While it’s been four years since the last Star Wars movie came out, the franchise continues to shine on screen thanks to the many TV shows released exclusively to Disney+ subscribers. The latest of these is Ahsoka, which spotlights Rosario Dawson’s live-action version of the character following her appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The first two Ahsoka episodes premiered last week, and it’s been revealed that the first one collected a lot of viewers on the Mouse House’s streaming service, which I hope leads to more casual Star Wars fans checking out the show.
As shared directly from Disney+, the first Ahsoka episode, titled “Master and Apprentice,” collected 14 million views, making the Star Wars series the most-watched title on the platform this past week. It wasn’t shared how viewers tuned in to the second episode, titled “Toil and Trouble,” but considering they dropped at the same time, it’s probably reasonable to assume there was a sizable rollover from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the following in an official statement about Ahsoka’s early success:
Ahsoka has become a fan favorite with people of all ages and it’s wonderful to see her continue to resonate with viewers in her very own headlining series. I want to recognize the fantastic work done by our creative team, led by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the incredible cast led by Rosario Dawson, and our talented crew — and on behalf of the team and all of Lucasfilm, we give our thanks to all the fans who have been with Ahsoka on every step of her journey and to all those who are just learning about her now in Ahsoka on Disney+.
So clearly Ahsoka isn’t having trouble finding people interested in the title character’s adventures, and ideally that will translate to even more people coming on board, even if they’re not familiar with the character’s animated past. Originally voiced by Ashley Eckstein, Ahsoka Tano was a lead character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and recurred across Star Wars Rebels, and the Ashoka show specifically serves as a sequel to the latter. In addition to spending more time with Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice, familiar faces like Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger (whom I suspect may have already been introduced), and Grand Admiral Thrawn, with the Imperial adversary being played by Lars Mikkelsen, the same man who voiced him on Rebels.
However, I felt that the first two episodes of Ahsoka provided just enough Rebels background for people who didn’t watch the animated series to still be to follow along with what unfolded. Obviously one can more deeply appreciated Ahsoka knowing what went down over Rebels’ four seasons, but that doesn’t need to be a barrier to checking out this live-action series. With six episodes left to go, there’s still plenty of time for newcomers to come on board and watch as Ahsoka, Sabine and their allies search for the missing Ezra and Thrawn, as well as deal with new advisories like the late Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll and Ivanna Sakhno’s Shin Hati.
New episodes of Ahsoka premiere Tuesdays at 6 pm PT/9 pm ET, as opposed to dropping at the platform’s usual midnight PT/3 am ET time. Stick around Disney+ if you’re interested in watching the Star Wars movies in order and the other shows set in a galaxy far, far away, or learn what’s ahead with our upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows guide.