Ashley Eckstein explains Ahsoka Tano’s cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Everything is coming up Ahsoka Tano lately. With Disney+ airing the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars — which leans heavily on an Ahsoka story arc — and with the recent news that Rosario Dawson will (probably) be playing the much-beloved character in The Mandalorian season 2, the Togruta Jedi has been in the public eye more than ever before.

CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 13: Ashley Eckstein during the Star Wars Celebration at McCormick Place Convention Center on April 11, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)

And the person who voices Ahsoka on The Clone Wars, Ashley Eckstein, has been getting her share of exposure, too. For example, did you notice that she had a cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? She was one of the voices of Jedi past that Rey heard in her head towards the end of the movie.  “Yeah, talk about mind-blowing, that was one of the top moments of my career, for sure,” Eckstein told Comic Book Resources.

"I’ve got to give credit to Matthew Wood who is the voice of General Grievous but also [a sound engineer] at Skywalker Sound – he’s critically acclaimed not just for the Star Wars movies but for all sorts of movies. And Matthew Wood reached out to me one day and, from what I’ve been told, he had this idea of bringing the voices of past Jedi to Rey and he wanted Ahsoka to be included, which I thought was just so incredible. And I didn’t believe it because I was told that it was a “maybe” until I was literally in the studio with J.J Abrams at Bad Robot recording the lines."

Because she never formally finished her Jedi training at the temple on Coruscant, Ahsoka has long been considered half a Jedi. In fact, in the season 2 finale of Star Wars Rebels, Maul refers to her as a part-time Jedi, but because we hear her voice with the other Jedi in The Rise of Skywalker, it means she has achieved something not every Jedi could accomplish: she became one with the Force.

“[I]t wasn’t until I was sitting at the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker and I heard Ahsoka say ‘as it guided us’ and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it made it.’ So it’s definitely an honor,” Eckstein explained. “Clone Wars is considered canon because it was what George Lucas created, but The Rise of Skywalker is part of the Skywalker Saga of films, and it’s really cool, not only professionally, to say that I got to be in it but more so for Ahsoka to be cemented into the Skywalker Saga of films is really special for the character.”

The final episodes of The Clone Wars will cover an event that Star Wars fans have been clamoring for since the fifth season ended in 2015: the Siege of Mandalore arc. However, Eckstein cautions fans to slow down and enjoy Ahsoka’s journey over the course of all the episodes where she appears, rather than just focusing on the finale. “I just watched the Siege of Mandalore and those episodes are mind-blowing, I mean, truly some of the best Star Wars, in my opinion, that has ever been created,” she said.

"I feel like everyone brought their best on these episodes and so they really are worth the wait. But these first four episodes are going to be very important because it’s going to make the last four episodes so much more impactful when you understand Ahsoka’s entire journey."

Ahsoka’s story has been fun, but I am more than excited to see the long-awaited showdown between her and Maul during the Siege of Mandalore arc. Bring it on.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars airs on Disney+, every Friday.

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