The ever-present buzz surrounding every upcomingStar Warsshow (and a few rumored ones) has just offered a big juicy nugget of news, and it’s a substantial one. Unfortunately, it’s no official confirmation of the live-action actors who will be playing Ezra Bridger or Grand Admiral Thrawn, but this one is arguably even more important. Essentially tying together the continuities of 3 different series, Australian actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo, perhaps known as Helena in Netflix’sThe Society, has just been cast as Sabine Wren in the upcoming Disney Plus seriesStar Wars: Ahsoka.
According to the report, the role will be a lead alongside Rosario Dawson’s titular Togruta former Jedi. This news comes in contrast toStar Warsfans calling for Sabine’s voice actress, Tiya Sircar,to reprise her role fromStar Wars Rebels, though the chances for that were already admittedly not as high as some might have hoped.
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Sabine became a popular character inRebels, particularly in later episodes when her Mandalorian heritage came into play. The young but capable warrior and artist was a key member of the show’s main cast, even becoming the wielder of the mythical Mandalorian weapon known as the Darksaber. The finale saw both her and Ahsoka (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) setting off to find series lead Ezra after he and Thrawn disappeared in a hyperspace jump initiated by the former’s clever gambit. Rumors have been swirling for some time regardingDisney looking to cast a live-action Sabine Wren, so this news from Deadline is likely a satisfying release for many particularly invested fans.
Bordizzo’s casting over that of Sircar does make sense, even if the latter definitely still has the acting chops. While born and raised in Australia, the 27-year-old actress sports Chinese descent on her mother’s side, fitting more with the character both in terms of ethnicity and age range (Sircar is 39). Given the time frame ofStar Wars Rebels, it’s assumed that Sabine started the series around 16 and would have been roughly 30 years old by the time of the flash-forward epilogue seen in the final episode. It will certainly be interesting to see howcosplayers handle a new version of Sabine Wren.
This casting also goes in hand with fan speculation thatStar Wars: Ahsokawould essentially function as a direct follow-up to that same epilogue, particularly given Ahsoka’s own declaration inThe Mandalorianthat she’s still searching for Thrawn at the time. Since both he and Ezra disappeared together, odds are that finding one would result in finding the other. The only question is, where was Sabine during this time?
Surely that question and more will be answered onceAhsokafinally premieres (whenever that may be). It isn’t the only show rumored to bemining the characters fromStar Wars Rebels, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see even more cameos going forward. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
Star Wars: Ahsokawill be released exclusively on Disney Plus.
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