I have been fascinated with the “Star Wars” Universe since watching “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” in 2008.  

The whole world of dueling lightsabers, futuristic technology, and mind-blowing characters came to life for this eight-year-old girl. Unbeknownst to little Kathryn, she would be receiving the opportunity to review a miniseries based on her favorite character, fourteen years later.  

“Ahsoka” is a newly released miniseries based off the character created by Dave Filoni, which was released on Disney + on August 22. The new “Star Wars” scenes follows former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) as she investigates the threat of warlord genius, Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), to a newly established Galactic Republic. “Ahsoka” spotlights other female warriors like Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), a Mandalorian soldier and graffiti artist who travels along with Ahsoka to save her long-lost best friend and save the galaxy.  

The production design of “Ahsoka” makes the miniseries immersive to long-time fans because it allows for a moment of escapism. Whether the characters were in the newly built city of Coruscant or on a far way planet; the scenery was a positive in this series. The fight choreography felt realistic and became what I loved the most about the series. Lastly, the cinematography was enjoyable throughout the series because it felt more as if I was watching the original “Star Wars” trilogy instead of a limited series.  

One of my favorite things from the “Ahsoka” series is Hera Syndulla’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) droid named Chopper. I found myself falling in love with his character multiple times throughout the series. According to the creator of “Star Wars Rebels,” Chopper is characterized as a grumpy astromech droid that acts like the cat counterpart of R2-D2 and always dismissive of what is asked of him, which made me laugh a couple of times.  

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this series, there are some things that could have made this show a monumental part of the franchise. First off, the series follows the conclusion of the 2018 cartoon series, “Star Wars Rebels” so “Star Wars” fans that grew up with the prequels or the original three movies wouldn’t know who Hera and Sabine are unless they binged the series before watching “Ahsoka.” 

Even though the series is named after Ahsoka, the series’ plot does not focus on the character. The series spends so much time developing depth and character arcs for characters like Sabine and Hera which makes Ahsoka feel like a side character throughout the episodes. 

Additionally, Hera and Ahsoka are too serious in this series. They lack the comical comebacks and the tough, independent personalities that made fans fall in love with them in the first place. Although there is nothing wrong with creating a serious atmosphere for a Star Wars series, it is not a crime to want a couple of funny jokes to move the series. 

Majority of the problems regarding “Ahsoka” have to do with the character writing.  For instance, Ahsoka is known to have snippy comebacks and an impulsive attitude, hence her nickname, “Snips,” all of which made her more relatable to fans.  

 Hera is also portrayed differently than her animated counterpart. In the “Ahsoka” series, Hera is a general in the newly established galaxy, which is very on brand for her character, but she lacks her usual ambitious, motherly personality. The character most like her animated counterpart was Sabine, but her development overshadowed Ahsoka’s story in the series. This series is not about Sabine, although that would be cool, it is a series about Ahsoka! 

The “Clone Wars” and “Rebels” made all three of these characters into strong independent women through relatable moments and sarcastic dialogue, but “Ahsoka” tries too hard to feature all three of these female heroines in every scene forgetting to build upon the character that they set the series up for.  

As a long-time fan of Ahsoka’s character and the entire “Star Wars” franchise, I thought the “Ahsoka” series was a good but had a couple of problems which could be easily fixed in the writing stage. If there is anything that “Ahsoka” does right is that it portrays a galaxy fit to inspire the next generation of strong independent girls to save the galaxy.