Written By Kieran Bugg
Mary Elizabeth Winstead has explained how Star Wars: Rebels influenced her portrayal of Hera Syndulla in Disney’s upcoming Ahsoka series.
After an unforgettable guest appearance during The Mandalorian’s second season, Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano will finally take centre stage.
The character made her first appearance in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and it’s follow-up TV series.
Since then, Ahsoka Tano has slowly become one of the franchise’s most prominent and beloved characters.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead Explains How Star Wars: Rebels Influenced Her Portrayal Of Hera Syndulla
Image: Electronic Arts
Furthermore, she was originally voiced by Ashley Eckstein before Rosario Dawson was eventually cast.
Following a surprise cameo in The Book Of Boba Fett, Ahsoka will next appear in her own Disney Plus series.
Moreover, she’ll be joined by even more animated Star Wars characters making their live action debuts.
One of which being the strong-minded Twi’lek rebel Hera Syndulla, who appeared as a lead character in Star Wars: Rebels.
She’ll be portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead who takes over from voice actress Vanessa Marshall.
In addition, other lead characters from Star Wars: Rebels like Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren and Chopper will also appear.
Recently, Mary Elizabeth Winstead explained her take on the character during an interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast.
With Hera already being a well established character in the Star Wars universe, the actress said:
“Having a character who’s already existed and has such a rich history on something like Rebels, as an actor, it’s incredible, because sometimes we’re tasked with creating our own backstories or trying to flesh out a character that doesn’t really have that much on the page. And so to play a character that has season after season of storylines and complex histories with everyone in their life and relationships and experiences was really something I’ve never experienced quite like that… To have Rebels to refer to, and to have Rebels and Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni to speak to about it every day on set, was a real luxury for sure.”
She was also asked if her portrayal of Hera will differ from what we saw in Star Wars: Rebels.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s response was:
“I see Hera as an incredibly strong but complicated person, she is very maternal, but also she’s this leader of this crew. And as we see, she continues and becomes a general. And so she’s leading quite a lot of people and she’s become something of a legend in her own right.”
Mary Elizabeth Winstead Explains How Star Wars: Rebels Influenced Her Portrayal Of Hera Syndulla
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.
All this lines up with Hera’s character development which we saw throughout Star Wars: Rebels.
We’ll see her story continue when Ahsoka premieres on Disney Plus later this year.