As she gears up for her franchise return, Ahsoka voice actor Ashley Eckstein teases the new Star Wars animated show Tales of the Jedi. Eckstein made her debut in the long-running franchise with Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Padawan and would continue the role through its sequel series Rebels and a vocal cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Though initially receiving poor reviews for her lackluster characterization and skimpy costume design, Ahsoka would go on to become a fan-favorite character for her evolution into a strong female character as well as helping further expand the emotional nature of Anakin’s turn to the dark side.
Eckstein is returning for Tales of the Jedi, an animated collection of short stories from the Star Wars prequel trilogy era exploring Ahsoka’s birth and her early life, as well as a young Count Dooku in his journey to becoming a Sith. Alongside Eckstein, the cast for the series includes the franchise returns of Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, as well as Star Wars Battlefront II‘s Janina Gavankar in a new role of Pav-ti, Ahsoka’s mother, and the characters Bail Organa, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, Yaddle and Ponda Baba all confirmed to appear, though no voices have been announced for the parts. Dave Filoni, creative head of the Star Wars TV world, co-created Tales of the Jedi alongside Charles Murray.
In a recent interview with the Sci-fi and Fantasy Gazette, Ashley Eckstein opened up about her return to the Star Wars franchise with the animated show Tales of the Jedi. The Ahsoka voice actor expressed her excitement to bring her character back to the screen, praising the stories penned by Dave Filoni and Charles Murray for the series. See what Eckstein said below:
“I am just beyond honored to step back into Ahsoka’s boots and breathe life into her again for Tales of the Jedi. Dave Filoni promises me I would always be the voice of Ahsoka in animation, and I’m thrilled to return and so excited. The shorts are beautiful. The stories are wonderful. I can’t wait to share them with everyone. Yeah, it’s very exciting. It’s something I always approach with so much gratitude. I don’t look at what I’m not doing, I look at what I have been able to do. Every new opportunity, I’m so grateful for. I’m honored to be able to do Tales of the Jedi, and when I’m not filling Ahsoka’s boots in animation, I’ve made it my, literally, life’s goal to be a real-life version of her day in and day out.”
Given the love for her work in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels, many franchise fans were disappointed to learn that Eckstein wouldn’t be reprising her role as Ahsoka for the character’s live-action debut in The Mandalorian, with Rosario Dawson taking over the part. Though Eckstein hasn’t directly addressed her feelings on Dawson in the part, she has largely praised Dave Filoni and the team behind The Mandalorian for keeping the spirit of Ahsoka alive in the live-action series and bringing a new wave of fans to both the character and franchise. Eckstein has also continued to express her hopes in making her own jump to live-action, positively responding to the fancasting of Jedi Avar Kriss for her in a future Star Wars project.
While some may be eager to see her make her live-action debut, fans of the franchise are sure to be just as excited as Eckstein for her Star Wars return in Tales of the Jedi. With the show set to explore the early days of her life, it will be interesting to see what other major characters she could interact with, including Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn, who most recently returned in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale. Only time will tell when Tales of the Jedi premieres on Disney+ later this year.
