Ricky Church chats with Star Wars: Ahsoka author E.K. Johnston…
Last week the highly anticipated book Star Wars: Ahsoka was released, telling a story of Ahsoka’s time following Order 66 but before she became Star Wars Rebels‘ mysterious rebel organizer Fulcrum. Flickering Myth recently got the chance to ask author E.K. Johnston a few questions about the book and how much Ahsoka has grown since her time on Star Wars: The Clone Wars to now. Check out what she had to say below and you can also read our review for Ahsoka here.
Ricky Church: You had the opportunity to let readers really get inside Ahsoka Tano’s head. How did you approach her mindset in this story?
E. K. Johnston: I re-watched The Clone Wars episodes where she has a lot of dialogue, which also happened to be the episodes I drew on the most for character building with the storyline. I knew that she was going to be very isolated and very emotionally fraught, but neither of those two things are her natural state, so the narrative very naturally fell into “Ahsoka Gets Back In The Mess”. It was interesting to write a character who is used to having MASSIVE resources work with next to nothing. She got a bit of practice with that after she left the Temple the first time, but not on this scale, or with these stakes.
RC: Did you have any trouble writing a character who was not your own creation?
EKJ: It was a little bit awkward at first! I’m used to fanfiction, but there are no rules there, so you can do whatever you want, really. Writing “inside the lines” was a bit more intimidating, but it also made it very easy to find Ahsoka’s voice, because I already knew what she sounded like.
RC: Were you a fan of The Clone Wars? How did you work on the growth from young to old Ahsoka?
EKJ: Yes! I didn’t start watching The Clone Wars until it was over, because I knew it would make me sad, but then when I did watch it, I loved Ahsoka on sight. She’s so…young (in a way that Padmé never gets to be, and Anakin doesn’t get to stay). It was awesome to watch her grow, and become someone powerful without compromising anything that made her who she was. She’s still relatively young in the book, only 18 or so, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch.
RC: Since her introduction, Ahsoka has gathered quite the fanbase. Did you feel any amount of pressure at all to take on such a beloved character?
EKJ: A bit, yes. 🙂 I love her, too, though, so I was able to channel the nerves into productivity.
RC: Out of the Star Wars movies, which one is your favourite?
EKJ: Empire! Because Leia yells at people, and then they do what she tells them to. Also all of her best outfits. She also straight-up uses the Force and it’s awesome.
RC: What is it about Ahsoka that you’ve grown to admire?
EKJ: I love how she is so driven and competent, and how quickly she learns and gets better, even when it’s something she’s already pretty good at.
RC: Though The Clone Wars ended years ago, the show has continued on in various media. How does it feel to continue its legacy with Ahsoka?
EKJ: Really, really amazing. I’m so glad I got to write this book, and I’m even more excited to share it with everyone.
Ricky Church
Originally published October 20, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
