Ahsoka Has Officially Begun Production, And We Know Who Is Directing The First Episode

This month's unofficial "Star Wars Day" has come and gone, leaving behind a whole group of people in its wake who kept saying things like "May the fourth be with you!" or "Revenge of the fifth!" while also attempting to make it seem normal and cool. Needless to say, this was not a success. But in between these extremely painful and forced (puns!) displays of integrating pop culture lingo into casual social dynamics — yes, welcome to /Film, where each one of us has bizarre and hyperbolic hills to die upon — we did get quite a few "Star Wars" tidbits to celebrate the day and tide us over. The trailer for "Obi-Wan Kenobi" divulged even more details about the plot of the Ewan McGregor-starring series, which will also be notable for bringing back Hayden Christensen into the fold as the biggest bad of them all, Darth Vader.

But don't forget! There's another "Star Wars" series in the works that will also feature the return of the actor who portrayed Anakin in the prequels and even has its own Ewan McGregor connection, as well. What are the odds! After the success of "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett," Lucasfilm is gearing up to expand this interesting little universe of interconnected stories even further with the addition of "Ahsoka." Starring Rosario Dawson as the fan-favorite character from the animated shows, this new series will be piloted by "Star Wars" fan, historian, and Ahsoka creator, Dave Filoni.

"Ahsoka" still remains a ways off at this moment, but today brings us the exciting information that the series has officially begun production, thanks to a tweet by the official Disney+ Twitter account. And it also happens to bear a little hint about the creative team for the series, as well.

Yes, that's Dave Filoni's famous cowboy hat draped over that director's chair, leading us to believe that the man himself will take on an even more direct role in the series than many may have thought. The picture tweeted out by Disney+ sure seems to come with the loaded implication that Filoni will step behind the camera to direct at least the first episode of "Ahsoka," if not multiple ones.

All we know about the series to this point is that, in addition to Dawson returning to reprise her role as Ahsoka Tano, she'll be joined by Hayden Christensen to revisit their spectacularly complicated relationship as the Jedi's Padawan, alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the immensely talented actor and wife of fellow "Star Wars" star McGregor, ironically enough! Ray Stevenson will also fill out the cast as the show's villain ... though not as the infamous Grand Admiral Thrawn, importantly.

Ahsoka's first appearance in season 2 of "The Mandalorian" quickly established that she was still continuing on her long journey to hunt down Thrawn, briefly taking a detour to help out ol' Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu with their little issue of training him in the ways of the Jedi. We eventually revisited that storyline in "The Book of Boba Fett" (for some reason?), where it became clear that neither a frighteningly CGI'd Luke Skywalker (which brought Mark Hamill back on set) nor Ahsoka's guidance could provide a suitable home for Baby Yoda. Fresh off this development, "Ahsoka" will presumably continue her arc from the popular animated shows and take her on dark paths into parts unknown — bringing her face-to-face with either Vader himself or haunted visions of Anakin as he used to be.

"Ahsoka" will premiere on Disney+ on a to-be-announced date.