, it seems likely that Filoni met with similar success with Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who plays Sabine Wren. We’ll have to withhold judgment on Hera, Thrawn, Ezra, and others until we see more of them in the show. However, it’s hard to imagine Lars Mikkelsen not bringing Grand Admiral Thrawn to life perfectly, a character he’s voiced in 17 episodes of the animated series.



(L-R) Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) Lucasfilm’s Ahsoka, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



My main hope for Ahsoka is that it will capture fans who haven’t watched Rebels, a feat that may be challenging given the shorter duration of live-action content (season one has eight episodes) versus Dave Filoni’s long-form storytelling in animation. Many fans are of the opinion that Rebels didn’t hit its stride until the third season--Ahsoka doesn’t have this luxury. That said, what Ahsoka lacks in time, it arguably gains in budget and production value.



Ahsoka was created and written by Dave Filoni and is slated to premiere in August on Disney Plus. In the meantime, for more on the Rebels and Ahsoka conversation, check out our recent story on what episodes of Rebels Filoni recommends prior to watching Ahsoka.



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