Note: if you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Season 5 finale, you’re about to be spoiled big time on it! You’ve been warned…
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 5 Finale Review
Well, how about that, huh? While not revealing her ultimate fate, the season finale of The Clone Wars did answer a big question about Ahsoka Tano, as we saw her leave the Jedi order. I spoke to the actress who voices Ahsoka, Ashley Eckstein, about this huge change for the show and the character.
IGN TV: So what was your reaction to seeing how that was going to end and that she was really going to leave the Jedi Order like that?
Ashley Eckstein: It was definitely shocking, but in a great way. It’s really such an amazing storyline that I think it opens up so many more possibilities for Ahsoka. I think fans have approached Ahsoka’s fate almost in a black and white way, where, okay, if she’s a Jedi, she has to die. There’s just no other way around it. Very few people have actually said to me, “Well, she could leave the Jedi Order. Maybe she’s not around for Order 66.” Most people really didn’t say that. They’d just been like, “Ahsoka lives or Ahsoka dies, and she has to die because she’s a Jedi during Order 66.” I think it’s pretty exciting because now it opens things up. I’ve been telling fans all year you’re going to have more questions than answers, because now this opens up a whole different can of worms. Where does she go? What does she do? So it’s exciting from that sense. But I will say, it hit me like a ton of bricks because it’s a big change. Once she makes this change, who knows if it’s ever going to be the same?
For me personally, when I recorded this finale episode, it’s almost like life imitates art. I’ve been recording in the studio with Matt Lanter and the rest of the Jedi for the past seven year, and Ahsoka is walking away from the Jedi, so I wasn’t going to be able to record scenes anymore with Matt, James [Arnold Taylor] and Dee [Bradley Baker] and all these other people I’ve grown to love. It was really sad. I can just imagine Ahsoka making this change. This is life-changing for her. Change is scary, but change is essential. Everyone goes through chapters in their life, and you have to go through change. This is just closing one chapter for Ahsoka and starting a new one.
IGN: When she’s leaving she tells Anakin, “The council didn’t trust in me, so how can I trust myself?” But I did wonder if there’s a part of her, even if she’s not articulating it, that also is wondering, “They didn’t trust me, so how can I trust them?” What do you think it was that ultimately made her make the decision to not go back after all she went through?
Eckstein: I would say there’s a little bit of all of that in there. Bottom line, Ahsoka feels betrayed by the Jedi Council, but she’s not mad at Anakin. She knows Anakin truly believes her, and she loves Anakin like a brother, so she knows what she’s doing is hurting him. But she feels so betrayed, and she can’t trust them. When someone betrays your trust that badly, you don’t know if you can ever look at the same or trust them the same. I just don’t think there’s any way. She realizes that she cannot step back into that situation, because she has to figure it all out for herself. Her world was literally turned upside down. Everything that she thought she knew all of the sudden went away. Even the fact that Barriss betrayed her. I mean that hit her hard, what Barriss did to her. What hit her even worse is the fact that she knows that Barriss wasn’t completely wrong in everything. She was wrong in the fact that she framed Ahsoka, and she can’t get over the fact that one of her best friends would do that to her. But she knows that her reasoning behind it wasn’t completely wrong. So all these questions are going on in her head, and there’s just no way she can step back in and deal with the Jedi Order and just pick up things like nothing happened. She can’t just sweep that under the rug. Her only choice is to walk away. After talking with Dave [Filoni] about it, there’s no necessarily right or wrong decision here. It’s not like you can say, “Oh, this is definitely the right thing to do or definitely the wrong thing to do.” But for Ahsoka, in her mind, it’s the right thing to do, and she knows that 100 percent. She has no choice but to walk away, even though she knows she’s hurting Anakin.
IGN: Would I be correct if I was to assume this was the scene that we talked about when I spoke to you and Matt last year, that you two recorded privately?
Eckstein: Yes, this was the scene. We recorded up until the Jedi Council tries to give her her Padawan beads back, and then Dave kicked everyone out of the studio. Nobody knew for the longest time what actually happened. I don’t think they expected it at all. In fact, a lot of cast members are just finding out now what happened. We’ve kept this secret for about a year now. For me, like I said at [Star Wars] Celebration, my heart was beating outside of my chest because everything was changing. Obviously, this is a major change for Ahsoka, but this was my last scene that I was recording with Matt that I know of for now. It was like my life was changing, Ahsoka’s life was changing and it was just a big change -- I hate to keep using that word, but I definitely felt the impact of it in the studio.
IGN: You’ve mentioned how great the animation has gotten, including the facial animation. You and Matt gave these great performances, but then you see the animation and them matching the expressions to what you said. What was it like to see it all put together like that?
Eckstein: It was incredible. I am just so thankful, and I feel blessed to be a part of a show that is really just state of the art. What they’re achieving for animation on television is just incredible. Dave Filoni and his crew should be recognized for that as much as possible, because our performances are not nearly as powerful without the animation. Honestly, without those facial expressions -- you know, I appreciate the kind comments, but without those facial expressions, we wouldn’t get those kind comments. The two have to come together to be as impactful as it is. I just feel like the animation on our show has come so far.
IGN: So I have to ask a question and see how you answer it, which is, anything you can say about where Ahsoka Tano goes from here?
Eckstein: Ooh... I can’t answer it. [Laughs] Unfortunately, that’s the answer that I have to give you. Always in motion is the future! I’m sorry that’s the answer I have to give, but I am excited by all these new stories being told.
Ashley Eckstein (photo via HerUniverse.com)
IGN: Before I let you go, I wanted to ask you about your Fangirl of the Day campaign that you just launched at your website, Her Universe.
Eckstein: Oh, sure! Thanks for asking. I’m really excited about it because I literally traveled the nation the past three years now specifically for Her Universe, and I’ve met so many amazing girls. And there are so many incredible sites like yours, like IGN, that tell so many wonderful stories, but so many of them are about celebrities and movies and TV shows. That’s incredible, but I wanted an outlet for all of these girls that I meet at the conventions, events and Disney Star Wars Weekends. I wanted an outlet where we could spotlight their stories. From day one, part of the statement for Her Universe is we wanted it to be a community for female fans, not just a merchandise line. I wanted to create a safe community for female fans. I don’t care if you ever buy a shirt from us. There are so many girls that need to be introduced to other girls that like sci-fi, because that’s the only way we’re going to be able to debunk this stereotype that sci-fi is just for the boys. We need to convince people that sci-fi is for everyone. So the only way we’re gonna help combat that stereotype is to create a community of female fans, where they felt comfortable to kind of step into this spotlight and share their stories and tell us who they are. I wanted to create a platform where everyday fangirls can share their stories and we can introduce them to the world. So that’s what that is. I just wanted to show girls of all ages that they’re not alone and that there are fangirls everywhere, girls just like them. Here’s a girl that thinks she’s the only one who likes Star Wars, and she’s being bullied for it. I want to give her a place where she can love it every single day and read about a girl that’s just like her. So hopefully, if she’s getting flack for it at school or other places, she can discover this community at Her Universe.
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN, IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman.
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