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Highlights
- Actor Eman Esfandi confidently predicted his casting as Ezra Bridger in Ahsoka six months before the auditions, showing his determination and belief in his abilities.
- Despite not being a Star Wars fan before the show, Esfandi immersed himself in the lore and found humor in his character’s lack of knowledge about the events, making his performance even more entertaining.
- Esfandi is content with how Ezra’s story ends, expressing his gratitude for the role and openness to future seasons or even a movie, but also emphasizing the importance of concluding the character’s journey appropriately.
A prominent star in the recent hit Star Wars series, Ahsoka, was so confident in his abilities that he told people even before being cast that he would be in the show. The thing is, this was long before the role in question was even up for grabs.
Ahsoka is one show that fans immediately latched onto. For some, it was simply the excitement of having a new Star Wars show with a bigger focus on all that cool Jedi stuff. For others, they quickly began shipping-certain characters together (to the point where even the actors on Ahsoka seemed totally into the idea). But it’s hard to deny that one of the biggest draws was finally seeing characters from the animated series Star Wars Rebels in live-action, and one such character drew the attention of his ultimate star like a bolt from their shockingly blue eyes.
Eman Esfandi, who went on to play the young Jedi Ezra Bridger (though not quite so young anymore in Ahsoka), recently revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he prophesized his casting as Ezra. According to Esfandi, he told his agent he would get the part six months before auditions began. It was widely known that Ahsoka would continue the animated series Rebels, which prominently featured Ezra. So once that was clear, Esfandi called his shot like Babe Ruth at the plate.
“I emailed my agent and manager six months prior to my audition and was like, ‘Hey, when they cast for Ezra Bridger, I’m going to play him. So use these pictures.'”
As impressive as the actor’s drive was, it became almost hilarious in hindsight. It turns out that Esfandi was not the rabid Star Wars fan that audiences might have expected from someone so adamant about such a role. This became particularly amusing thanks to a scene after Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) finally found Ezra after searching for years. The scene saw Sabine filling Ezra in on everything he’d missed while he was gone. But for Esfandi, that scene served a double purpose since he also had a relatively paltry knowledge of Star Wars events and lore.
“I wasn’t a Star Wars person before the show. I just didn’t grow up on it. But after we shot the show, I inhaled all of it for six months. So, when Sabine was filling Ezra in, I also didn’t know much about it. Once I got to know everything, it just made that scene twice as funny. I was like, ‘Oh my God, that was how they filled Ezra in? That’s hilarious.'”
But now that he’s gotten more caught up with Star Wars, Esfandi has made peace with his role whether or not it continues from here. The way Ahsoka season 1 ended, it seems pretty clear that Ezra will be back for more stories in some form, likely including Esfandi. But the actor seems fine with how things go. He emphasized that he’s happy that he got the role and made it his own, so while he’d love to do more, he’s content with however Lucasfilm and Disney choose to end things.
“If I do a second season, I’ll be happy. If we also do a movie, I’ll be so happy, and I would never need more than that. I’m like Harrison Ford in that way where I don’t need Ezra’s story to just live forever. I’d rather his story be concluded in the most appropriate way for his character. So if it ends at the movie, I’ll wash my hands and thank God and move on.”
Even so, it would be great to see more Ezra, whether it’s another season of Ahsoka or the upcoming Mandalorian movie set to unite all the different shows for a grand finale. Though maybe Esfandi should brush up on the lore before his next appearance. Then again, maybe not. He came in not knowing much and gave audiences one of the best performances in the show. So, maybe there’s something to a little blissful ignorance.
Ahsoka is available to stream on Disney Plus
Ahsoka
Rosario Dawson stars as Ahsoka Tano in this Disney Plus Star Wars series that brings some of the franchise’s most beloved characters from the animated world into live-action. The series, created by Dave Filoni, also stars Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, and the late Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll.
- Release Date
- August 23, 2023
- Creator
- Dave Filoni
- Rating
- 7.8/10
- Network
- Disney Channel
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
