Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Series Cast Its Villain
It looks like we're finally getting some more details about the Rosario Dawson-led Ahsoka series, scant though they may be.
It looks like we’re finally getting some more details about the Rosario Dawson-led Ahsoka series, scant though they may be. In the latest casting news, we learn that Ray Stevenson, known for playing Volstagg in the Thor movies, has been announced as a villain in the series. The only detail we have other than that is that he will be playing an admiral. And no, this is not the admiral Ahsoka was on the hunt for when she made her live-action appearance in the second season of The Mandalorian. That would be Grand Amiral Thrawn.
We don’t yet know who will play Thrawn, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Lars Mikkelsen took the role, considering he voiced him in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series. While Rosario Dawson was cast as the live-action Ahsoka, there is recent precedence for the voice actors from the animated Star Wars properties to crossover to the live-action realm. In The Book of Boba Fett, Corey Burton returned to voice the cruel bounty hunter Cad Bane, and Mikkelson’s voice is perfect for the calculated Thrawn.
Since Ray Stevenson is playing a villain and we haven’t heard about Thrawn yet, it could be a possibility that Disney is playing the long game and saving Thrawn as a big bad for a future season. If you’re not quite up to date on the pre-Rosario Dawson Ahsoka story, the reason she’s on the hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn can be found in the aforementioned Star Wars: Rebels animated series. In the season finale, the young Jedi Ezra Bridger transported himself and Thrawn to parts unknown to save the planet Lothal. Ahsoka is likely out to find Ezra and, by extension, Thrawn.
In addition to Rosario Dawson and Ray Stevenson, we do know who will be filling out some other roles in the cast. Right now we know Mary-Elizabeth Winstead, Ivanna Sakhno, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo are on board. Natasha Liu Bordizzo is rumored to play Sabine Wren, a Mandalorian who was also prominently featured in Star Wars: Rebels. As a fellow crew member of Ezra’s and enemy of Thrawn, she would likely want to help Ahsoka on her hunt.
But perhaps the most interesting name on the cast list is Hayden Christensen. As most Star Wars fans know, Christensen played Anakin Skywalker before his fated transformation into the menacing Darth Vader. Ahsoka was also Anakin’s padawan during the Clone Wars, as seen in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series where Ahsoka was first introduced. Considering Ahsoka takes place after Return of the Jedi in the timeline, that means Anakin is a Force ghost by now. So either we’ll be seeing Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka communicating with her former Master’s Force ghost at some point, or we’ll be getting some flashbacks.
The last time we saw Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka was for a brief cameo on The Book of Boba Fett where she checks up on Grogu and his new teacher Luke Skywalker. Ahsoka is set to come out in Spring 2022, so we’ll just have to wait until then to see her look for Thrawn, take on whoever Ray Stevenson is supposed to be, and find out the rest of her story.
