REBEL REBEL

AHSOKA REUNITES HEROES FROM ANIMATED SHOW STAR WARS REBELS. AS SHE PREPARES TO TAKE MANDALORIAN SABINE WREN INTO LIVE-ACTION, STAR NATASHA LIU BORDIZZO TEASES WHAT'S IN STORE

- RICHARD EDWARDS

WHEN IT COMES TO transferring fan-favourite animated characters to live action, the Walt Disney Company effectively wrote the rulebook.

Over the last decade the studio has developed an extremely lucrative sideline making the likes of Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin and most recently The Little Mermaid part of our world, so it's hardly an earth-shattering revelation that the interstellar division of the Mouse empire is following suit.

Ahsoka, the latest Star Wars TV show to land on Disney+, is a spin-off from The Mandalorian, but it's also built around characters who made their names one digitally rendered frame at a time. Title character Ahsoka Tano was Anakin Skywalker's Jedi apprentice during the CG adventures of The Clone Wars, while the supporting cast is packed with heroes she met while they were collectively striking back against the Empire in Star Wars Rebels.

But there's one key factor that distinguishes Ahsoka from those aforementioned Disney reboots. While those films were mostly faithful to the originals - aside from the odd new song, reinvented comedy sidekicks and efforts to address the political incorrectness of the past - Ahsoka is a continuation of existing canon.

In other words, the new cast - led by Rosario Dawson, back as Ahsoka after cameos in The Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett - are picking up where the animators and voice actors left off.

GHOST PROTOCOL

"I loved Tiya Sircar's Sabine!" says Natasha Liu Bordizzo, the Australian actor donning the highly customised armour of Rebels' graffitiloving Mando Sabine Wren in Ahsoka. "I loved the energy, the sarcasm and playfulness that really made Sabine Sabine, but obviously it's a delicate balance because I never want to try to copy someone. I want to be inspired by the energy they put into the character, and then make the role my own.