In the first season of Star Wars: Ahsoka, fans learned that Mandalorian rebel Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) had undergone Jedi training since they last saw her in Star Wars: Rebels. Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni was part of Rebels’ creative team, but another Rebels creator isn’t so sure that was a wise plot development. Writer Henry Gilroy feels that the plotline is, ultimately, “a weak retread.”
On a recent appearance on Pod of Rebellion, a Rebels rewatch podcast featuring cast members Vanessa Marshall, Tiya Sircar, and Taylor Gray, Gilroy noted that the idea of making Sabine a Jedi had been floated during the writing of Rebels, but was ultimately discarded: “It was absolutely not the plan… we really felt that not only did it step on Ezra’s story…it was a weak retread, we already did this.” Ezra Bridger, the series’ main character, eventually became the Jedi apprentice of exiled Jedi Kanan Jarrus. Gilroy went on to add that “the idea of Sabine training as a Jedi when she is already this fantastic warrior of her own type, we felt like, ‘This is overkill.'” An animation veteran with credits on Batman: The Animated Series, The Tick, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Gilroy was co-executive producer for Rebels, and wrote seventeen episodes of the series.
Who Is Sabine Wren?
A Mandalorian grafitti artist and bounty hunter, Sabine Wren threw her lot in with the Rebel Alliance when the Empire used a weapon she designed for them against the Mandalorian people. She was part of a small cell of rebels on the planet Lothal, including Bridger, Jarrus, the Twi’lek pilot Hera Syndulla, the powerful Lasat brawler Zeb, and the eccentric astromech droid Chopper. She occasionally came to blows with her Mandalorian family, who had sided with the Empire, but they eventually rallied to her side. She ended up in possession of the Darksaber, a powerful Mandalorian artifact, and was trained in its use before surrendering it to Bo-Katan Kryze. Following the end of Rebels, she began training with the fugitive Jedi Ahsoka, despite her weak sensitivity to the force, but left her tutelage when her Mandalorian family was killed in an Imperial massacre. Some time later, she joined Ahsoka and her rebel compatriots in seeking out Ezra Bridger, who had disappeared from the galaxy with Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. While they found Ezra on the extragalactic planet Peridea, Sabine and the others were stranded there while Thrawn escaped back to the galaxy with Ezra as a stowaway.
After premiering in 2023, Ahsoka was renewed for a second season. The primary cast of season 1 will return, with Rory McCann stepping in for the late Ray Stevenson as the fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll.
Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Ahsoka are currently streaming on Disney+; a second season of Ahsoka is in post-production. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Release Date
2014 – 2018-00-00
Network
Disney XD
Directors
Bosco Ng, Steward Lee, Dave Filoni, Saul Ruiz, Melchior Zwyer, Sergio Paez, Brad Rau, Justin Ridge
Writers
Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching, Matt Michnovetz, Kevin Hopps, Simon Kinberg, Greg Weisman, Christopher L. Yost, Gary Whitta, Brent V. Friedman, Nicole Dubuc, Bill Wolkoff, Charles Murray
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Kanan Jarrus (voice)
Derek Partridge
Commander Brom Titus (voice)
Vanessa Marshall
Hera Syndulla (voice)