Summary
- Andor was successful because it presented morally complex characters uniquely, but Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka face higher expectations due to their popular characters.
- Ahsoka's own Disney Plus show presents an opportunity for nonhuman protagonists in Star Wars games and hopefully breaks the trend of human protagonists in recent games.
- Ahsoka's series is a step towards showcasing diversity and moving away from primarily featuring human characters, but it's uncertain if this will impact future Star Wars projects.
Star Wars hasn’t had a wholly beloved Disney Plus show since Andor stunned the fandom, and a lot of that success could potentially be attributed to how original it was as a series. It was unique in how it portrayed morally complicated characters in a rich political drama, but centering on a batch of almost all new characters meant fans could go into it with little to no expectations. Shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Ahsoka aren’t without their merit, though with popular characters also come high expectations for how they will be portrayed compared to their previous appearances.
Ahsoka Tano is probably one of Star Wars’ more popular characters now following The Clone Wars and Rebels’ animated series, which would be why she is up next to receive her own Disney Plus show later this month. Ahsoka has certainly earned her own series as a character with a rich history now embedded in the lore across multiple Star Wars generations, but another byproduct of her live-action appearance is something that will hopefully bleed into future Star Wars games: the opportunity for a nonhuman protagonist to star with their own leading role.
Ahsoka is Now One of the Few Star Wars Projects Led by an Alien Protagonist
It’s not unheard of for Star Wars to feature nonhumans in lead roles, but there has come a troubling formula in recent Star Wars games that follows after the franchise’s influence of pedestaling human protagonists instead. Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi franchise is fantastic with Cal Kestis at its helm, for example, though it’s disappointing to hear that a black and/or female protagonist for it was pitched and declined.
But to take that premise and consider how many established races are prominent in Star Wars, it is continually unfortunate that human protagonists still lead the franchise in abundance. Star Wars Outlaws continues a trend where a human protagonist is accompanied by a companion who is either a droid or another species, and in Kay Vess’ instance she is accompanied by both. However, Outlaws being led by ND-5 instead of Kay could have been equally interesting.
Ahsoka is a Togruta female and not a human—regardless of many physical features being comparable and associable—and while Ahsoka is not a brand-new character that Disney Plus is dedicating time and money toward, it is still a great step in the direction of moving away from banal traditions the franchise has held. Indeed, one of the main criticisms of Andor, if any, was that it predominantly featured human characters and sparse alien races.
Ahsoka having her own live-action series is nothing in the way of determining whether alien races will receive more limelight in future Star Wars endeavors, but it will hopefully at least show the merit in such diversity. If Knights of the Old Republic’s remake ever ends up releasing, for example, it would be incredible to see alien races available in players’ customization of an amnesiac Revan.
Star Wars games like Survivor and Outlaws may always be popular due to fans potentially being able to see themselves represented in their protagonists, but it shouldn’t be left to games with character customization to represent alien races that make Star Wars as unique as it is. Perhaps Quantic Dream’s Eclipse will feature an alien protagonist, and there is at least Respawn’s Star Wars FPS in development as well, which hopefully means the industry has an opportunity to push that envelope further.