Rosario Dawson Says ‘Star Wars’ Producers Made Her Delete Post Teasing Vader ‘Ahsoka’ Cameo
Samantha Bergeson
“Star Wars” actor Rosario Dawson, who is leading Disney+ series “Ahsoka,” revealed that she was asked to remove an Instagram post hinting at a possible appearance by Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) in the upcoming show.
Christensen is reprising the role of Anakin/Vader for “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” premiering May 27. Dawson told Vanity Fair that back in October 2021, she read a trade report about Christensen possibly joining “Ahsoka.” Dawson’s titular character was previously an apprentice to Skywalker in the animated series “The Clone Wars,” so the crossover isn’t too surprising.
However, when Dawson screenshotted the headline and shared it on Instagram, Disney and Lucasfilm struck it down. Dawson captioned, “Skyguy…They know!!! See you soon, Snips,” using the characters’ nicknames for one another from “The Clone Wars.” It was only later that Dawson learned the report was just an unconfirmed rumor.
“I looked in my email, and ‘Star Wars’ was like, ‘You might want to take that down,'” Dawson explained. “I’m like, ‘Man, I can’t be trusted.'”
Oddly enough, Dawson first became attached to the project through social media.
“Someone tweeted me and fan cast me,” Dawson previously recalled. “I retweeted back and I was like, ‘Absolutely, yes please’ and ‘#AhsokaLives.’ And apparently that got the attention of someone who has been doing the ‘Star Wars’ press for years. She forwarded it to Dave Filoni. That kind of started a whole thing. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, did I just get fan cast in something?’”
“Ahsoka” is set to be a “continuous story,” as executive producer Dave Filoni told Vanity Fair, with “singular adventures” much like “The Mandalorian,” in which Dawson’s Ahsoka first appeared. Her storyline suggested that Ahsoka might pick up one of the loose threads of “Rebels”: her hunt for the Empire’s Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the Star Wars Expanded Universe’s fan-favorite villains, dating back to Timothy Zahn’s novel “Heir to the Empire” in 1991.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ivanna Sakhno, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo also star. Christensen is still rumored to be ushering in an “Obi-Wan” crossover with at least a cameo, and Ray Stevenson is slated to play a mysterious villain admiral.
“Ahsoka” does not yet have a Disney+ release date.
