Ahsoka Star's Disneyland Visit Made the Park's Stormtroopers 'Geek Out'

Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien recalls the excitement of Disneyland's Stormtroopers when Rosario Dawson boarded the Rise of Resistance ride.

Ahsoka star Rosario Dawson riding Disneyland's Star Wars: Rise of Resistance attraction made the theme park's Stormtrooper performers "geek out," according to Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien.

Simien recalled the armored actors' excited reaction to Dawson's presence in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "[M]y favorite Rosario Star Wars moment was when I was riding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland. There's a moment where you're arrested by the Empire, and you walk through a corridor with all these straight-faced Stormtroopers and guards that are glaring at you because you're a prisoner. And these cast members are wonderful, however, I was with Rosario Dawson, who's Ahsoka. And the moment she passed their eye line, you could see them just geek out a little bit."

"So that was probably the most adorable thing I'd ever seen because they truly were in awe of her," Simien continued. "And I don't think there's anyone more deserving than her to be the Queen of Star Wars at this time." Simien's anecdote comes after Dawson herself admitted to being overwhelmed by her own appreciation for the Star Wars franchise on the Ahsoka set in a recent interview. According to Dawson, she was so "transfixed" by the experience of being in a "classic, proper Star Wars" environment on Industrial Light & Magic's LED screen-enclosed soundstage, the Volume, that she froze when the director called action.

Ahsoka Star Praises the Show's Cutting-Edge Technology

Dawson has since reiterated her praise for the virtual production techniques employed during the Ahsoka shoot, comparing them favorably to those used on 2005's Sin City. Specifically, the star highlighted the move away from green screen technology toward floor-to-ceiling LED screens that display CG backdrops in real-time. "When we walked onto the Ahsoka set, I would say, 'We've come a long way from Sin City's tape on the floor to the Volume,'" Dawson said. "And it's been pretty remarkable watching how all of the tech and the ways we do it change."

Dawson also revealed that Ahsoka showrunner Dave Filoni combined audio recordings from the Star Wars show's table read sessions with pre-visualization animatics to create "mini-episodes" of each installment. The actor described watching these mini-episodes as a "remarkable" experience, in part because they gave the cast a better idea of what Ahsoka's fantastical settings would look like prior to filming.

Ahsoka premieres on Disney+ on Aug. 23, 2023, and will run for eight episodes.