Ahsoka (TV series)

In December 2020, Lucasfilm announced several spin-off series from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, including Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett;[23][24] the spin-offs exist alongside The Mandalorian through interconnected stories, culminating in a "climactic story event",[3][24] with Star Wars: Skeleton Crew also being set in the same timeframe as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.[25] Each series was being concurrently developed by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni,[23][24] with Filoni creating, writing, and serving as lead producer and showrunner on Ahsoka.[19][4] The series focuses on the character Ahsoka Tano, who was co-created by Filoni for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and made her live-action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian.[26][27] By April 2022, Peter Ramsey was hired to direct at least one episode of the series,[22] with Filoni also directing multiple episodes of the series.[20][21] A year later, the rest of the directors were confirmed, which included Steph Green, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Patel, and Rick Famuyiwa.[13] Filoni explained that the eight episodes of the season would be "relatively" similar in length to the previous episodes he worked on for The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett (which ranged from 32 to 47 minutes), noting he hoped to keep them "moving" and make them "tight and fast because to make the action work, they've got to be shorter".[28] Kathleen Kennedy, Carrie Beck, and Colin Wilson also serve as executive producers on the series.[29]

The series begins after Ahsoka's appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, in which she is shown to be hunting for the character Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Filoni said the series would tell a serialized story rather than having separate adventures in each episode.[30] Filoni and Favreau consulted with The Thrawn Trilogy author Timothy Zahn regarding Thrawn's appearance in the series because the character is "his thing... [w]e want to make sure we get it right".[31] Star Rosario Dawson confirmed in April 2023 that Ahsoka would continue the story established in the animated series Star Wars Rebels.[21] Regarding Ahsoka being a continuation of Rebels or referred to as a fifth season of that series, Filoni said that was "interesting" and "one way of looking at it" explaining, "For me, when I'm telling those stories, I don't limit things like, 'Oh, well, I did it an animation, so I would do it distinctly different in live action.' There's just the story that it is, and I was telling it in one medium."[32]

With the series' announcement in December 2020, Rosario Dawson was confirmed to be reprising her role as Ahsoka Tano from The Mandalorian.[3] By August 2021, Lucasfilm was reportedly looking to cast an actress to play the Rebels character Sabine Wren in the series.[33] In October, Hayden Christensen was set to reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader,[8] and Natasha Liu Bordizzo was cast as Wren by November.[6] Later that month, Ivanna Sakhno joined the cast in an undisclosed role.[34] In January 2022, Mary Elizabeth Winstead joined the cast in an undisclosed role,[35] and the following month, Ray Stevenson joined the cast as an admiral. Stevenson previously voiced the character Gar Saxon in Rebels and The Clone Wars.[36] Bordizzo was officially announced to be playing Wren in May, when other Star Wars Rebels characters were revealed to be appearing in the series including Hera Syndulla and Chopper.[37][38] She had received news of her casting while filming Day Shift (2022).[7] In September 2022, it was revealed that Eman Esfandi was cast as Ezra Bridger in the series.[9] Mena Massoud had been rumored to be playing the character in the series, and stated after Esfandi's casting was revealed that he had auditioned for the role but the casting process had not gone further.[39]

At Star Wars Celebration London in April 2023, it was revealed that Winstead was portraying Hera Syndulla, Sakhno was portraying Shin Hati, and Stevenson was portraying Baylan Skoll.[10] Additionally, Genevieve O'Reilly, Diana Lee Inosanto, David Tennant and Lars Mikkelsen were reprising their role as Mon Mothma, Morgan Elsbeth, the voice of the droid Huyang,[11] and Grand Admiral Thrawn respectively,[13] while various senators were portrayed by Maurice Irvin, Jacqueline Antaramian, Nelson Lee and Erica Duke.[10] Mikkelsen had previously denied reprising the role before being confirmed for the series.[13] Additionally, it was revealed that Wes Chatham was appearing in the series as Thrawn's "right-hand man".[16]

Principal photography began on May 9, 2022,[18] in Los Angeles, California,[36] under the working title Stormcrow,[40] with Eric Steelberg and Quyen Tran serving as cinematographers.[41] The series used the StageCraft virtual production technology.[42][10] Tennant recorded an early version of his part ahead of filming so the cast was able to perform with him.[4] Filming wrapped that October.[43]

In April 2023, during Star Wars Celebration London, it was revealed that Kevin Kiner would compose the score for Ahsoka, after previously composing the music for the animated series The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi.[44]