Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Rosario Dawson, David Tennant, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ray Stevenson, Ivanna Sakhno, Diana Lee Inosanto, Eman Esfandi, Hayden Christensen, Nican Robinson, Evan Whitten, Lars Mikkelsen, Genevieve O’Reilly, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jeryl Prescott, Claudia Black, Jane Edwina Seymour, Wes Chatham, Nelson Lee, Paul Darnell, Maurice J. Irvin, Clancy Brown, Anthony Daniels.

The Mandalorian and Andor proved it, and Dave Filoni’s Ahsoka has doubled down with force on the insistence, but Star Wars as an entity no longer requires the presence of Luke Skywalker, General Leia Organa, or even Han Solo in starring roles to carry the much loved and admired franchise forward.

For in the past, despite how illuminating, how thrilling it was, the stories have been encumbered and tightly bound as a soap opera, a family affair in which the whole series hung, the sense of saga was delivered through the eyes of those who were attached to the Skywalker name, and yes it worked for a while, but the problem with mythology is that it ignores the characters who make it possible for each event to be set up. You require Darth Vader to come into contact with Luke, then how do they meet? Who witnesses the encounter, who is inspired to take up the challenge of defeating evil and tyranny, who is the person who can make a difference to the way the story unfolds.

The beauty of Ahsoka is that it pushes the narrative further, like The Mandalorian it offers, and delivers a circumstance in which a new hero can be seen fulfilling their destiny, to take up arms in a struggle dating back generations, and not just that in which the Skywalker name takes priority.

That said, and for those that find watching certain types of animation difficult to bear, the redemption of Anakin, portrayed with honour by a de-aged on-screen Hayden Christensen, as a guide to Rosario Dawson’s sensitive reading of the titular character, is one that is forceful reminder of the power of the force to liberate a soul from its eventual fate. It is in their exchange, and the final battle in which dead stormtroopers are shown to have more use as zombies than as alive pawns of The Empire, that the series becomes riveting, scintillating, proof that the Jedi can survive without its main influence.

With David Tennant reprising his role as the voice as Huyang, the superb Ray Stevenson, whose sad loss before the series got its television release is one to feel the pulse of regret and mourning of a true star of screen and cinema, Diana Lee Inosanto as the corrupted Morgan Elsbeth, the female triumvirate of persuasive action in Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Ivanna Sakhno, and the excellent and deserving of top billing in any series, Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, the series stands firm amongst its illustrious television allies and visual compatriots to the extent that it reiterates the beauty and drive of what made the franchise so admired when it first began.

A joy of storytelling, Ahsoka is a delight of the imagination.

Ian D. Hall