We’re spoiled for Star Wars TV content right now, with various series on their way to Disney Plus including Andor, The Mandalorian season three, and obviously more episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi. But it’s Ahsoka that arguably stands out from the pack the most due to it marking a major first for the franchise that you might’ve overlooked. The Rosario Dawson vehicle is actually the first time that a piece of Star Wars live-action media has featured a non-human protagonist.
And that’s something that fans have been celebrating on the Star Wars subreddit. User Hayabusafield77 pointed out this surprising milestone, explaining that it’s the reason they’re most looking forward to Ahsoka out of all the Star Wars shows on the horizon. What’s more, as it’s widely assumed that Grand Admiral Thrawn will be the series’ main villain, that means it’ll have both a non-human protagonist and antagonist, too.
“I might be the only one, but I am sick of all star wars [sic] main protagonists being human, and most of the main antagonists being human,” the Redditor wrote.”So it may be silly but this will probably be the first, and only with the way things seem, story (despite the medium) where the main antagonist and main protagonist are not human.”
Commenters agreed with the OP that this innovation is long past overdue.
Why has it taken until now, Disney?
Others, meanwhile, are just hyped for Ahsoka to get her own show because she’s such an awesome character. Not to mention that it’ll bring back various other Rebels crew members. e.g. Sabine Wren, as played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo.
Star Wars‘ reliance on humanoid heroes, despite it existing in a universe filled with an array of alien species, likely comes from a place of concern that hiding leading actors under a ton of prosthetics and makeup would alienate — pun intended — the viewers. Fans have already gone wild for Dawson’s former Jedi, however, so hopefully Ahsoka will convince Lucasfilm and Disney that non-human protagonists can work in live-action.
With filming underway, Ahsoka is coming to Disney Plus in 2023.