The first trailer for Ahsoka has generated a huge amount of excitement among Star Wars fans, especially as the Disney+ series will feature the live-action debut of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Lars Mikkelsen reprises his Star Wars Rebels role and is expected to be flanked by two fallen Jedi, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Very little is known about these newly created villains, though some believe they're wielding orange lightsabers rather than red ones.
That's now been confirmed by Ahsoka co-creator Dave Filoni.
"I made [their lightsaber blades] a little bit more orange," he explains to Screen Rant. "That's a really good eye. That was very intentional. I didn't make them just a stark red. I remember as a kid that Vader's lightsaber kind of fluctuated from visual effects to being a little bit more orange."
"I didn't want to go straight up orange, but it's identifying a little bit of something to kids that they might not straight up be what you think they are in the beginning. Nothing is accidental."
We're definitely intrigued to see how these orange blades are explained in Ahsoka, though they already have a meaning in Star Wars canon. Typically wielded by those who identify as "Gray Jedi," these Force-sensitive beings normally haven't committed either to the light or dark sides of the Force.
In the case of Baylan and Shin, though, it seems their respective viewpoints line up with those of Thrawn.
Talking of that villain, Filoni also addressed the complications that came with bringing the Grand Admiral into a live-action setting. "If the blue is very strong, it almost starts to lean too far back into animation," he says. "So you have to find a blue that is complex, that has multiple layers to it, that has transparencies and a sense of blood and skin."
We were among those at Star Wars Celebration who got an early first look at Mikkelsen as Thrawn, and we can promise you that he looks every bit as awesome as you might hope.