Ahsoka star Eman Esfandi, who plays the live-action Ezra Bridger, has shared his views on why the show was right not to bring back one last Star Wars Rebels character. The characters of Ahsoka included some very familiar faces, albeit translated from animation to live-action. Natasha Liu Bordizzo played Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead had been cast as Hera Syndulla, and Eman Esfandi made the perfect Ezra Bridger. But not every Star Wars Rebels character returned.
Speaking at the FAN EXPO Philadelphia Ahsoka panel (hosted by Kevin Polowy for ScreenRant), Eman Esfandi considered the absence of Ezra’s Jedi Master, Kanan Jarrus, who many had hoped would appear in flashbacks. “Kanan’s ending is so perfect and beautiful,” Esfandi observed, recalling the moment Kanan died saving the lives of the Ghost crew. In his view, it simply wasn’t necessary to bring him back into live-action, and he couldn’t imagine how it could have worked in Ahsoka season 1.
Related
Ahsoka Season 2: Story, Updates, Everything We Know
Ahsoka season 2 has finally been confirmed by Star Wars, and the story is now in development. Here’s everything we know about the project.
Ahsoka Needed To Be More Than Just Nostalgia
Esfandi is right. While it’s easy to understand why viewers wanted to see every Star Wars Rebels hero translated into live-action, Ahsoka needed to be more than just an appeal to nostalgia. In truth, the scripts risked overplaying the nostalgia card courtesy of the World Between Worlds anyway, and adding more flashbacks – ones not directly connected to the star – wouldn’t have helped. Even worse, Ezra Bridger only appeared in the final episodes, meaning any flashback involving Kanan would have damaged the show’s momentum.
There’s another factor, though. There would have been an eagerness to see Freddie Prinze Jr. play the part, but the Kanan voice-actor doesn’t want to return. He felt that every Kanan return after his death risks diluting the impact, and agreed to voice Kanan in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 1, episode 1 as a favor. According to Prinze Jr., Lucasfilm’s favors are all used up.
It’s striking that Prinze Jr.’s argument is essentially the same as Eman Esfandi’s. Both actors believe Kanan Jarrus’ story came to a beautiful, emotional conclusion, and that bringing the character back in any capacity risks damaging the impact of that ending. They’re probably right; this one Star Wars Rebels character’s story has ended in spectacular fashion, and it’s for the best.
