Ahsoka Episode 5 Marks A Number Of Live-Action Firsts For Star Wars
This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Ahsoka" episode 5 — "Shadow Warrior."
"Ahsoka" episode 5, "Shadow Warrior" (written and directed by Dave Filoni), goes further than any episode in the series before it in blurring the line between the animated and live-action sides of "Star Wars." While Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) is drowning in the waters of Seatos and fighting to survive, she's trapped in some sort of vision in the Force that could be nothing more than the thoughts in her head. Regardless of whether she's simply in her mind, the World Between Worlds, or the Netherworld of the Force (if not some other realm entirely), the result is the same: In order to live, Ahsoka must make her way through her memories. As she travels through these trials from her past, we see a number of things from the world of "Star Wars" animation that have never shown up in live-action before.
Young Ahsoka
The biggest live-action "first" in this episode might be the appearance of Ahsoka Tano as a Padawan. Played by Arianna Greenblatt (whom you're most likely to recognize as the kid from the smash-hit "Barbie" movie), Ahsoka finds herself plunged back into the events of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," grappling with the loss of clones whose deaths she feels responsible for. (It was her orders they were following.) She also has a tense exchange with her master, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), and shows off her ability with a lightsaber(s) both at the Siege of Mandalore and during her final duel with Anakin.
It's hard to believe we've never seen Ahsoka in live-action at this age until now, but there's a first time for everything. Hopefully, it's not the last.
Anakin in the Clone Wars
It was an interesting choice of George Lucas's to skip over the Clone Wars entirely when telling the story of Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy. We see the first battle of the conflict in "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones" and the very last day of the conflict in "Episode III — Revenge of the Sith."
Instead, Lucas reserved all of those stories for the animated "Clone Wars" series he was planning even before "Revenge of the Sith" had been released. Seeing Christensen fight in the Clone Wars as Anakin was something new in "Shadow Warrior," as were his armor and costume (which Anakin wore in the "Clone Wars" TV show). Seeing it rendered in live-action for the first time was pretty great, as was getting to watch Christensen bridge the gap between the live-action and animated versions of Anakin. Channeling Matt Lanter's iteration of Anakin from "Clone Wars" is a brilliant approach for his take on the character and helps fill in the blanks in Anakin's live-action arc.
Captain Rex
Captain Rex is a character that was created for the animated television series "The Clone Wars." He took on a life of his own and made it all the way to "Star Wars Rebels." In the animated show "Forces of Destiny" it was even revealed that he made it all the way to Endor and fought for the Rebels there, complete with his trademark forearm armor.
He was never featured in live-action before "Shadow Warrior," nor was he previously ever voiced by Temuera Morrison (Dee Bradley Baker has handled his vocals in the past). This episode of "Ahsoka" changed all of that, introducing this fan-favorite character into the realm of live-action.
Will we see more of him? That's anyone's guess, but hope springs eternal.
First generation clones
Interestingly enough, "Shadow Warrior" is the first time we've seen first generation clones in live-action. Granted, they've appeared in live-action movies, but all of the armored clones in "Attack of the Clones" were rendered completely in CGI. Seeing these clones in practical armor and walking around as flesh and blood beings is a first for "Star Wars." Other generations of the clones have seen some action in live-action, but not this initial batch.
The Siege of Mandalore
In the finale of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," Ahsoka is drafted by Bo-Katan Kryze to help liberate Mandalore from the clutches of Lord Maul. With the help of Anakin before she leaves for Mandalore (he gives her the blue lightsabers and a contingent of clones, including Captain Rex), Ahsoka invades and is able to accomplish her task and even captures Maul.
It was an epic conflict in the animated series and Ahsoka's confrontation with Maul is one of the best duels in all of "Star Wars." But "Shadow Warrior" offers our first look at the battle in live-action, even rendered through the clouds of Ahsoka's vision in the Force, and it's a momentous sight to see for the first time. Of everything we got to see in live-action in this episode, this is the one thing I'm guessing we won't be seeing again. Still, as Yoda says, "Always in motion is the future."
New episodes of "Ahsoka" premiere on Tuesday nights on Disney+ at 6:00pm Pacific, 9:00pm Eastern.