Ashley Eckstein on Ahsoka's Clone Wars return and helping others — no matter what

Ahsoka Tano is about to make her triumphant return to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the wait has been more than worth it. Though we already know what Ahsoka's story continues in Star Wars Rebels (and in other Star Wars stories), this pivotal section of Snips' life is still blank.

Who better than Ashley Eckstein (the real-life Ahsoka Tano) to discuss this epic return?

There's nobody better, so let's put that to rest. Eckstein joined our heroes on SYFY WIRE's podcast about all things Star Wars, Jabba the Pod, to discuss her return to the world of The Clone Wars, her voice being heard in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and what wisdom from Ahsoka we could all use right now.

Credit: Ethan Miller/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Before we get into The Clone Wars, we do have to go back a little bit and talk briefly about The Rise of Skywalker, since you were absolutely one of the most popular Star Wars characters who’s never been in a film, and then The Rise of Skywalker came out ...

I didn't believe actually that it was gonna happen until literally I was sitting in the theater and I heard it ... I actually didn't find out that I was officially gonna be in it until October, and the movie came out in December, so it was pretty last-minute that I went in and recorded the lines.

So it only took about 15 minutes to record. It was the craziest 15 minutes of my career, I guess you could say, in the best way ... and you know we read all the lines several different ways. They had me record all the lines that you heard because, and I'm guessing they did that with everyone else because they didn't know who they wanted to say what line.

We saw Ahsoka walk away from the Jedi Order in Season 5 of The Clone Wars, and then walk down that ladder years later in Season 1 of Star Wars Rebels. How pivotal are these new Clone Wars installments to her journey?

When Ahsoka walked away from the Jedi Order at the end of Season 5, that was never meant to be the end of Ahsoka's storyline. We were almost done with Season 6 when we got the news that the show was canceled and there were several more stories and episodes that were meant to be produced and meant to be made in order to wrap up our character's storylines. So we knew that the show and these characters didn't get a proper ending.

But these next eight episodes that you're gonna see will wrap up Ahsoka's storyline in The Clone Wars. So I can't say much, but it's definitely giving our girl her proper ending for the series ... I also wanna be careful and say post these next eight episodes, even I don't know what happens.

So there's no point in asking about an Ahsoka the White and Sabine Wren in The Search for Ezra series? No point in asking that?

Yeah, there's no point ... I honestly don't know. But I can tell you I would love it if there was. That would be a dream of mine, and Tiya [Sircar] and I have talked about that. We both bug Dave [Filoni] saying that we would love to find where Ahsoka and Sabine are and where Ezra is ... maybe we'll get that series, but again, your guess is as good as mine.

Is there any particular bit of Star Wars wisdom that's really staying with you now during these times as we're all hunkering down and just trying to help each other out?

There is a line, and it resonated with me more than I even understood at the time. So when we recorded these episodes ... we're not allowed to keep out scripts ... but I broke a rule and I took a screenshot of one line. And I decided that that's gonna be my personal motto for 2020.

The line, we heard it a little differently in the trailer, but when I recorded it the line was: "In my life, when you find people who need your help, you help them no matter what. I guess that's just who I am." Like I said, it resonated with me ... I think that resonates with all of us right now, and I think we can all make that our personal motto.

The only way we're gonna get through this is by helping each other, and we all have to come together. Strangers, friends, family, we all have to come together and help each other. And I feel like we all need Ahsoka right now. Ahsoka lives in all of us, and it's really a beautiful line. It has so much more meaning now to me than ever before.

For the rest of our discussion with Ashley Eckstein, as well as to hear a clip from her upcoming children's book from Penguin Random House, I Am a Padawan, give a listen to our special bonus episode of Jabba the Pod right here ... or wherever you get your podcasts.