Ahsoka arrives in just a few weeks, and for fans, the hype train has officially left the station. This is Star Wars maestro Dave Filoni’s favorite character, we’re getting the live-action debut of Lars Mikkelsen’s Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the events of this show are very to pave the way for the eventual MandoVerse crossover movie.
Along the way, it seems that Ahsoka will recreate some key scenes from the animated shows in live-action. Judging from promotional pictures at least, we’ll see the end of Rebels one again. In the original, Ahsoka appears in a fancy white robe before Sabine Wren, but in the Disney Plus version she’s in her usual grey gear. Redditors want to know what’s going on:
The top-voted comment comes in with a predictable but well-executed The Lord of the Rings reference, saying “Can’t get Ahsoka the white til she’s fought off a Balrog, died and been resurrected to finish her duty.” To be fair, she’s clearly trying to pull off the whole Gandalf thing in her white robe, and it is a little curious they’ve quietly retconned this for live-action.
Back in 2018, Filoni was adamant in an interview with CBR that the white robe was very important.
“Her entire look is important. It’s very important. It’s specific to her journey prior to seeing her at the end of Rebels. … I designed it a certain way with [art director] Kilian Plunket. People are already trying to guess ‘Is it just a staff? Is it some kind of saber staff?’ That would be exciting. We’ll have to see. But the image of her, everything about it was important. Even the inclination of her head, where her jawline was.”
Five years ago, we doubt Filoni ever thought he’d be steering a big budget live-action Ahsoka show, and perhaps what works in animation just doesn’t work as an actual costume. Plus, we’d much rather have twin lightsabers Ahsoka Tano than one wielding some kind of mystic staff.
Maybe these robes will appear in the show in some form, but from where we’re standing, we can get behind this retcon.
Ahsoka episodes one and two will premiere on Disney Plus on Aug 23.