‘Star Wars Rebels’ Writers All Agreed Sabine Wren Becoming A Jedi Was “A Bad Idea”, So Of Course Disney Ignored Them For ‘Ahsoka’
In yet another case of Disney completely misunderstanding the once-beloved franchise, Star Wars Rebels producer Henry Gilroy has revealed that contrary to her lightsaber-wielding turn in Ahsoka, the animated series’ writing team had never intended for Sabine Wren to ever become a full-fledged Jedi – and further, they had unanimously agreed that doing so would be an objectively “bad idea”.
Gilroy, whose penning of Ahsoka Tano’s debut adventures during his previous stint as the co-writer of The Clone Wars CG outing arguably helped lay the groundwork for Sabine’s eventual introduction, spoke to this disconnect between his and Disney’s respective teams during a recent appearance on the Pod of Rebellion podcast, a Rebels rewatch podcast hosted by the series voice actors Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), and Tiya Sircar (Sabine).
Joining the show for their discussion of the Season 2 episode The Protector of Concord Dawn, which presents viewers with the first significant dive into Sabine’s backstory, Gilroy was eventually met with the point-bank ask from his hosts, “Was it the plan for Sabine, if Rebels had continued on, to go down a Jedi path? Or was that an invention to sell more Lightsabers in the last couple years?” [Time Stamp: 51:04]
In turn, the producer bluntly admitted, “I’ll say that it was absolutely not the plan,” before explaining, “As a matter of fact, we had a discussion in Season Three about whether that and we really felt, not only did it step on Ezra’s story, but it was like a retread – Okay, we already did this.”
“Yeah, the idea of Sabine training as a Jedi when she is already you know, this fantastic warrior of her own type, we felt like, ‘Well, this is overkill.’ So honestly, I had nothing to do with the Ahsoka series, so I was shocked because our entire story team had discussed it in Season Three and thought it was a bad idea. We kind of did a pros and cons list and were like, ‘Oh, yeah, this just kind of like a weak retread, why would we push that way?'”
“However, what I love with [Sabine’s] story about the Dark Saber is you don’t have to be a Jedi to have Jedi ideals and embrace the Jedi philosophy – and I think that’s what’s really like the more important thing rather than ‘Okay, now I’m gonna you know, force push Ezra, you know, one hundred feet when I’ve never used the Force before.'”
Next met with the speculation that Ahsoka‘s writers intended to have Sabine’s Force training serve as a means for her to grow into a ‘true leadership’ role ahead of the Ghost crew’s then-upcoming clash with Grand Admiral Thrawn, Gilroy opined, “It’s a weird thing in my mind.”
“You kind of see Sabine already pick up the leadership mantle when [the Rebels crew] go to Mandalore. She comes into her own from being that kind of ‘I’m going to be the mercenary Mandalorian warrior’ versus ‘Oh wait, I’m part of this this bigger fight against oppression, and I can be a leader, not in commanding troops, but just by demonstrating you know, the leadership skills, which is leading the charge or inspiring people around her by courage. You know how is as a person is a strong person.”
Wrapping his thoughts on the topic, Gilory ultimately told his former Rebels crew members, “I felt that that it that it really kind of diminished her, trying to make her a Jedi, because she doesn’t need it. She doesn’t need to use the force. So it was definitely a shock to me too to see her, you know, suddenly training.”
