By George & Josh Bate
Hilarious, exciting, fun, and heartbreaking. Over the course of an hour, the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration took fans on a rollercoaster of emotions with a look back at Season 1, discussions about George Lucas, solemn remembrance of Ray Stevenson, and a retro trailer of concept art.
Here’s a breakdown of the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration Japan.
Bringing Ahsoka into live-Action
Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, and Rosario Dawson were the first to arrive on the Celebration Stage to talk about the past and future of Ahsoka.
With Celebration taking place in Japan, Filoni fittingly paid tribute to Japanese culture and its influence on Ahsoka Tano. In particular, Filoni pointed out the influence of Miyazaki on the character. “I fought for years to get Ahsoka to ride a wolf,” Filoni said.
Favreau and Filoni then reflected on how they approaching bringing Ahsoka from animation into live-action. “[It started with] the idea that Dave could start bringing to the live action screen characters that he had known well for over a decade with George [Lucas],” Favreau said. Naturally, the duo wanted to bring Filoni’s “favorite character” to the new medium.
“One of the biggest debates we had was if we could get Ahsoka on the screen in an effective basis,” Filoni reflected. “There’s no simple element to it.”
Chapter 13: The Jedi of The Mandalorian Season 2 was the test for how Ahsoka could work in live-action. Favreau even called the episode “the pilot” for the Ahsoka series. Dawson revealed that, while making the episode, they were unclear how Ahsoka would come back – either in an episode of someone else’s show or her own show.
The panelists reflected on the making of Chapter 13: The Jedi, which had the one and only George Lucas visit set while filming.
Filoni spoke about how Lucas slipped back into the mentor role on the set of The Mandalorian, reminding him to “get more set ups done before lunch” one day.
Filoni works closely with Jon Favreau in crafting the new generation of Star Wars stories. Having produced six seasons across four shows, the two have gotten to know one another well and their working partnership has changed over time. Favreau explained that Filoni has taken more of a leadership role creatively “when we moved into episodes of characters he created like Ahsoka and Bo-Katan.”
Favreau and Filoni humorously said that their relationship is akin to a little brother who “doesn’t get to play with the lightsabers.” Favreau mentioned that he often brings up ideas of things to include in shows that are shut down by Filoni as they don’t quite fit into canon. An example of this was Favreau suggesting Thrawn appear in The Mandalorian, something Filoni said was not possible at that time.
In crafting Ahsoka together, Favreau and Filoni were tasked with creating a show approachable to new audiences while honoring fans familiar with previous stories. Filoni said that he tries to design every Star Wars in a way that means you do not need to have seen any other Star Wars movie or show beforehand in order to understand it. Filoni likened this to the experience of A New Hope, notably the first chapter of a story released chronologically, but the fourth chapter of the story in canon.
The Chosen One arrives….
Hayden Christensen then arrived on stage to roaring applause from the Celebration crowd. Christensen notably reprised his role as Anakin in Ahsoka and was able to don the character’s Clone Wars armor for the first time. “I remember doing Episode III having conversations with George Lucas about what he was up to [before in The Clone Wars],” Christensen said. “I was really excited to do that in live-action.”
Filoni and Christensen took some time to discuss their relationship with one another. Filoni told Christensen, “No one swings lightsabers like you, man.”
Filoni recalled the first time he met Hayden Christensen at Star Wars Celebration Orlando and how he immediately recognized how much “these people love you.” From then on, Filoni was determined to work with Christensen at something. “Finally I found a way. I had to invent entire dimensions [to do so].”
Christensen echoed Filoni’s sentiments by saying that the two developed a short hand very quickly while working together.
One critical point of bonding for Christensen and Filoni is the fact that they both worked directly under George Lucas. “We both went to the school of George Lucas,” Christensen said to Filoni on the Celebration Stage.
Christensen explained that Lucas continues to have an influence on him all these years later. “I always have George’s voice in the back of my head saying, ‘Faster and more intense.'” As you can imagine, the crowd went crazy with that line.
Later in the panel, Christensen confirmed that “Anakin will be back for Season 2.”
A tribute to Ray Stevenson
It is difficult to talk about Ahsoka without talking about Baylan Skoll. And it is impossible to talk about Baylan Skoll without talking about the incomparable Ray Stevenson.
Having passed away in May 2023, Stevenson is unable to reprise his role as Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka Season 2. During the panel, Filoni spoke emotionally about Stevenson.
