This weekend, Collider’sArezou Aminhosted a panel at MegaCon in Orlando with bothDiana Lee InosantoandEman Esfanditalking about their roles in theStar Warsuniverse. Inosanto plays Morgan Elsbeth in bothThe MandalorianandAhsokaalong with Esfandi, who plays Ezra Bridger. While on the panel, a fan asked Inosanto what she knew of Morgan’s Nightsister roots when she joinedThe Mandalorianback in Season 2.
“There are a couple of surprises that came out of being cast and starting out inMandalorian,“Inosanto said.“Number one, I didn’t even know my name was Morgan Elsbeth. I just knew I was the magistrate.That’s all I knew. So I wouldn’t find out I was Morgan Elsbeth, until the night that they revealed Baby Yoda’s name, Grogu, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ But you know, Rosario [Dawson] has just said my character’s name, I didn’t know that.” Inosanto went on to explain when she learned she was a Nightsister, saying “I did find toward the end as we were approaching the fight scene sequence, I knew,Dave [Filoni] explained to me that I was a Nightsister,and I’m like, ‘Oh!’ And that’s when I was doing my own homework and research on Ventress, and I was looking at clips fromJedi: FallenOrder, I just wanted to understand a little bit ofDathomirian or Nightsister culture”
Inosanto went on to talk about going further with her researchto understand Morgan’s Nightsister rootsand what that would mean for her performance. “I was going back and, you know, reviewingThe Clone Wars. It was quite amazing, but I had no idea how this would unfold,” she said. She went on to say that she had no idea they were going to do anAhsokaseries while filmingThe Mandalorianand revealed her never-wracking introduction to George Lucas. She said:
“I didn’t even know that there was going to be anAhsokashow. I really didn’t. So, it was a mystery the whole process, and then on the day that I had to film my fight scene, I had no idea that George Lucas was gonna be there. You wanna talk about pressure! I was already like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s George!’ So there were just all these amazing moments where I understood the importance of this moment, this character, and whatAhsokawas gonna potentially mean for the franchise and for the universe. And when I finally was asked to doAhsoka, I just thought, ‘Wow,’ and that they were gonna continue on this character. I was just thanking my lucky stars. So that was my process through it.”
Inosanto Got a George Lucas Jumpscare on Set
When Amin heard aboutGeorge Lucasbeing there on set for filming, she took the opportunity to ask Inosanto whether or not they let her know before filming started that he’d be there or if she just turned around to find a “George Lucas jumpscare” on set. Inosanto told the audience: “Jon [Favreau] is such a kind man. He goes, ‘Come here, I just want to introduce you to some people’ and it was George [Lucas] and Kathleen [Kennedy] and Doug [Chiang] was there,” she said, stating that they were all “looking at the screen” before she went on to talk about the process of seeing them and knowing she had to go on and immediately do a fight scene. She said:
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ And I have to start doing this fight scene, and they’re watching the process, and I’m having to learn in real time to get used to Rosario’s energy because we didn’t have time to rehearse. So really in real time, as a martial artist, I’m learning how to adjust to her energy and find that that balance, and we did. I mean that was— I clocked out, I think in 17 hours that was an extremely long day to do a fight scene.”
The MandalorianandAhsokaare available to stream on Disney+. Don’t miss the rest of our coverage from MegaCon, and stay tuned at Collider for all thingsStar Wars.
After the fall of the Galactic Empire, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
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