Ahsoka's Natasha Liu Bordizzo is Glad to Be a Jedi Now
Star Wars: Ahsoka didn’t just pick up on threads from Star Wars Rebels, it also developed some new plotlines for its returning cast. Chief among them, Rebels character Sabine Wren ended up being Ahsoka’s apprentice and discovered she had Force powers, making her a Jedi Mandalorian—and the first of her kind, in the eyes of general audiences.
Some found that Sabine took to the Force a bit too easily, but to actor Natasha Liu Bordizzo, the character struggled with it the right amount. In a recent Entertainment Weekly interview, she pointed to how much the show has Sabine trying “again and again” with her new powers before really getting the hang of them. While her current suite of Force moves aren’t as flashy as more experienced users, those growing pains were there, and the actor enjoyed how “messy” said growth ultimately was. “It’s awesome [to me] that it was a journey,” said Bordizzo. “When the stakes are so high, she’s able to harness it in the time she needed to most.”
As part of her Force struggles, Ahsoka briefly sees Sabine work with Morgan Elsbeth’s group to jump to a new galaxy. It’s all for the sake of finally bring her friend Ezra Bridger back home, and further complicated by her conflicting feelings on previously failing to be Ahsoka’s apprentice. Bordizzo knows her character was “polarizing” to some in that first season. But in her eyes, that turmoil was needed to show how much Sabine’s changed since Rebels’ end in 2018. “It was fun to be able to come from such a dark place,” she stated. “I think the show wouldn’t have had as much of a journey without starting with [Sabine and Ahsoka’s] dynamic being so tense and needing each other, but not really wanting to need each other.”
Now that we know a second season of Ahsoka is in the works, we’ll likely see Sabine come more into her Force powers, same as we did with Ahsoka during Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Given how versatile Sabine was during Rebels, giving her a lightsaber and telekinesis makes sense and underlines how anyone can be a Force user. It also has the added benefit of further making Sabine one of the most busted, incredibly versatile characters the franchise currently has in its stable.
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