Ashley Eckstein Shares Ahsoka’s Original Character Description
"Brave & Feisty" : Ashley Eckstein shares details of the original character description she was given for Ahsoka Tano back in 2006.
Over the years, voice actress Ashley Eckstein has shared some amusing anecdotes about her audition process for The Clone Wars, where she was asked to master an Icelandic accent for the role of Ahsoka Tano. She may not have nailed the accent but she won the role regardless and, in turn, won our hearts with her incredible performance.
Earlier this week, Ashley stumbled upon the original offer letter she received from Kerner Films back in 2006 and the character description she was given for her first recording session, which she then shared with fans over on her Instagram account.
She wrote: “I was going through old boxes and I found my original offer letter for the new role of Ahsoka Tano. This was back in 2006 when letters were still sent instead of emails. 😜
The second slide is the original character description I was given for the first episode. We worked very hard to find Ahsoka’s voice, her spirit, her personality and spunk. It’s one of the greatest honors of my entire life to help originate the role of Ahsoka Tano.”
The offer letter is pretty standard fare and highlights the need for confidentiality regarding the role and scripts but the original character description has some interesting little titbits of information about the snippy Padawan. The sections about “Ahsoka’s Transformation” and her character traits are poignant reminders that Ahsoka needed time and experience to grow as a character. This may seem excruciatingly obvious to us now but many fans weren’t immediately enamoured with Anakin’s new apprentice when she made her on-screen debut back in 2008. In fact, it took them at least a few episodes (or seasons) for them to stop deriding her as “the new Jar Jar” (or wishing her dead) and begin appreciating what she brought to the series.
(Image credit: Ashley Eckstein)
There was one thing on that page that really caught my eye and came as complete news to me: the fact that fellow Togruta Shaak Ti had taught Ahsoka the Jedi art of evasion. Throughout the show’s entire seven-season run, I don’t think Ahsoka and Shaak Ti ever shared a meaningful conversation or scene together, let alone allude to their previous training sessions. Granted, Ahsoka had no shortage of mentor figures but it would have been brilliant to see the two Togruta Jedi work together on a mission, especially when we got a whole arc centred around the liberation of enslaved Togruta colonists.
A missed opportunity, perhaps, but with a new Ahsoka Tano Disney+ series on the way and the possibility of flashbacks and/or tie-in media, there’s always a chance (however slim) that we may yet learn more about Ahsoka’s childhood and the early days of her Jedi training.
Sadly, there seem to be no immediate plans for Ashley Eckstein to reprise her role as Ahsoka Tano, at least none that we fans are privy to, but we truly appreciate how she continues to share these little anecdotes about her time working on The Clone Wars and how she believes that #AhsokaLivesInAllOfUs. That said, the next Star Wars animated series, The Bad Batch, will be landing on Disney+ in early May and will be set shortly after the events of Order 66. So maybe, just maybe, a certain Togruta will make an unexpected appearance. 😉
*********
Looking for even more Ahsoka Tano fan art, cosplay photos, opinion pieces, memes, and merchandise tips? Then come find me over on Twitter, @AllThingsAhsoka!
Related Articles:
All Things Ahsoka 
You must be logged in to post a comment.