Rosario Dawson Talks 'Intense' Lightsaber Training For 'Star Wars' Series 'Ahsoka'

Actress Rosario Dawson had to undergo some intense training for her new "Star Wars" series "Ahsoka."

Although the actress already helped the character of Ahsoka Tano make her live-action debut from "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" in the Disney+ live-action series "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett," this will be the first time that Ahsoka is right in the center of the action.

Considering that Ahsoka uses two lightsabers to fight with, Dawson revealed that she had to become ambidextrous in order to pull off her character's signature style.

In a May 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly on their Dagobah Dispatch podcast, Rosario Dawson revealed that her training was "pretty intense" and consisted of practicing Ahsoka's lightsaber form for two hours a day, seven days a week. "And then you add on when we were actually filming and doing these different battles and having to continue to studying it," she added.

Dawson noted that Ahsoka is ambidextrous as she fights, which she said was "just a lot to kind of own." She also noted that Ahsoka is "so fierce from the very beginning," adding, "It was never a question about whether she is capable. She meets every single match just so head-on. There's no hesitancy from her whatsoever, and that's really different from someone who's learning martial arts in their 40s who's trying to protect their face."

She went on to admit that it actually took months of training before something "clicked" for her.  "There was definitely a moment a few months into the training where I just felt it land in my body in a way. I remember when it clicked in where I really felt grounded in her and some of the stuff started feeling more familiar and seamless," she described. "That's when I really felt like I locked into Ahsoka."

She also received help from stunt coordinator Ming Qiu and others on set. "I was grateful for the team of people that we have," says Dawson. "And to have someone like Ming, who actually started nodding and going, 'Okay, this can work.' When she said, 'This one did not make my eyes hurt,' that was the first compliment that I got, and I think I cried. It took a lot of effort on our part to make look easy, and that felt really remarkable because of that discerning eye."

In addition to practicing her lightsaber training, Dawson has also had to learn how to pull off Jedi mind tricks and learn how to make her Force abilities look realistic on screen. "It's the intention and the desire behind it," she explained. "I feel like I have it more than someone who just wants to move an object."

"I definitely feel more powerful and confident portraying this character, and I think it does show up," she added. "Even when I'm meditating, I feel that there is an energy that we have and a power that we have that if we do concentrate it and focus it in the right ways can move mountains."

Many familiar faces from "Star Wars: Rebels" will be making an appearance in "Ahsoka," including Sabine Wren. Actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo also recently opened up about the lightsaber training she received for Empire magazine's summer 2023 "Star Wars" issue.

“I’m just really glad that’s out there. It’s been really hard talking about my fight training without talking about the fact that it’s saber training, which is literally all I’ve been doing for so long," she explained (via Collider). "The Mandalorian [physicality] is very Western, and then the ‘saber style is very samurai-influenced. Trying to embody those two things – sometimes one right after the other – in the choreography was super interesting because they’re such different modes of being. I really had fun with the journey of trying to master both."

Although many fans are curious as to what lightsaber Sabine is using in her fight against Ivanna Sakhno’s character, Shin Hati, Natasha played coy, asking, “What can I tease?" She went on to say, "It’s just part of her journey. Not just the saber itself, but what comes with that, and what that means, and what mindset it takes to wield that weapon.”

"Ahsoka" will premiere on Disney+ in August 2023.