Via Starwars.com:
THE VOICE ACTOR DISCUSSES HER INITIAL AHSOKA AUDITION, THE CHARACTER’S BIGGEST STAR WARS REBELS MOMENTS (SO FAR), AND MUCH MORE.
Impact. How can we possibly measure it when it comes to fictional characters? Sure, there are things like merchandise and ticket sales. But when you talk about real heart-and-soul cultural impact — a protagonist that means something to people — it gets harder to define. When it comes to Ahsoka Tano, however, impact becomes a far less nebulous concept.
Consider this: Introduced in the 2008 animated movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as the 14-year-old apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka soon became the central figure of the resulting animated series. As such, she was the first starring female Jedi of Star Wars. (Sorry, Rey.) She evolved from an immature teen into a leader. She actually left the Jedi Order of her own accord. Over the course of the show, she grew to become, arguably, the most popular new Star Wars character since Darth Maul — with both women and men. Her return in Star Wars Rebels, as a fully-grown and powerful Force wielder, was greeted with genuine excitement throughout social media. And with a pending showdown with Darth Vader in tonight’s season finale of Star Wars Rebels, people are worried about her.
When it comes to Ahsoka, measuring impact isn’t difficult. Her impact is massive.
Ahsoka, most likely, would not be the character she is without Ashley Eckstein. As the voice of Ahsoka in The Clone Wars, Eckstein conveyed youthful doubt, arrogance, and hopefulness, wisdom gained with experience, and individuality; and in Star Wars Rebels, a commanding and calm confidence. In advance of tonight’s season finale (9 p.m. PT/ET on Disney XD) of Star Wars Rebels, StarWars.com spoke with Eckstein about getting the part, fighting Buffy, and embracing the responsibility of playing Ahsoka. (For those avoiding spoilers about Ahsoka’s fate, fear not; this interview does not discuss the outcome of the Season Two finale.)
StarWars.com: I want to talk about Ahsoka overall, and especially throughout Season Two of Rebels. But to start, I was wondering about when you were first told Ahsoka was coming back. Did you and Dave [Filoni] talk about what she might be like at this stage in her life and what she had been up to since we had last seen her in The Clone Wars, and that kind of thing?
Ashley Eckstein: You know, Dave and I definitely talked about who Ahsoka is in Rebels. I think one thing, and I get this question all the time, is that fans ask if I have anything to do with the storylines. And the answer to that is no. I’ve never had anything to do with the storylines and, quite frankly, I don’t think I should. [Laughs] Dave and his writing staff, they’re just incredible and they always come up with the most amazing stories. I mean, stuff way cooler than anything I could ever think of. So in terms of the storylines, Dave’s always worked with me on a need-to-know basis of, “Is it something that’s needed for the performance?” Then he absolutely gives us all the backstory and everything we need to know, but if it’s a story that hasn’t been told yet and we don’t need to know about it, he usually keeps that secret. Because that could potentially be a future story. So even us as actors, we’re not told the entire guide map of everything, which I know is in his head.
I know what I need to know. And I know more, kind of, mentally where she was at, personality-wise where she was at, I know bits and pieces of what happened in-between when she walked away from The Clone Wars and when she appeared in Rebels, but I really only know a fraction of what’s happened to her in those years. There’s a large part that I do not know and hopefully one day we’ll get to explore that.
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