‘The Mandalorian’: how Rosario Dawson studied Ashley Eckstein to get Ahsoka Tano right

Rosario Dawson has opened up about Ashley Eckstein’s influence on her performance in The Mandalorian.

The actress recently made her live-action debut, playing the role of fan-favourite character from the animated world, Ahsoka Tano.

• Read more: ‘The Mandalorian’ season two episode five recap: return of the Jedi

Dawson told Vanity Fair that Eckstein “did a remarkable job” voicing the character for several years, adding: “You’ve seen this character first come into our hearts and minds as a teenager and then evolve, and Ashley has been there the entire way.

“Seeing how her voice changed, how her energy changed, and to hear the maturity develop in her was just so powerful and so beautiful. I studied it like crazy and tried my best to honour that. And it was just incredible to be able to have such an in-depth performance to source.”

Dave Filoni, who wrote and directed the episode introducing Dawson as Ahsoka, added: “Ashley’s fantastic, and I think the character that she played, Ahsoka as the young Padawan apprentice and then going into Rebels, obviously made its mark—plus the animation team who made this Padawan such a household name among Star Wars fans.

“It’s a pretty magic thing and it speaks to how well crafted the character is by that group. I wrote pretty much all of her character from when she’s 14 all the way up through this, and normally someone in my position wouldn’t get to do that. It would have changed hands several times.”

In other Mandalorian news, last week’s episode finally revealed the real name of Baby Yoda – click here for more information, but beware of spoilers.