‘Ahsoka’ Star Eman Esfandi’s Bombshell Revelation About His Preparation For “Ezra Bridger” Will Leave Fans in Utter Disbelief For One Sole Reason

Created by Dave Filoni, Star Wars: Ahsoka is a space fantasy television series based on Star Wars by George Lucas. It is known to be a spin-off from The Mandalorian and is taking place in the same timeframe. The series, which stars Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Eman Esfandi, and more, follows a former Jedi and her allies who fight the remnants of the Galactic Empire during the fledging New Republic.

Upon release, the show received positive reviews from critics and mixed reviews from the audience. It holds a score of 86% from critics and 64% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. The slow pace of the show and the stiff performances of the actors were criticized. However, Eman Esfandi’s revelation of his preparations for portraying Ezra Bridger could surprise you.

Ahsoka star Eman Esfandi gets candid about his preparation for Ezra Bridger

Ezra Bridger is a fictional character created by Dave Filoni, who was featured as the main protagonist in Star Wars Rebels from 2014 to 2018. Taylor Gray voiced the character that grew from an orphan with a knack for the Force into a rebel who trained in the ways of the Jedi. Actor Eman Esfandi debuted the character’s live-action version in Ahsoka.

In a conversation with Star Wars.com, the actor revealed about his preparation for the character,

I did not watch Rebels ad nauseam because I didn’t want to get too much of the younger version of the character locked into my body. But I watched key episodes that Dave recommended so I could understand the relationship between Ahsoka and Sabine and the rest of his crew. And I also researched Ezra as a public figure. I read all these articles and then watched a ton of videos on YouTube about the Force and interviews with George Lucas and Dave.

The actor noted that he inundated himself with all things Star Wars to understand the tone and the idea of the show. Recently, at the Fan Expo held in Chicago, the actor revealed once again that he didn’t watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars or Star Wars: Rebels before he started to prepare for portraying Ezra Bridger. He said (via X account Agents of Fandom),

I did read them. They have summaries of each episode of Wookiepedia.

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Eman Esfandi admits to having watched the shows after Star Wars: Ahsoka. The actor shows up in episode 6 of Ahsoka, and it turns out he’s been in exile with Thrawn when Sabine finds him. Esfandi had mentioned that it took him months of stunt training how to work through the obscured tunnel vision of the Bridger’s blue contacts. Meeting Rosario Dawson, he was finally able to see himself as Ezra Bridger. He adds that being a part of the Star Wars world is the highest honor.

Eman Esfandi’s portrayal of Ezra Bridger left fans speechless

It’s no surprise that Star Wars fans are hardcore and dissect every quality of the character from the animated version to the live-action. So after Ahsoka premiered, they were speechless with how good Eman Esfandi was as Ezra Bridger. A fan on Reddit wrote,

He absolutely killed this role, and he may be my favorite animation to live-action adaptation to date. Right up there with Bo. I just hope he’s not being overlooked.

Another fan commented that they liked his acting and thought he looked like a natural when fighting with a lightsaber, which was perfect for Ezra’s character. At the same time, another noted that they are looking forward to seeing more of Ezra in the coming projects because he needs more opportunities to shine.

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That's MAD considering he was such perfect casting, and exceptionally distilled Taylor Gray's performance and what makes Ezra so likeable and charming. He nailed it, and you're telling me he just did that without any research?? Hats off

— Tom | The Outatime Film Podcast (@OutatimeTom) August 18, 2024

Praising Esfandi, a user wrote that the ‘dude straight up nailed the role as Ezra. I could close my eyes during his scenes and see the old animated one in my head.’ Another one mentioned, ‘I was really annoyed by the actor’s fake contact lenses, but Eman Esfandi just nailed the role, making me forget about this minor detail. My favorite character of Ahsoka. (Sorry Ahsoka)’

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Fans were impressed with the actor’s portrayal of the character in the series, as they couldn’t stop praising how his acting reminded them of the animated version. People believe that the actor is perfect for the role and has become one of the fan-favorite characters on the show.

Ahsoka is streaming on Disney+.