Who Plays Young Ahsoka in ’Star Wars: Ahsoka’ Episode 5? Hint: Not Ashley Eckstein

Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 5 “Shadow Warrior” on Disney+ picks up where last week’s episode left off, showing us the long-awaited reunion of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) with her former master Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) in live action. While it’s still unclear if Ahsoka did indeed meet Anakin in the “World Between Worlds” or if the episode’s writer and director Dave Filoni has created yet another wrinkle in Force lore, the important part was we finally got to see a young (thanks to VFX de-aging) Anakin and teenaged Ahsoka fight beside each other in the Clone Wars. The only questions you might have is who is the actress playing Young Ahsoka, why does she look so familiar, and is that…original Ahsoka voice actress Ashley Eckstein??

Ahsoka Tano was a character created by Dave Filoni at George Lucas’s behest for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She was conceived as Anakin’s war-time padawan, an important character we never met in the movies. When the young Ahsoka was first introduced, she grated fans’ nerves with her snippy precociousness. The show was in on the joke, however, with Anakin giving her the nickname “Snips.” Over time, Ahsoka matured, began to question the Jedi way, and eventually parted ways with her master before his fall to the Dark Side.

Although Ashley Eckstein voiced Ahsoka Tano through all her animated appearances, Filoni and company cast Rosario Dawson as the character for her live-action debut in The Mandalorian Season 2. Dawson has reprised the role in The Book of Boba Fett and now in Star Wars: Ahsoka. However in Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 5 “Shadow Warrior,” we meet an even younger live-action version of Ahsoka… and she looks awfully familiar to anyone who saw Barbie this summer (or on VOD). So who plays young Ahsoka Tano in this week’s Clone Wars flashbacks?

Who is the Actress Playing Young Ahsoka in Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 5 “Shadow Warrior”?

Apologies to Ashley Eckstein, but you have once more been passed over for a more famous face in live-action. 16-year-old actress Ariana Greenblatt plays Young Ahsoka in Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 5 “Shadow Warrior.” This younger version of Ahsoka is forced to relive some of the most trying episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the midst of a duel with the Force projection (or memory? or spirit?) of Anakin Skywalker.

Ariana Greenblatt is perhaps best known for playing Sasha, the Barbie-hating daughter of Rosario Dawson’s character in Barbie, but you might know her from another couple of genre roles. She also played Adam Driver’s daughter in the sci-fi/dinosaur thriller 65 and played the young version of Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War.

You can follow Ariana Greenblatt on Instagram @ariana_greenblatt.

Time will tell if Greenblatt’s turn as Young Ahsoka is a one-off engagement or if Filoni has plans for a sitcom in the style of Young Sheldon.