Entertainment
Star Wars Producer Calls Out the Biggest Problem With Ahsoka
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Ahsoka was generally well-received by Star Wars fans for many reasons, including the fact that it brought many of their favorite Rebels characters into live-action. However, many of those fans were perplexed by the decision to make the Mandalorian Sabine Wren into a Jedi, something the earlier show never did.
Recently, Rebels writer and executive producer Henry Gilroy expressed his own confusion with this live-action character development, who felt this story was “a weak retread” and that making a mighty Mandalorian into a Jedi warrior was “overkill.”
Star Wars Is (Re)Treading Water
He made these statements on Pod of Rebellion, a rewatch podcast where the hosts revisit episodes of Star Wars Rebels. On that podcast, Gilroy confirmed that the show’s writers originally considered making Sabine into a Jedi, but they avoided doing so because “We really felt, not only did it step on Ezra’s story, but it was a retread. Like we already did this.”
Gilroy is correct on this point: while Rebels had an ensemble cast, the series as a whole primarily focused on young Ezra Bridger, a talented Force user that Kanan Jarrus (who survived Order 66) trains to become a Jedi. Sabine is around Ezra’s age, so having her train to be a Jedi really would have stepped on Ezra’s story. As a veteran writer, Gilroy understands why this would have been bad storytelling…like, why give two members of your small ensemble cast the same basic story arc?
Joining the Dark(saber) Side
The closest Sabine came to being a Jedi in Star Wars Rebels is that, after some Force witch drama (it’s a long story), she became the owner of the Darksaber, which Kanan taught her how to use. However, at no point in that storyline did she ever show any Force sensitivity. Gilroy commented on this while also casting some serious shade on how Ahsoka eventually portrayed Sabine’s abilities after her season-long struggle to use the Force.
“What I love about the story with the Darksaber is that you don’t have to be a Jedi to have Jedi ideals,” Gilroy said. “I think that’s what’s really the more important thing, rather than force-pushing Ezra a hundred feet when she’s never used the Force before.” This refers, of course, to Ahsoka’s climactic moment where she uses the Force to help Ezra stow away aboard Thrawn’s ship, where he is sure to vex the Grand Admiral as he makes his way back to terrorize our favorite galaxy far, far away.
A Waste of Great Characters
Personally, I really enjoyed Ahsoka, and it warmed my cold-as-Hoth heart to see Ezra and Sabine reunited onscreen in glorious live-action. Furthermore, actors Eman Esfandi and Natasha Liu Bordizzo deserve full credit for bringing these characters to life and giving them enough killer chemistry to fuel a few thousand fanfics. But I can’t help but feel that Henry Gilroy is right, and the attempt to make Sabine into a Jedi lessens both her and Ezra as characters.
It lessens Ezra for the same reason Gilroy mentioned before: Sabine now has the same basic backstory (a young person trained by an experienced Jedi who becomes a Force-powered secret weapon for the Rebels). Furthermore, it lessens Sabine because she went from being a really cool Mandalorian warrior with her own unique backstory and fighting style to being just another Jedi. In this way, one of the coolest characters from Rebels has become someone who might as well be one of the zillion generic Jedi in the background during the Battle of Geonosis.
Ahsoka’s second season is around the corner, and only time will tell if the writers flesh out Sabine’s story more and keep her from just being a femme-swapped version of Ezra. Based on Season 1, though, Rebels writer and producer Henry Gilroy was right to call out this plot development as one that lessens both Ezra and Sabine as characters. If the current writers keep diluting fan-favorite characters with lazy writing like this, they may find that their audience has become a bit like Ezra himself: in self-exile from Star Wars altogether, and unlikely to ever make their way back.
