Ahsoka star Eman Esfandi recently opened up about his casting as Ezra Bridger in the hit Star Wars series.
The actor notably made his debut in the franchise as the fan-favorite Rebels character, who was revealed to be stuck in Peridea during the later episodes of the first season of Ahsoka.
The character's return was celebrated by many fans as it also marked his live-action debut. Esfandi's performance was also praised and considered to be one of the highlights of the first season.
Eman Esfandi on Getting Cast as Ezra Bridger in Ahsoka
In a recent interview, Esfandi shared how he got cast as Ezra Bridger in the first season of Ahsoka.
He admitted that he was not hugely familiar with the Star Wars franchise, but he took notice of the character after seeing an artwork of him and noticed that he has similarities with him.
"I didn't know Clone Wars or Rebels and I had only ever really seen Revenge of the Sith, the Star Wars film, and I was online and something came up about someone playing Space Aladdin and I saw that, and I was like, 'What? I should play Space Aladdin...'" the actor explained.
"Didn't know what that meant or anything, but just off of that, and I look it up and it's Ezra, so they're talking about who should play Ezra. I'm like, 'What is this? Ezra?' And then there's a picture of him by Pandora Young art, and it's this older version she made of what Ezra would look like when he came back from being cast away in Peridea. And it looked like me, kind of..."
After learning more about the character, Esfandi told his agents and manager to keep track of any potential casting for the live-action version.
"So I go look it up, I watch a little bit of Rebels, and then I get this interesting, intuitive feeling, kind of have this dialogue it feels like, with a Force Ghost version of Ezra in my living room.So I say yes to Ezra, and the intuition tells me to send these photos of me and Ezra side-by-side, and send it to my agents and managers," the actor added.
"I told them, like, 'Hey, when this is casting I'm gonna play this character, so use these photos.' And they're all kinda like, 'What are you talking about? Are you talking about Star Wars? Is this an animation, are you gonna be on live-action, what is this?'"
Esfandi continued, "I don't really explain anything, except my manager calls me up, and I go, 'This is one of my spiritual things and we'll just have to see how it plays out.' And he's like, 'Alright, man, I trust you, and also I hope it happens' because he grew up on Star Wars."
Fortunately, six months later, Esfandi was called in to do an audition for the role and he was given a formal offer soon after. The rest is history, and he is now expected to reprise the role in the second season.
What do you think of Esfandi's remarks? Let us know in the comments!
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