Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025: Ahsoka

May 7, 2025May 14, 2025 Lex Ahsoka (Disney+ series), Dave Filoni, Hayden Christensen, Jon Favreau, Rosario Dawson, Star Wars, Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025

Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated panels for Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 featured the Disney+ streaming series Ahsoka, which originally released amid Hollywood union strikes that prevented the key creatives from participating in the promotion and discussion of the series in the usual manner. Fortunately no such constraints existed for Celebration, and the panel lived up to expectations. Focused on a look back at Season One and celebrating how the series came into existence, the panel did briefly hint ahead to Season Two before it ended.

Much of the panel involved a conversation among series creator and showrunner Dave Filoni, executive producer and The Mandalorian collaborator Jon Favreau, and series star Rosario Dawson. They each shared their memories of the challenges and opportunities of bringing Ahsoka Tano into live action, beginning with the idea of a back-door pilot in Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian. When that episode succeeded creatively and logistically, as well as in the fan response, they included Ahsoka in an episode of The Book of Boba Fett before establishing Ahsoka in her own series. Even then, Filoni wondered if it would be feasible to perform Ahsoka on a daily basis, with the effort required to undertake the body paint, head tails, and contact lenses – but Dawson is clearly all in, no matter the burden, and she specifically acknowledged the Ahsoka cosplayers who put in all the hard work, too. Later Hayden Christensen joined the group on stage, expressing his obvious joy at getting to portray Anakin Skywalker again. He also clearly enjoyed the chance to perform live-action Anakin from The Clone Wars, a version of the role’s characterization in between the two poles of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith that had previously been portrayed in animation.

Throughout their discussion, the panelists emphasized story and storytelling as much as their personal recollections and emotions in creating the Ahsoka series. Dawson is deeply immersed and invested in Ahsoka’s life story, personality, and motivations, including how her character arc in Season One required her to overcome her reluctance to train an apprentice and finally accept her necessary role as a master. Favreau described himself as the “first audience member” for Filoni’s series, watching it develop and providing input from Filoni’s “doodles” to scripts and collaborative art to writing with the voice of an actor in his head. Favreau also emphasized that Star Wars stories are about “family, people, and relationships” and The Mandalorian and Ahsoka series are no different. In addition to Dawson and Christensen, Filoni also specifically praised Ariana Greenblatt for how thoroughly she came to “embody” the character of young Ahsoka from The Clone Wars era. Later, Filoni became visibly emotional when talking about the loss of Ray Stevenson, who created the “blueprint” for the portrayal of Baylan Skoll. Filoni then explained that the “character was meant to be important” in the series because Baylan is “parallel to Ahsoka in every way” and therefore his role “must continue” in the story. With the support of Stevenson’s family and deep professional respect, the actor Rory McCann, a longtime friend of Stevenson, takes on the portrayal in Season Two.

Another prominent theme of the panel was the legacy of George Lucas in the Star Wars franchise. Filoni reminded everyone that Lucas “is really good at making Star Wars” and that “it’s high bar” for anyone else to meet. Favreau noted that after initially starting The Mandalorian as its own freestanding story in the Star Wars galaxy, the “creative center of gravity has shifted” to stories grounded in the ideas of Filoni and Lucas, “merging” those stories with The Mandalorian before “converging and culminating” in feature films. Filoni and Christensen share the common bond of having worked closely with Lucas, with Filoni emphasizing their commitment to “stay faithful to his vision for Anakin” and how their different experiences allow them to “fill each other’s gaps” in their understanding of the character to together create a “really authentic interpretation of George’s character.” Christensen noted that it “usually takes time to develop a shorthand” when working with others on a project, but it “came easily” in Ahsoka because he and Filoni both attended the “School of George Lucas.” Christensen also remarked that he still portrays Anakin with Lucas’ voice in his head, allowing him to “continue to work off the principles he taught me about the character.” Filoni too carries with him many lessons from Lucas, including “dare to be great” and the important lesson that “you can do what you want to do” in life, “but you must train and work hard” and eventually a “door will open.”

As always at his Celebration panels, Filoni couldn’t end the Ahsoka one without sharing at least a few hints and teases with the fans. Joking that he has to “pay for the show somehow,” Filoni showed concept art of Loth kittens and confirmed the return of Sabine’s Loth-cat Murley due to unexpectedly high fan demand. Christensen confirmed his return for Season Two, as well, with no hints about the situation or context in which Anakin appears this time. Refusing to commit to any specifics, Filoni likewise said only “we’ll see” regarding how the references to Mortis in the Season One finale might pay off in Season Two. By contrast, he overtly admitted that a hangar bay seen in a photograph of production miniatures is from Home One, and that Admiral Ackbar will “go head to head with Thrawn” in Season Two. Filoni noted that Thrawn is the “right villain” for this time period in Star Wars because of Heir to the Empire and its foundational role in first establishing the New Republic era. Favreau added that “a strong villain makes for strong heroes” and that Thrawn is already established in multiple Star Wars media, allowing the storytellers to “reward the audience” who consume more widely in Star Wars storytelling and those who are “paying attention” to try to “figure out” where the story is headed.

Filoni concluded the panel by noting that they haven’t filmed anything yet for Ahsoka Season Two – because they would start filming the following week, in fact – but he still wanted to have something to show the fans. Then he recalled a 1979 teaser for The Empire Strikes Back that promoted the Star Wars sequel – also before any usable footage had been filmed – using Ralph McQuarrie concept art and voiceover narration. With plenty of concept art of his own for Ahsoka, Filoni decided to do a similar teaser for Season Two, complete with a totally cheesy 1980s style voiceover. The teaser reel only showed once in the Celebration Stage, and Disney has been diligent about copyright strikes against online recordings. To hear more about our recollections of the teaser reel and its art, check out the episodes of Hyperspace Theories and Skywalking Through Neverland recapping Star Wars Celebration Japan.

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Lex

B.J. Priester has been a Star Wars fan since he played with the original Kenner action figures as a young boy. His fandom passion returned after watching Attack of the Clones in 2002 and reading the entire New Jedi Order series in 2003. He voraciously caught up on the novels and comics in the Expanded Universe in addition to writing fanfiction, frequently co-authoring with Tricia.

B.J. has served as editor of FANgirl Blog from its inception, as well as contributing reviews and posts on a range of topics. He edited Tricia’s novel Wynde, and is collaborating with her on several future projects set in that original universe.

Currently a tenured law professor in Florida, B.J. has been a practicing lawyer in Washington, D.C., a law clerk to a federal appeals court judge, and a law journal editor-in-chief. He is also a proud geek dad whose son who is a big fan of Star Wars and The Clone Wars.