Ashley Eckstein Breaks Silence About Ahsoka Tano’s Live-Action Casting in The Mandalorian
The casting of Rosario Dawson as fan-favorite Star Wars character, Ahsoka Tano, has gotten a mixed response for a number of important reasons. One reason that has gotten people upset on the less problematic side of the issue is that they feel as if Ahsoka’s longtime voice actress, Ashley Eckstein, was overlooked for the role. Especially when Eckstein has portrayed the character consistently for over a decade, including in The Rise of Skywalker. Now Eckstein has made a statement on Instagram addressing the issue:
The statement Eckstein makes is over three different pieces of text, but it starts off and addresses the most important part—her involvement with The Mandalorian, in the first passage:
“The truth is, I am not involved in The Mandalorian. I can’t answer questions that I have not been a part of. I am an actress and have performed in all types of mediums; live-action film/television, theater, voice-over, hosting and it has been my dream for 14 years to continue to play Ahsoka Tano in all forms. I will continue to be grateful for opportunities to help create stories for Ahsoka Tano and I am always happy to see her legacy continued. I am only one member of a tremendously talented team of people that it takes to bring Ahsoka Tano to life. The final decisions for Ahsoka are not mine to make and I cannot comment on something that I truly know nothing about.”
She also made sure to express love and positivity to everyone who supported her and love the character of Ahsoka, who has been a part of the series since the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Personally, I think it is sad when the people who really love something and have been supporting the series since the beginning don’t get to be part of it. It is clear that Ashley Eckstein, who is also the founder of the geek girl fashion label Her Universe, is an important part of Ahsoka’s legacy and it would be nice for her to be included.
As for the Rosario Dawson elephant in the room, for those who do not know about the situation, back in 2019 it emerged that Dawson and her family where being sued by a transgender man who alleged that she and her family subjected him to “transphobic harassment and violent abuse,” according to the lawsuit.
“Mr. Finley brought the misgendering and harassment to Rosario’s attention at least three times — and Rosario was a witness to the misgendering and transphobic verbal abuse by Isabel and Gregory — but Rosario, Mr. Finley’s employer, acted with deliberate indifference and did nothing to correct the situation,” the lawsuit alleged, as shared by the Daily News. There are also allegations of violence.
The actress and her family have called the accusations “false and baseless,” however, to many within the trans community and the LGBTQ community at large, these allegations are serious. It’s understandable that they wouldn’t want Dawson to be playing a character that some of the people in this community have grown up caring a lot about. It’s a difficult position for fans of Ahsoka, Eckstein, and The Mandalorian to be in.
(via SlashFilm, image: Lucasfilm)
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