Ashley Eckstein welcomes Rosario Dawson to the way of Ahsoka Tano

 

After the – frankly amazing – debut of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in last week’s episode of The Mandalorian, the internet has been paying attention to Clone Wars and Rebels star Ashley Eckstein who voiced – and helped create – Ahsoka, as some believed she was overlooked for the live-action role.

Now, before we go on, as much as I love Ashley Eckstein – she’s a really great person and is, without question the soul of Ahsoka Tano, but Dawson playing the older, battle and life-hardened Ahsoka was a stroke of genius.

By the way, here’s Eckstein being unbelievably cute and saying hi to our guy Chris Williams from Star Wars Celebration Europe a few years ago…

Anyway, it seems that Eckstein herself has taken Dawson’s continuation of the role with all the grace and good nature you’d expect.

Taking to Instagram (below), the star wrote:

“To understand Ahsoka Tano, is to understand what she means to people.

“Millions of people are meeting Ahsoka for the first time after watching her in The Mandalorian and I’m excited for them to hopefully go back and watch her journey in The Clone Wars and Rebels. Millions of fans already know Ahsoka and her presence has come to mean more to them than words in a script.

“In Star Wars The Clone Wars, Ahsoka became the eyes of the audience. Viewers experienced the show through Ahsoka, and even though these stories happened in a galaxy far, far away, her feelings and emotions are very relatable to our everyday lives. Ahsoka’s strength has inspired, changed and literally saved millions of lives all over the world.

“In turn, Ahsoka has become a beacon of hope, light and genuine goodness. Everyone’s relationship with Ahsoka is very different because she triggers the memory of a certain point in a person’s life where she’s inspired them. Even in the darkest of times, Ahsoka brings people joy and that’s what truly matters.

“Ahsoka taught us that, “You don’t need to carry a sword to be powerful…” and Dave Filoni reminded me that kindness is powerful. After 12 years (and hopefully many more to come!) of having Ahsoka in our lives, #AhsokaLivesInAllOfUs now. I am blown away by everyone’s kindness. I’ve read all of your messages, DM’s, comments, text messages and emails and to say “thank you” does not even feel adequate enough to express what your kind words mean to me.

“It’s my wish that Ahsoka continues to bring people joy, light and most importantly hope. This is the way of Ahsoka Tano.”

Even better, Eckstein and Dawson got into a lovely little celebration of Ahsoka on Twitter shortly after:

So, it’s ok… you can love Dawson’s take on Ahsoka as it’s a continuation of Eckstein’s legacy as the character, not a replacement of it… and I’m sure there’s a lesson in there to be learned by a lot of us.

What are your thoughts? I want to hear them…

 

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