Page 70 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2019)

fans still love Ahsoka and support her, and to see all
the little girls dressed as Ahsoka just melted my heart.
Honestly, I got goose bumps at the turnout.

How hard was it for you to keep the return of Ahsoka
under your hat?
It was a hard secret to keep. I’ve known the secret for
about a year now, and it’s just been so tough because
I haven’t lied to the fans, but I can’t tell the truth so
what do you really say? When friends would ask me
over and over again, “Is Ahsoka going to be in Rebels?
Are we going to see Ahsoka again?” I would just have
to say, “Well, you know, she’s still alive. It’s kind of too
soon to tell. You know, they’re still writing Rebels. Who
knows? Maybe we’ll see her one day.”
But once Fulcrum came into the storyline, it was
harder to be vague. The fans— who are so fantastic—
pitched up Fulcrum’s voice and said, “Okay, that sounds
like Ashley and the way that she speaks!” I pretty
much went into hiding after that because
I didn’t know what to say. I kind of
avoided interviews, all podcasts, really
all social media about the subject, until
after the finale aired because I didn’t

know what to say about it, and I didn’t
want to lie about it.

She’s not the only character from Clone Wars jumping
to Rebels. The Season Two trailer that premiered at
Celebration showed Captain Rex and Hondo Ohnaka.
What does it mean to you to see these characters
continue to live in Rebels?
I’m also a huge fan of these characters in Star Wars
and so, as a fan, I became so invested in them. We
spent six seasons on The Clone Wars getting to know
these characters so deeply—we really did. They’re
animated characters, but we became emotionally
attached to them. I can’t say enough about
Captain Rex and what he means, but also
Hondo is a personal favorite of mine. So for

70 INSIDER

30/10/2018 12:05
SWI2019_068_075_AshleyEckstein.indd 70
SWI2019_068_075_AshleyEckstein.indd 70 30/10/2018 12:05