Ahsoka’s Female-Led Cast Makes Star Wars History

When Ahsoka drops onto Disney+ in August, it will bring with it a significant Star Wars casting milestone with regard to its female actors.

The next highly-anticipated Star Wars series, Ahsoka, will see Rosario Dawson reprise her fan-favorite role as the Togruta ex-Jedi. Along for the ride are Rebel Alliance heroes Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren.

The show arrives fairly soon, and audiences are hotly anticipating the return of these iconic Star Wars characters.

Disney+’s Ahsoka Has Historic Female Cast

The three top-billed actors in the forthcoming Ahsoka series are, in fact, all women. Indeed, the cast is led by Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano, Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Hera Syndulla, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren.

This is the first Star Wars live-action cast to have its three top-billed actors be female. Notably, the animated web series Forces of Destiny, which ran from 2017 to 2018, also boasted an all-female top-three cast.

Speaking to Empire Magazine previously, Mary Elizabeth Winstead shared her excitement upon realizing that Ahsoka’s cast was composed of so many female characters:

“Even though it is so incredibly rare, it just felt so natural. It just didn’t really click in my mind until we were a little bit into production, and I was looking around going, ’Oh my gosh, look at all these women. This is incredible.’”

Rosario Dawson was also sure to mention the reverence she feels toward the cast of the series, noting that she’s“very grateful:”

“You definitely feel the magic of it. Our diversity is our strength. Being able to step into and relate to a protagonist that looks different to what we’ve normally been served over the years, you can see how hungry people are for it. I take it very seriously, I’m very grateful.”

Dawson, Winstead, and Bordizzo aren’t the only actresses on the call sheet for Ahsoka either. Genevieve O’Reilly will also reprise her role as Mon Mothma, Ivanna Sakhno plays Shin Hati, and Diana Lee Inosanto will appear as Morgan Elsbeth.

Star Wars’ History of Female Empowerment

The Star Wars franchise has a long history of propping up its female characters. In fact, this goes all the way back to the beginning in 1977. Princess Leia immediately takes charge of her own rescue mission after being let out of her holding cell on the Death Star.

The animated shows set in a galaxy far, far away also have girl power in spades. Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze has a strong showing in The Clone Wars which later continues into The Mandalorian. 

Sabine, Hera, Mon Mothma, Omega, Fennec Shand, and the Armorer are all fairly recent examples of the terrific female characters that Star Wars has to offer. And not to forget Rey, who, while reviled by some, led the sequel trilogy with grace and strength.

And then there’s Padmé, who made sure she was no mere love interest of Anakin Skywalker’s. She definitely got a good few moments to shine during the Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones.

Young girls everywhere, for a long time, didn’t have enough role models to look up to in the movies and TV shows they consume. It’s nice that Lucasfilm has been helping lead the charge for representation’s sake.

Ahsoka looks to be no different. It’s the first show in the New Republic MandoVerse era to be led by a woman. Hopefully, the series will satisfy fans when it premieres on Disney+ on August 23.