The finale of the first season of Star Wars: Rebels proved to be just as knuckle-clenchingly tense as we’ve come to expect from the creators of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Seeing Kanan, Ezra and co live to fight another day – defeating the Inquisitor and destroying Tarkin’s flagship in the process – the big reveal was the identity of their previously anonymous contact ‘Fulcrum’ as Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan, Ahsoka Tano.
After her open-ended Clone Wars exit, fans were waiting for when she’d next appear, with many correctly guessing Fulcrum’s identity beforehand. For her part, voice actress Ashley Eckstein admits that keeping things under wraps was tricky.
“It was extremely hard to keep the secret!” she says, speaking exclusively to SciFiNow. “Before Fulcrum appeared in the episodes, it was easier to say that it was all too early to tell if Ahsoka was going to appear in Rebels. However once Fulcrum appeared in Rebels and the fans accurately guessed that it was me, I practically went into hiding!”
With the first episodes being a massive success, Star Wars Rebels Season 2 is already on the way, with showrunner describing it in an interview with IGN as being “more like The Empire Strikes Back”, as backed up by the appearance of Darth Vader himself in Star Wars Rebels Season 1 finale ‘Fire Across The Galaxy’. Despite the rising stakes, don’t expect to see Ahsoka buddying up with the crew of the Ghost every week.
“Ahsoka will be a recurring role,” says Eckstein. “She is on her own journey, and will continue to be a bit mysterious.”
Nevertheless, the vast majority of fans are happy just to have her back, having been a firm favourite in The Clone Wars. Eckstein shares their enthusiasm.
“It’s a dream to continue to bring Ahsoka to life. Having the opportunity to originate a character in the Star Wars universe is like winning the lottery, and I will forever be humbled by this opportunity.”
Season Two of Star Wars: Rebels will air on Disney XD later in the year. For the latest Star Wars news, grab the new issue of SciFiNow.
