The cast of Ahsoka season 2 shared new details about the upcoming Star Wars series during a panel at Los Angeles Comic-Con. Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Sabine), and Eman Esfandi (Ezra) offered insights into what viewers can expect when the show returns to Disney Plus on January 20, 2027.
Thrawn's Expanded Role
Esfandi indicated that Grand Admiral Thrawn, a prominent villain from the original Star Wars Expanded Universe, will play a significant role in the new season. "So we’re gonna get a lot more time with a very specific war criminal… that everybody really loves to see," he stated. Thrawn, originally introduced in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, was later re-established as canonical through Zahn's new book series and his appearance in Star Wars Rebels. The Ahsoka series directly follows characters from Rebels, including Ezra Bridger, who had prior encounters with Thrawn.
Return of Other Fan Favorites
In addition to Thrawn, Esfandi hinted that other characters from Star Wars Rebels will be featured more prominently in live-action. He specifically mentioned the astromech droid C1-10P (Chopper), describing him as a "diva" on set. "We get a lot of Chopper, and we also get a lot of other well-beloved characters that we get to spend more time with in live action, and I think everyone’s going to be really happy with them," Esfandi added.
Shift to Outdoor Sets
Dawson shared that Ahsoka season 2 will feature more filming on practical, outdoor sets, contrasting with the first season's extensive use of "The Volume," a digital environment creation technology. While The Volume allowed for constant transformation of settings on a single soundstage, Dawson noted the benefits of filming outdoors. "But to be outside was really sometimes very brutal, when we were melting because it was super hot or it was freezing cold, or rainy and slippery and all of those different things because we were definitely in the elements," she said. "But also it was great to feel it, you know, it was great to be in it. It was very cool to have new challenges that pushed our expectations and our limits, and it really just gave it another kind of epic grandeur, to have this space in the distance knowing that all of it was going to be put together later." Bordizzo echoed this sentiment, expressing a preference for "really being outside, not pretending to be outside."
