The Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen left with honors this weekend from the massive Star Wars Celebration.
The brother of the most recognizable Mads (who was also in the halls promoting Indiana Jones) has a solid career almost always based in Europe, where he has excelled in imposing roles in Borgen, The Killing, Sherlock, House of Cards, Something to Believe
in
or
the kingdom
.
But last Saturday he was cheered in London as soon as he leaned out of the curtain to greet 5,000 fans of
Star Wars
that they had been crossing their fingers all morning that the rumor was true: he was going to return to the role of the villain he played in an animated series five years ago.
His larynxes are already famous among followers.
His work as Admiral Thrawn was already iconic enough for him to be hailed in this hall of acolytes as the umpteenth coming of Darth Vader, Harrison Ford, or Princess Leia.
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This is the challenge that the new Star Wars series on Disney+ are now facing: trying to get the audience to do their homework and be interested in the animated series of the past, as well as the new series with humans, since both will be expressly connected.
None of this is more remarkable than in
Ahsoka
, a series starring Rosario Dawson that Disney+ will premiere in August 2023 and that has been the highlight of this Star Wars Celebration, to which EL PAÍS has been invited by Disney.
This character, featured in animation in
The Clone Wars
in 2008 as an apprentice to Anakin Skywalker, it is one of the most loved by the most loyal public.
Through the corridors, dozens of women had painted themselves orange and had designed their own cranial appendages to replicate and honor her.
The somersault consists of the casual viewer also betting on seeing his adventures without perhaps having seen anything of his previous evolution in four different animated series, as well as in The Mandalorian and The Book
of
Boba
Fett.
"Am I going to have to watch all of
Rebels
to understand
Ahsoka
?"
It is a question that viewers have already asked themselves after seeing the preview of the new star series of Disney +.
Her case is quite key and exemplary, since not only does the protagonist travel from a Star Wars sub-universe that is more unknown to the general public, but she also brings with her a large part of the cast of the animated series Star Wars:
Rebels
, of 75 episodes and one of the most personal projects of Dave Filoni, beloved architect of the saga on television for 15 years and also creator of
The Mandalorian
.
The writer and director assures that it can be seen independently without knowing anything else, but the promotion so far has been to sell it as an additional leg to what has already been said.
Lars Mikkelsen enters the 'Ahsoka' panel at Star Wars Celebration with an ovation.Kate Green (Getty Images for Disney)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (
Fargo
) will play Hera, the pilot and motherly figure who led the rebels in their battle against the empire, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo will play the renegade Mandalorian Sabrine Wren, who in the series inherited the dark saber turned key mythology. From the Mandalorian and Grogu series.
The main shadow villain will be Lars Mikkelsen's bluish Thrawn, who also had a long history in the franchise books.
One more step in the well of the most faithful.
References to his character also dot the live action in
The Mandalorian
, where he made a cameo appearance by another of the animated leads.
The Mandalorian
, which has two animations left this third season, has also made the warrior Bo Katan (Katee Sackhoff) the main protagonist, a character also inherited from The Clone Wars (a series that even has several guides on
the
internet and on Disney+ itself to follow specific characters or avoid filler animations).
This year she has relegated Pedro Pascal to the background.
The series, which remains the biggest emblem of Disney + and has also introduced cameos from other cartoon characters to the revelry of converted fans.
However, it has seen a drop in its following, at least if the few viewership meters that are published are to be trusted.
Ahsokas reunion #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/ji9IpMB9Fz
— Eneko Ruiz Jiménez (@enekoruizj) April 8, 2023
According to the audience monitoring company SambaTV, the premiere of the first animation accumulated 23% fewer viewers in its first five days than the previous season, and it was also a lower number than the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi
.
and
The Book of Boba Fett
.
Precisely in the latter, part of the plot of The Mandalorian
between seasons was developed
, placing in that derived series the narrative arc where the protagonist and Baby Yoda meet after being separated at the end of the second by Luke Skywalker.
Something that, once again, has confused some neophyte fan who follows the adventures of the main character but doesn't have time to get into each derivative of the saga.
Disney+ did not even explain this change in plot and evolution in its previews.
In Nielsen's weekly data, which analyzes streaming
viewing hours
in the US, the new season is still among the top positions, albeit with less euphoria than previous stages, although it does occupy higher positions than
Andor
, the series of
Star Wars is better received by critics (and possibly will have several Emmy nominations) but has received less attention from the general public.
'Star Wars: Rebels' mural at Star Wars Celebration.
A rock-shaped mural with the
Rebels
is one of the most photographed spots at Star Wars Celebration.
The characters from the animated series become flesh and blood in every corner of the convention, with the costumes of the fans who have come to enjoy this hobby in which they have found a community.
And the animated universe has no sign of ending.
The bad consignment
, centered on a group of rebel clone soldiers, has just finished its season and will have a third and last one;
Star Wars: Vision
opens on May 4th
, where studios from all over the world make personal chapters of the universe (including one from Madrid's El guiri, by Rodrigo Blaas, which will star Úrsula Corberó and Luis Tosar as a Sith and her master).
Additionally, Dave Filoni has just announced that The
Jedi Chronicles
anthology will also be back for a second season.
They will go even further.
Filoni will be the director of a live action film that will connect the entire universe of his series, between the animation universe VI and VII (a period in which Skeleton Crew, some
Goonies
a la Star Wars with Jude Law, is also included), in a great cinematic battle made for the purest of fans.
Now the challenge is that all this expanded universe does not become extracurricular to see the emblematic films and series of the Disney brand.
But,
Star Wars may become a more niche and less general universe, as happened with its cousin
Star Trek.
Some may prefer to repeat the course.
'Ahsoka' poster.Lucasfilm Ltd. (Lucasfilm Ltd.)
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