Ahsoka Tano has always had a hardcore following ever since making a name for herself in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It’s easy to understand why, then, fans were so disgruntled to see a very specific physical feature misrepresented in Rosario Dawson’s live-action portrayal of the character in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
For the most part, Dawson has been praised for capturing Ahsoka’s determination and stubbornness to a tee. Disney, too, has been lauded for the execution of the character’s storyline in the live-action Ahsoka series. However, the conversation surrounding her head tails has followed the character into every project she’s appeared in, including her solo show.
Indeed, fans have remained fixated on the length of Ahsoka’s head tails, otherwise known as lekku, since that very first cameo in The Mandalorian. The complaints aren’t without merit, but there’s also a very reasonable counterargument. Here’s what you should know about the situation.
The conversation around Ahsoka’s head tails, explained
In the Star Wars universe, lekku are fleshy appendages that protrude out of the heads of the Torgruta species, to which Ahsoka belongs. Twi’leks and male Ozrelanso have lekku as well, but the Togruta species is the only one to have three head tails and two head horns, known as montrals.
In Star Wars lore, a Torgruta’s lekku grows as they age, serving as a mark of maturity. By the time Ahsoka Tano is introduced in The Mandalorian, she’s already been through hell and high water in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. For this reason, fans were upset to see Ahsoka’s lekku were noticeably short in her live-action appearances.
It didn’t make sense for the character to have such short lekku when the animated version of her in Rebels, which takes place around the same time as The Mandalorian, had much longer lekku.
Why Ahsoka’s head tails look so different
It turns out, the noticeably shorter length was for practical reasons, at least according to Lucasfilm’s character concept designer Brian Matyas. In a tweet responding to a fan, Matyas confirmed that Dawson’s Ahsoka had much shorter lekku in The Mandalorian to accommodate for stunts.
“Yea pretty much that was the chief concern. From animation to live action I did a ton of design exploration for her and their appropriate size for the actor with consideration for stunts and movement. I’m sure I’ll get to discuss at greater length in the near future!
The good news is that Dawson’s Tano sported noticeably longer lekku in Ahsoka. The head tails that once fell just barely below her shoulder in The Book of Boba Fett now dangled well past her sternum.
In fact, the growth of Ahsoka’s lekku makes complete sense if you focus solely on the live-action shows.
Dawson herself confirmed that the head tails in Ahsoka “were completely changed” when speaking to the Associated Press ahead of the show’s premiere. This time around they were 3-D printed and “screwed into my head with this cap… I think the level of detail on this is unlike anything.”
Still, the slight increase in length hasn’t been enough for some fans to forget what Ahsoka’s lekku should look like at this point in her life. On paper, they should be longer than they were in Star Wars Rebels, which they aren’t. For those anal-retentive fans, it’s been too big of an eyesore to overlook.
Only Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and the higher-ups at Lucasfilm can say for sure why Ahsoka’s head tails have gone through this period of regression/progression. Perhaps the intent is to ensure there are many more years for the character to keep up the progression in future projects. Or perhaps it truly does come down to practicality, maneuvering through action sequences, and so on.
If there’s one thing to know about Star Wars fans it’s that the hyper-fixation on minute details like this is merely a sign of respect and adoration for the IP. So, while it may seem tedious, it comes from a good place. Thankfully, it appears as though Disney is listening to the discourse and making the necessary adjustments.