On Tuesday, July 11, Lucasfilm dropped an action- and Easter egg-filled trailer to Ahsoka, the standalone Disney+ series starring Rosario Dawson in the title role. 

Along with Dawson reprising the character she first portrayed in live-action form in season 2 of The Mandalorian, the series picks up threads from the animated shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.

The upcoming series will see a collection of fan-favorite characters who, like Ahsoka Tano, began as animated ones: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is seen in greater detail as the green-skinned alien pilot Hera Syndulla, who is seen pressing rebel leaders to fight a rising enemy. Natasha Liu Bordizzo plays Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren, who faults Ahsoka for once abandoning her cause. Also, glimpsed in a hologram message, Eman Esfandi is the young Jedi Ezra Bridger. 

Ezra went missing in hyperspace in the climax of Rebels along with the empire’s genius tactician Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is being portrayed by the man who voiced him in animation, Lars Mikkelsen.

“I started hearing whispers of Thrawn’s return as heir to the Empire,” Ahsoka says in the coming attraction. Tano has vowed to hunt Thrawn down to avoid the rise of the empire after its fall in the climax of Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. 

Helping Thrawn are not only Darth Vader’s fearsome Inquisitors, but also a pair of fallen Jedi: The late Ray Stevenson plays Baylan Skoll and Ivanna Sakhno his fearsome ally Shin Hati. “War is inevitable,” he promises, noting Thrawn’s return will bring him “power such as you never dreamed.”

The series begins August 23 on Disney+.

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