A youthfully buoyant wise-cracking protagonist, Ahsoka was depicted as an adolescent Jedi padawan learner assigned to shadow a reluctant and already-grumpy Jedi in Anakin Skywalker. While she was initially dismissed as annoying by segments of the audience for her constant quips (e.g. calling Anakin “SkyGuy,” after which Anakin nicknamed her “Snips”), Ahsoka’s arc turned out to be profound, making her a fan-favorite. Indeed, once viewers warmed up to her loquaciousness, Ahsoka proved to be a crucial (albeit temporary) source of balance for the future Darth Vader, and underwent her own experiences with disillusionment against the Jedi Order.
Ahsoka would resurface later in the timeline on Filoni’s 2014-2018 follow-up series, Star Wars Rebels, which was set a few years before the events that saw Luke Skywalker leave the aridity of Tatooine in Star Wars: A New Hope, focused on the ragtag crew of rebel ship the Ghost. The show’s second season would see the mysterious rebel intelligence asset known as “Fulcrum” revealed to be Ahsoka, now fully an adult, fighting the good fight with refined powers and wisdom. That run would see Ahsoka engage in an epic showdown with her former master, who’s since become Darth Vader. The events of that series would ultimately see her cross the planes of time and space itself.
The role will—coronavirus-related setbacks notwithstanding—see Dawson coming off her current television run on USA Network’s Briarpatch, which, based on metrics and an inauspicious schedule shift, appears destined to be a one-and-done affair. Interestingly, Ahsoka won’t be her first role connected to the Disney corporate tentpole, since she famously played nurse-turned-vigilante Claire Temple on Netflix’s now-nixed Marvel series, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders—a run that spanned the whole gamut, save for The Punisher. However, Dawson’s comic book-related resume also includes a recurring voice role as Wonder Woman in a number of DC’s animated features, and will next be heard in May’s Justice League Dark: Apokolips Wars.
We, of course, will continue to keep you updated on all
things The Mandalorian as the news arrives.