Disney+ Review – Ahsoka (2023)

One of my favourite memories is going to see Star Wars: A New Hope in concert with my dad in a huge theatre packed with people. And I was lucky enough to experience something very similar when I went to the UK fan screening of Ahsoka earlier this week. As soon as I ed the queue at the BFI Imax I was greeted by a crowd of people of all ages, most of whom were armed with lightsabers and Star Wars-themed merchandising. It reminded me once again that for many of us Star Wars is more than just another franchise. With Disney+ newest series, Ahsoka, long-time Star Wars fans are going to be catapulted right back into our favourite galaxy far far away.

Throughout eight episodes, Ahsoka follows its titular character, the former Jeni Night Ashoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) as she embarks on a journey to investigate an emerging and dangerous threat to the newly-formed Republic in a vulnerable political environment after the recent fall of the Empire. During her journey, she encounters old friends and allies, such as her former apprentice Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and the New Republic general Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), as well as new enemies, including former Jedi Baylan Skill (Ray Stevenson), his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), and Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), one of the last remaining Nightsisters of Dathomir.

In of where it is situated in the franchise, Ashoka functions as a spin-off of The Mandalorian, taking place in a similar timeframe, and is a continuation of the animated series Star Wars Rebels. Despite this direct connection to other series in the franchise, Ahsoka is still those who have not kept up with every Star Wars product released in recent years. While knowledge of the general world-building and key events of the franchise is necessary, Ahsoka successfully creates a plot that can stand on its own, although fans of Star Wars Rebels will certainly have a deeper connection to the key characters of the new series.

As a long-time Carrie Fisher) in the original trilogy or Pé Amidala (Natalie Portman) in the prequel series. However, with the newest products, it feels like the female characters are not just a one-off exception but fully part of the larger world that makes up Star Wars.

Most significantly, in Ahsoka almost all the significant players of the story are women. This allows the show to portray different types of female characters, not only in of abilities and roles, but also in of personality, tropes, and roles. As such, Ahsoka features an array of different characters who are fierce, strong, powerful, and determined, but also equally flawed, thus showing that women in the action and science fiction genre can be villains as much as heroes, as well as everything in between.

The character building is, in fact, one of the strongest elements of the show. Although these characters may be familiar to some of the audience , Ahsoka manages to introduce all of them, immediately establishing their personal stakes in the story as well as their relationship with each other. From the first two episodes, and actually even before they appear on screen together, one of the most memorable relationships in the show seems to already be that between Sabine and Ahsoka. The former couple of apprentice and master has a fascinating dynamic in all of their interactions: impossibly different and yet somehow balancing each other out perfectly, Sabine and Ahsoka may very well be one of the highlights of the rest of the series.

The pattern of master and apprentice is one that Star Wars fans will most likely be familiar with already from the previous films, but in Ahsoka, it becomes one of the key themes of the series, as suggested by the fact that “Master and Apprentice” is the title of the first episode, which sets up the larger conflict of the show, seeing two couples of masters and apprentices opposing each other on different ends of the conflict. Similarly, this theme may also refer to the connection between Ahsoka and her former master, Anakin Skywalker, something that I would love to see explored in future episodes of the series.

Despite being a little slow to pick up during the first episode, Ahsoka has excellent pacing throughout the show as the stakes are immediately established: while the future of the galaxy may be in jeopardy, this quickly becomes a personal matter for the people involved. Part of the reason why the conflict is so clearly drawn out since the very beginning is Ahsoka’s compelling villains. In particular, Baylan Skills is already set up as a powerful and possibly very dangerous enemy in the show: the full extent of his powers or combat skills has not been shown yet but he already seems to be an excellent counterpart to Ahsoka. As the series continues, I am looking forward to seeing more of him and his motivations.

The musical score by Kevin Kiner and special effects were both necessary to immerse the audience into the world of Star Wars once again and make Ahsoka such an interesting series to watch. However, I do wish Star Wars fans would be able to see this amazing world that was created for the series on the big screen rather than always sticking to the streaming format: after all, for many people, our very first introduction to the Star Wars world was through the big screen.

If the first two episodes are anything to go by, Ahsoka is going to deliver a high-stakes plot for the rest of the series. I for one am very excited to see where Ahsoka’s story is heading towards. One of the quotes that stuck with me the most from watching the first two episodes was “sometimes even the right reasons can have the wrong consequences,” which I hope is going to be a theme further explored in the course of the season, perhaps foreshadowing the turn this first season is going to take. Is Star Wars back to what it used to be in its golden age? Not yet. But it surely is on the right track.