“It was a particularly big challenge because of losing Ray, who was just the greatest person and such a great spirit on the show…. Ray was the most beautiful person on screen and off. He was wonderful to all of us. However big of a loss you think it is, it’s bigger. And it was a challenge for me to even consider continuing for a while. But I have a great support group with Jon and Rosario and I found a way. And I had Ray in my head. I was grateful for all the conversations with him about Baylan. So I understood what to do, it just took a while to get there.”
It was difficult to not get choked up hearing Filoni speak about Stevenson and what the late actor meant to him and to the show.
After consulting with Stevenson’s family, Filoni decided that Baylan’s journey had to continue under the stewardship of another actor. This led them to cast Rory McCann, best known for his role as The Hound in Game of Thrones.
A first look at Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll was shown at Celebration and can be seen below.
Filoni reassured fans that Baylan is in good hands with McCann. “His whole focus is to not let Ray down and to not let you down…The Force is with him,” Filoni said.
Rosario Dawson also commented on working with Rory McCann. “I’m excited to bring on Rory,” said Dawson. “I worked with him 20 years ago on a movie… Ray had an indomitable spirit… So kind, such a joy to be around. And Rory has that incredible balance of intensity and fierceness and passion.”
It’s a trap!
Another fan favorite character returns in Ahsoka as well. Filoni announced that Admiral Ackbar will be in Ahsoka Season 2 and that he will go “head to head with Thrawn.” “Admiral Ackbar is back in a much, much bigger way,” Filoni added.
Filoni joked that he was tempted to include the famous Ackbar line, “It’s a trap!” in the show, but that it would be difficult to believe that this guy keeps falling for traps. Fair point.
Mortis Gods
Filoni confirmed that the Mortis Gods will play a role in Ahsoka Season 2. Filoni was tight-lipped about the topic but did say that “it’s big. It’s crazy.”
Previously, a sketch from Filoni depicting Sabine and Ahsoka on top of a statue of the Mortis Gods was released.
Loth Kittens!
“I have to pay for the show somehow,” Filoni joked. Well, he probably found a way to pay for th show, because fans all over th world ae going to watn to get their hands on Loth kitten merchanidse.
Here is what the Loth Kittens look like in Ahsoka Season 2…
A trailer?! Not quite.
A veteran of Star Wars Celebration at this point, Filoni knew that he couldn’t leave the crowd empty handed after a panel. However, he had a dilemma. That dilemma was that Ahsoka hasn’t started filming yet, meaning there is no footage to show to the crowd. Thankfully, an innovator with the mind of Dave Filoni had a solution to that predicament.
Filoni recounted how, after he watched the original Star Wars on television as a child, a trailer for The Empire Strikes Back played. This was despite the fact that The Empire Strikes Back hadn’t even started filming yet. The trailer Filoni saw though featured concept art for Empire, backed by a narration and some footage from the previous film. Well, that’s exactly the approach Filoni employed to give the Celebration crowd an exclusive first look at Ahsoka Season 2.
Here is a description of the footage we saw….
The footage was very quickly cut together, making it difficult to catch everything. That being said, there was plenty of cooll stuff to behold.
The narrator said that the season will have the heroes “fight battles in tow galaxies.” This aligns with the ending of Season 1, which saw Ahsoka and Sabine stranded in Peredia while Ezra made his way back to the known galaxy along with Thrawn.
The narrator also said that the season will cuminate in a clash between Ahsoka and the “fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll.”
Concept art showed the return of Ezra, Sabine, and Chopper. A notable shot of Chopper in the footage depicted the sassy droid wielding a rifle.
Other art depicted Ahsoka and Sabine fighting some kind of mechanical, spider-llike monsters.
Dathomir also featured in the footage, as well as a masked Nightsister we haven’t seen before.
The end of the footage provided a run-through of the cast of the show and confirmed that Zeb will appear in Season 2. Zeb was a notable absence in Ahsoka Season 1 as he was the only member of the Rebels crew to not take part in the story. However, after appearing in live-action in The Mandalorian Season 3 and The Mandalorian and Grogu, Zeb will seemingly be reunited with his found family.
The footage, which was seemingly cut together by Filoni itself, was hilarious in its vintage style. It felt like a commercial from decades ago and unlike any piece of recent Star Wars promotional material we’ve seen.
The future of Ahsoka
Ahsoka Season 2 begins shooting just four days after the panel at Star Wars Celebration. Filoni and Dawson said that Filoni keeps rewriting the episodes as they approach the start date.
Some miniature models of sets being built were shown at the panel. Check some out below.
A release date for Ahsoka Season 2 was not unveiled, although 2026 seems like a safe bet.