If you think RTÉ is having a tough time, spare a thought for Disney, which has seen interest in its Marvel franchise evaporate while its streaming service, which lost a hard-to-fathom $1.1 billion in 2022, turns into a Mickey Mouse millstone. Most extraordinary of all, however, is the House of Mouse’s inability to chart a profitable course for the once almighty Star Wars, a decade after acquiring the science-fiction brand from George Lucas for $4 billion.
There have been highs. Just last year Tony Gilroy’s noir-ish Andor provided fans with an infusion of interstellar optimism. But there have been a lot of lows, too. These have included the dire Obi-Wan Kenobi and the even more disappointing third season of The Mandalorian, where Baby Yoda went from adorable sidekick to ghastly green annoyance.
Still, the Force is perhaps stronger in Star Wars than we suspected. The big new entry in the saga, Ahsoka (Disney+, from today), is an enjoyable return to lightsaber-wielding first principles. It has epic battles and thrilling duels. The plot, moreover, is mercifully straightforward. Rosario Dawson stars as the eponymous former Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, who is pursuing the semi-mythical and thoroughly evil Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn is a long-time Star Wars favourite, dating back to Timothy Zahn’s best-selling Heir to the Empire book trilogy in 1991. Now he’s about to make his live-action debut: Lars Mikkelsen, who voiced him in the earlier cartoon series, will portray him.
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But Disney wants the hype to remain on the boil and keeps Thrawn off-screen in episode one. Instead we catch up with the idealistic, if grumpy, Ahsoka. She is hopscotching across the galaxy searching for clues pinpointing Thrawn’s location.
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This all happens in the years following Return of the Jedi. The Empire is defeated. Nonetheless, loyalties run deep among its former acolytes, as Ahsoka – one-time disciple of the moody future Darth Vader Anakin Skywalker – discovers as she zeros in on Thrawn’s whereabouts.
There’s a decent cast. The impressive Dawson is joined by Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a green-skinned Rebel leader, David Tennant, who voices a Jeeves-esque robot, and the Northern Ireland actor Ray Stevenson as a renegade Jedi.
Disney’s latest would-be blockbuster could yet go off the rails. That was the trajectory of Ewan McGregor’s ultimately appalling Kenobi. But it is off to a solid start. For Star Wars fans and Disney executives alike, Ahsoka is a new hope worth cheering on.
