Dave Filoni Says Admiral Ackbar Will Fight Thrawn in ‘Ahsoka’

Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni, producer Jon Favreau, star Rosario Dawson, and co-star Hayden Christensen took the stage at today’s Star Wars Celebration in Japan to discuss Season 2 of the series, which begins filming “in one week” according to Dawson. They touched on a wide array of topics, from the passing of Ray Stevenson (the great actor who portrayed Baylan Skoll), the history of Ahsoka throughout Star Wars, the themes of the show, and much more. The fact that Christensen was there already suggested that Anakin Skywalker would return in Season 2, but the team was helpful enough to confirm that, with Christensen saying:

I mean, there’s not much that I can share, but Anakin will be back for Season 2.

That’s hardly the only juicy spoiler that the Ahsoka team provided regarding Season 2. Filoni also spilled the galactic tea about some characters and creatures that are set to return, including one iconic admiral from the original film trilogy, Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar. The wide-eyed amphibian made an appearance in Season 1 of the show, at Hera Syndulla’s disciplinary hearing on Corusant, but had no lines. It seems like he’s getting a major role in Season 2, though, as Filoni disclosed that he is set to go head-to-head against the main villain, Imperial military leader Grand Admiral Thrawn. Filoni explained:

“[Creature effects supervisor] Neil Scanlon and I collaborated, and I said, ‘Neil, we need an Ackbar that really[moves], I want all the wiggle that the puppet had. I want the rubber finger when it wiggle things. I want all of that.’ And so we’ve got Admiral Ackbar back for Season 2 in a much, much, much bigger way, in fact, because, this crowd will get it, he’s gonna go head-to-head with Thrawn. Give them some competition. You know, what’s a Death Star compared to the blue guys? So let’s go for it.”

Filoni also joked, “It took all of my effort to resist writing the line, “It’s a trap.” Because I’m like, I can’t do that. That would be so lame, because this guy can’t always get the trap, like, you would think you would see it this time. You can’t trap him again.”

Related: ‘Ahsoka’ Season 2 Is Starting Production, ‘Star Wars’ Dave Filoni Reveals

Bringing Back Thrawn, Loth-Cats, and Notis

Ahsoka

Release Date

August 22, 2023

Network

Disney+

Filoni also teased the return of more Star Wars creature, including the turtle-like crustacean species, the Noti, which seem to be in danger this season. “We’ve got little old Notis, we’ve got little tiny Notis, and they’re in some peril, which is tough. Not everybody’s happy about that.” There are also a lot of Loth-cats, apparently (which Rosario Dawson calls “mothballs” and “Lothballs”). Filoni discussed the inclusion of the non-sentient feline tooka species, specifically one Loth-cat owned by the Mandalorian Sabine Wren. “I brought Murley back because he was evidently a big star, and I didn’t know it.”

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And, as mentioned, Thrawn will be returning. “Thrawn is the right villain for this time period, for the simple reason of Heir to the Empire, if you know the book by Timothy Zahn,” explained Filoni. “Those of us that are old enough to have grown up with that, he is the iconic villain. And the genius of that was that Thrawn is a villain that doesn’t have the force, but holds his own against everybody because of his Moriarty-like intellect. He’s very smart, very tactical. And he’s a warrior, you know, he’s a great leader of the military, something that we didn’t really get to experience a lot in the Star Wars movies.” He continued:

“Thrawn is something else, and Lars plays him brilliantly. I loved him when we worked with animation, and I was amazed. Frankly, I was amazed because I had never worked with Lars in studio on Rebels. He was always remote, right? And so I had no idea how tall he was. And I was like, this is perfect, because I wanted a very tall, towering Thrawn, because he actually looks imposing, even next to Baylan, who is large. So, yeah, he’s just the right villain for this era of trying the Empire, trying to reform, trying to maintain its integrity and control.”

Watch this space for more Ahsoka updates, and stream Season 1 on Disney+ through the link below in the meantime.

Watch Ahsoka

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