David Tennant Brings an Ancient ‘Star Wars’ Droid Back to Life in ‘Ahsoka’
David Tennant’s Huyang is returning to the Star Wars universe in Ahsoka. In addition to bringing Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) back into the spotlight with her own live-action series, Ahsoka also sees the return of some of our favorite Star Wars Rebels characters, including Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). Huyang may not be as recognizable as some of the characters listed above, but he may have had more influence on the Star Wars universe than any of them.
That’s because Huyang is one of the most ancient characters in the entire Star Wars universe. His age also makes him one of the most mysterious characters because his origins are fairly obscure. Despite being thousands of years old, he has only ever physically appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars a few times. Aside from a few mentions here and there, Huyang’s whereabouts and doings remain largely unknown, raising questions about how he survived Order 66—and what he has done since then.
Hopefully, Ahsoka will add to the details we’ve managed to scrape together about who Huyang is.
What you need to know about Ahsoka‘s Huyang
Professor Huyang is a droid who made his first appearance in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He appeared in a total of three episodes in season 5, accompanying Yoda (Tom Kane) and Tano (Ashley Eckstein) to the planet Ilum with a group of younglings so they could find Kyber crystals to assemble their lightsabers. This is an important rite of passage for a youngling on their journey to becoming a Jedi. Huyang has been aiding younglings at this stage of their training for centuries and was specifically built to serve this purpose.
It is not known who built Huyang, but it is believed he is nearly as old as the Jedi Order itself. Star Wars: Timelines suggests he was built during the earliest years of the Jedi Order, which would put him at around 25,000 years old in the current Star Wars timeline. So it seems Huyang wasn’t exaggerating when he indicated he has been helping younglings construct their lightsabers for thousands of generations. This also means that he aided many Jedi legends in forming their lightsabers, including Mace Windu and Master Yoda.
During Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Huyang was stationed on the Crucible, the ship responsible for transporting younglings from Coruscant to Ilum. Unfortunately, Huyang was gravely injured during his journey with Tano when Weequay pirates attacked their ship. While he had a few limbs knocked off, the beloved professor was reassembled by the younglings. After that, we’re not quite sure what happened to Huyang. However, over 30 years later, it appears he has been reunited with Tano for another adventure in Ahsoka.
Not much is known about Huyang’s role in Ahsoka, but we can probably expect him to be just as loyal and filled with stories and wisdom as ever. Additionally, we’re expecting a top-notch performance from Tennant, who took home an Emmy award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his role as Huyang in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Tennant’s performances brings so much depth, mystery, and allure to the character. Whether it’s another award-winning performance or adding further context to this ancient droid, Huyang’s role in Ahsoka holds quite a bit of potential.
(featured image: Disney+)
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