Ahsoka star Rosario Dawson trained for 14 hours a week to recreate the acrobatic combat style and stunts performed by the titular character in The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series.
Speaking to IGN at Star Wars Celebration, Dawson explained the challenges of taking a character that had once only existed in animated shows and bringing them to the live-action universe.
“I think there’s definitely difficulties there, even just for the entire stunt team watching the animation, because we’d be working off of just the most amazing feats that someone could draw or imagine,” she told IGN. “And then it was like, how do we actualize that in real life? And so the team of it was just really remarkable.”
“[Ahsoka’s] physicality is a huge part of who she is. And there was definitely a moment months into the training, I was doing two hours every single day for seven days a week,” she continued. “There was a centre of gravity that sort of shifted and that felt really good because there’s a lot of moments where it is just in a glance, but a lot of storytelling is happening through her movements.”
Expanding on this further, Dawson explained how this aspect of the Ahsoka character is so important to her overall personality.
And then it was like, how do we actualize that in real life?
“I think it’s her confidence, it’s her expertise, the fact that she never hesitates. This is not a story of watching any of these characters be people who are confused or insecure about their abilities,” she said, “That’s not really the idea. They understand a lot of what they’re capable of.”
Ahsoka received its first trailer at Star Wars Celebration which also confirmed that a beloved Star Wars character would soon be making their live-action debut.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead also revealed who she’d be playing in the Ahsoka series, leading to what appears to be a full blown Star Wars: Rebels reunion.
These announcements capped off a very busy Star Wars Celebration, with updates on Andor Season 2, The Mandalorian, The Acolyte, and more, and you can read about every single announcement right here on IGN.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
