‘Ahsoka’ Creator Dave Filoni Explains How “Everyone Can Become A Jedi And Everyone Can Not Become Jedi”

Dave Filoni, the newly minted Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm and the creator of the Disney+ Ahsoka series recently shared his thoughts on how “everyone can become a Jedi and everyone can not become a Jedi.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 08: Dave Filoni onstage during the Ahsoka panel at the Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 08, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)

Filoni did an interview in the middle of November with Entertainment Weekly’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast where he attempted to explain how Sabine Wren could be trained as a Jedi under Ahsoka Tano.

First, Filoni was asked to provide some more details as to why he chose to have Sabine be trained as a Jedi under Ahsoka. The host said, “Tell me a little bit about why you wanted to pair kind of Ahsoka and Sabine. I think some people were a little surprised that Sabine would want to follow her on this path of the Jedi.”

He answered, “It was something I really got interested in when we made Star Wars Rebels, Tiya Sircar did an incredible job with the character of Sabine and bringing her to life. And through working with her and understanding the voice of the character I understood the character better and she became so much more by the end of that series than just a warrior.”

“She had a real struggle. She was a fighter. She was kind of brash. She reminded me a lot of Anakin in a lot of ways,” he said.

Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in Lucasfilm’s AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

RELATED: Dave Filoni Won’t Let His Characters Die… and It’s Killing Star Wars

Filoni elaborated, “And I thought this is a really good pairing because for Ahsoka I could see a tendency to want to teach somebody that reminds her of her mentor, but I could also see the danger that would be present in that. So the familiarity can go two ways.”

“And I just really liked Sabine and her reckless nature,” he continued. “Again, it really reminded me of Anakin and Ahsoka’s pairing. And there’s a lot to kind of unwind there in her own history. It had to be complicated. And it was even better if they just weren’t getting along together in the beginning.”

(L-R): Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in Lucasfilm’s AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Next, he addressed Sabine’s Force sensitivity and the Force at-large, “The idea that she’s not incredibly adept at wielding the Force, I think, is a strong thing. … It’s amazing how fans and the Star Wars franchise has evolved. There are all these thoughts, and opinions, and groups. You can find different camps on how they think everything works.”

“But very fundamentally, if you just pay attention to the films George made, you understand that the Force is an energy field created by all living things,” he said. “So the Force emanates from all of us and everything, right, all living things. It surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together. So she’s not absent from the Force. She is part of the Force.”

“Part of the problem is, it’s like anything in life that you want to do, you have to train hard to acquire the skills. …  Everyone can become a Jedi and everybody can not become a Jedi because we know there are things in our life, take martial arts skills or even something like yoga and say that if I did that, that’s better for me, that’s healthier, that’s empowering. So why don’t we all do it? It takes time, it takes commitment, and even people that do it don’t all turn out to be great at it,” Filoni stated.

He continued, “So in Star Wars, I’m sure people are aware, obviously, that there are Jedi Knights. Fewer people are even aware that the Force exists. They don’t understand how the Jedi do what they do. But like Qui-Gon says to train to become a Jedi it’s a hard life, it’s difficult to do. Many people would never even come close to achieving their goal of manipulating an object without the Force let alone pushing or pulling somebody else because that person’s will is set against you and that makes it even harder.”

(L-R): Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

“So I wanted to tell the story though of… She’s a very talented warrior. She’s a very talented person, but this is not something that’s easy for her,” he relayed. “And I think that makes it relatable to people. Where generally we’ve always seen very gifted people be trained, and I wanted to show kind of the opposite with the warning that if she achieves her potential there’s also the danger in that because of the way she is as a warrior. She’s prone to anger. All the things that makes Ahsoka concerned could flare up.”

“I don’t know. It was kind of fun. It was fun hearing the debate that people were having about it. We’ll see what happens,” Filoni concluded.

(L-R): Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

RELATED: Katee Sackhoff Declares ‘The Mandalorian’ Is “Din Djarin’s Show” Despite EP Rick Famuyiwa Admitting Bo-Katan Kryze Was “The Mandalorian”

While Filoni initially set up Sabine to struggle with mastering the Force being unable to move a simple cup, he would undo it all by the end of the season. Sabine would not spent years training to master the Force, rather she was seemingly infused with a mastery of the Force when she was on the brink of death similar to how mutants from Marvel Comics activate their abilities.

When she was about to be killed by a zombie Night Trooper she was able to Force pull her lightsaber and quickly dispatch it. From there, her power levels increased further as she Force pushed Ezra Bridger onto the Executor enabling him to stow away and return to the main Star Wars galaxy.

To reiterate there was no years of training. There was no true struggle to attain the skill. She attained it while facing death.

(L-R): Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved

As for the idea that anyone can become a Jedi or master the Force upon training there is precedent to this. Lucas was asked by Lawrence Kasdan during the Revenge of the Jedi story conference in 1981, “The Force was available to anyone who could hook into it?”

Lucas responded, “Yes, everybody can do it.” Kasdan pressed, “Not just the Jedi?” Lucas elaborated, “It’s just the Jedi who take the time to do it.” Ross Marquand then commented, “They use it as a technique.”

Lucas then detailed, “Like yoga. If you want to take the time to do it, you can do it; but the ones that really want to do it are the ones who are into that kind of thing.”

He added, “Also like karate. Also another misconception is that Yoda teaches Jedi, but he is like a guru; he doesn’t go out and fight anybody.”

(L-R): Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved

RELATED: Ahsoka Ratings Fall to Andor Levels in Second Week

However, Lucas appeared to change his mind on this much as he did with Yoda, who did indeed fight Count Dooku as well as Darth Sidious in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

In an interview with Paul Duncan and published in The Star Wars Archives, Lucas detailed, “That’s why I split it into the Personal Force and the Cosmic Force. The Personal Force is the energy field created by our cells interacting and doing things while we are alive. When we die, we lose our persona and our energy is assimilated into the Cosmic Force.”

He continued, “If we have enough midi-chlorians in our body, we can have a certain amount of control over our Personal Force and learn how to use it, like the Buddhist practice of being able to walk on hot coals. Some people can’t because they just don’t have as many midi-chlorians — that’s just genetics. So the more midi-chlorians we have, the more accessibility we have to the Force. So we have to be trained how to use it.”

Evidence Filoni is not honoring but changing the lore. https://t.co/B4QqZzdfqr https://t.co/IDDjkskFCv pic.twitter.com/fhozJWu3Nu

— 🇺🇸O.G.Starwars 🪶💫 🕉🧘🏻‍♀️ (@OGStarwarsAB) December 2, 2023

It’s still possible that Sabine Wren could have been trained as a Jedi and attained a modicum of Force ability such as that of moving the cup, but it’s unlikely she would have had the ability to Force Push Ezra Bridger at the drop of a hat. It also would have taken her years upon years to attain that ability.

It was poor storytelling and it was disrespectful to Star Wars lore, and a prime reason why Dave Filoni should not be the Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm. He simply lacks a fundamental understanding of Star Wars not to mention basic storytelling that fictional worlds have rules and those rules must be followed or the people you are trying to believe the world exists won’t and they will find other storytellers who do.

(L-R): Dave Filoni and Rosario Dawson on the set of Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

What do you make of what Dave Filoni has to say about the Force?

NEXT: Dave Filoni Anointed “The Filoni-ous King” Of Star Wars, Explains His Reasons For Ascending To Liege Status (Satire)