Two months ago, Lucasfilm debuted the first official teaser trailer alongside a ‘remixed’ version at Star Wars Celebration in London, the latter of which was only shown to those in attendance. Both trailers boasted a release window of August, but neither gave a specific date, with fans left wondering when in August they could expect the series to debut. Well, alongside a brief new teaser, Lucasfilm have announced that after much anticipation, Ahsoka will debut on Disney+ on August 23rd, 2023.
Before we continue with the Ahsoka news, I’d just like to share that you can now support my work in two ways. Firstly it’s via my newly created Patreon page which has a single tier at this time simply to support my work. Secondly you can tip me with a simple one off payment on my Ko-Fi page or you can choose to support my work monthly on the platform. I’d truly appreciate it if you decided to support my work, but no pressure, I know things are pretty tough out here. Anyway, back to the reason you came here – the news!
The release date reveal doesn’t come as much a surprise, it falls on a Wednesday as is common for most Disney+ releases, especially for the streaming services biggest draws – Star Wars and Marvel series. The date of August 23rd also doesn’t surprise me given that Ahsoka will end one week before the start of a highly anticipated Marvel Studios release on the streamer, Loki season two. August 23rd I previously speculated on last month given the Loki release date, believing August 23rd of 30th to be the most likely candidates following a placeholder date of Thursday, August 31st appearing on DisneyMovieInsider.com which Disney swiftly removed and led fans to wonder if August 31st was in-fact the true release date of the series.
The teaser that revealed the long-awaited release date itself was pretty brief, clocking in at a thirty one seconds – a far cry from a trailer some fans were likely expecting. The teaser doesn’t share a whole lot, mostly featuring footage from the teaser trailer from April, along with additional shots from the leaked alternative version shown at Star Wars Celebration including Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) wielding an ignited lightsaber, the one that previously belonged to her lost friend, Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). The teaser shows us why Wren is tensely holding Bridger’s lightsaber, as we soon see the Mandalorian clash blades with one of the villains on the series, Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), who is an apprentice to Baylon Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and works alongside the series main villain – Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen).
Speaking of Grand Admiral Thrawn, it’s quite surprising we did not get any new shots of the villain in the teaser. The newly released promo piece once again features Thrawn from behind walking into a room, the same shot used in the teaser trailer from April. In the alternate version of the teaser trailer shown at Star Wars Celebration, a face-shot of Thrawn was featured, and naturally, many took a picture of the image along with recording the trailer and shared it online. It’s this reason why I thought Lucasfilm may have opted to finally reveal the face of live-action Thrawn officially, and that it’ll unquestionably create buzz on social media.
Disney and Lucasfilm are finally ramping up marketing for one of their biggest Disney+ releases of the year, having Ahsoka drop a promotional clip and the series featuring on the cover of Empire, with that issue hitting shelves on June 8th which features interviews with members of the cast and crew. I’m sure Disney and Lucasfilm will continue to rev up the marketing as we approach August 23rd, with many fans likely holding out hope for a new official trailer for the release, which at this point is likely a month away given how trailer releases for these series operate and Ahsoka being eleven weeks away from release.
June kicks off an exciting run for Disney+, with the streaming service debuting their next Marvel Studios series, Secret Invasion, which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Emilia Clarke, next week. Secret Invasion will hold down the streaming fort until August, when Ahsoka will pick-up the torch and run up until one week before the release of the highly anticipated second season of the most successful Disney+ to date, Loki, which will take us towards the tail end of the year where subscribers will receive every episode of the Marvel Studios series Echo and introduce fans to Skeleton Crew, the third and final live-action Star Wars series of the year which was created by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Christopher Ford (Chaos Walking) with Jude Law set to star.
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