The Mandalorian Season 2 fulfilled the wishes of many Star Wars fans as it finally marked the live-action debut of beloved Clone Wars character Ahsoka Tano, played by Rosario Dawson. While the actress' performance in "The Jedi" was met with a generally positive response, even leading to Rosario being given her own spinoff series, some fans had nitpicks about the character, especially with how the famed Jedi looked in live-action.
You see, in all of her appearances in the Star Wars animated universe, Ahsoka sported longer montrals (the horns on the top of her head) but The Mandalorian gave her a "cleaner" look.
Now, Dave Filoni, Ahsoka's creator and director of her live-action debut in Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian explained the reason behind Rosario's inaccurate look for the show. Turns out, it was all about practicality more than anything else. In the upcoming book The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 2 (via The Direct), Filoni said that his initial design for Ahsoka isn't something that would work in animation, let alone live-action. He also added that Ahsoka's animated look was purposely exaggerated and translating it to live-action wouldn't look "believable".
Filoni explains: "What if the Ahsoka that we have in animation was actually based on this [live-action] version of Ahsoka? One of the things you would do in animation is an exaggeration, making the montrals bigger. Once they're in real life, suddenly it becomes a little less believable to the eye, at least for me. And if you ever see footage of Shaak Ti (another Totruga Jedi character seen in the Star Wars prequels) in action, there's a lot of rubbery movement in the montrals. That works great for that character in the background, as she was, but if you're talking a featured character, right up front, delivering drama, you have to make it all seem as natural as possible. And I don't want you staring at the montrals and the lekku."
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I mean, Rosario's Ahsoka look may not be 100% faithful to its animated counterpart, but the overall design still retains the elements that make the character unique from the others. And hey, at the end of the day, all that matters is that Ahsoka is finally given the live-action treatment and so far, the actress playing her has not disappointed.
Speaking of, Rosario Dawson's standalone Ahsoka series is expected to drop sometime in 2023.
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