One of the misfires of Disney, whether through its Marvel or Star Wars properties, is dishing out massive interconnected content for its franchises and assuming everyone is keeping up.  Marvel’s cinematic universe and its TV tie-in series are currently a train wreck for the average consumer–without the big stars of the Avengers around to draw in audiences–and so many obscure moments tying in one or more villains from some limited edition comic book series only diehard readers have heard of–how can anyone keep up?  The same goes for Star Wars.  Those who love Star Wars will show up for the next thing no matter what.  But if you didn’t watch the animated series, specifically Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, why should you care about the new lead characters in the new Disney+ series Ahsoka? 

Someone at Disney must be paying attention, because in the final days leading up to the premiere of the series, the studio seems to attempt to remedy that a bit.

But maybe it’s best to ignore the nonsensical quotes, “Sometimes we have to do what’s right” (How about always?) and “One must destroy in order to create.”  Huh?  What did I have to destroy to create this article?

The series serves as a sequel to the brilliant, animated Star Wars Rebels (our top animation pick several years in a row) and The Clone Wars, while also tying together threads from The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Andor series–even the animated Tales of the Jedi and Star Wars Resistance can be gleaned from the previews.  Dawson leads a cast of characters fans of the animated shows never thought would arrive in live action: Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) as Twi’lek Hera Syndulla, Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Day Shift) as Mandalorian Sabine Wren, Eman Esfandi (King Richard) as grown-up Ezra Bridger, a loth-cat, the return of the fully-realized astromech Chopper we last saw in Rogue One, the planet Lothal, and the ship, the Ghost. 

But why are Hera and Sabine important, and how could this new series usher in the kind of Star Wars content the last Skywalker trilogy bumbled?  You’ll get some idea in these short trailers:

Check out the earlier trailers we screened earlier at borg here and here.  This older marketing piece adds some background, too:

Ivanna Sakhno portrays Shin Hati, with the return of Genevieve O’Reilly in her fifth show as Mon Mothma (this takes place years after her last appearance in Andor), The Mandalorian’s Diana Lee Inosanto is back as Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, Doctor Who star David Tennant is back as the voice of The Clone Wars-era droid Huyang, and Hayden Christensen is once again Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano’s Force master/trainer way back in The Clone Wars.  Along with Ray Stevenson and Lars Mikkelsen as the bad guys.  Dave Filoni, Steph Green, Peter Ramsey, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Patel, and Rick Famuyiwa are the series directors.  Kevin Kiner, composer on The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch, will score the series.

It’s just around the corner.  Look for Ahsoka to begin streaming with the first two episodes August 23, only on Disney+.

C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg