The latest small-screen Star Wars show, Ahsoka, debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.
Centering on the title character, Rosario Dawson‘s Ahsoka Tano — the live-action version of the character that first appeared in animated form in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and then Rebels — the new show focuses on the onetime Jedi’s attempts to stop the rise of the Empire.
To that end, she’s looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Imperial military genius who was lost in hyperspace along with young Jedi Ezra Bridger in Rebels‘ finale. Lars Mikkelsen, who voiced the blue-skinned Thrawn in Rebels, also plays him in Ahsoka; Eman Esfandi plays Ezra.
Joining Ahsoka are Rebels allies, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead as ace pilot and green-skinned Twi’lek Hera Syndulla and Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Mandalorian Sabine Wren.
But also looking for Thrawn, on an assignment from The Mandalorian villain Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), are a fallen Jedi, the late Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, and his apprentice, Ivanna Sakhno‘s Shin Hati.
To Emmy Magazine, Dawson said she felt “massive … excitement” getting the role, as she “grew up playing with fake lightsabers.”
Emmy-nominated Mandalorian costume designer Shawna Trpcic dressed the characters for Ahsoka. She recently told ABC Audio how, like the original Star Wars, they were inspired by Akira Kurosawa‘s films. “You’re going to be blown away by just the art, the action, the writing, the directing, the performances,” she teased.
She added, “We were so touched [at how much] childlike giddiness [there was] whenever a new character would come on to stage.”
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