Live-action Star Wars television has found success in part because the production value is often just as high as on the cinematic side of the franchise. Episodes of The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Acolyte often have the movie-like feel of Star Wars... but sometimes they cut corners, and that becomes evident in the final product.
Ahsoka, the spinoff focused on former Jedi Ahsoka Tano, was criticized for looking flat and gray, having apparently overused the Volume and other CGI tools. A worrying new update on Season 2 suggests this will get even worse... but there may be a hidden bright side.
While speaking at Scotland Comic-Con (via SWNN), Rosario Dawson said Ahsoka Season 2 will have a smaller budget than Season 1, which presumably means an even less dynamic production. Season 2 is actually making several changes, as production has moved from California to the United Kingdom, and had previously been described as using a “variety” of filming techniques.
Ahsoka had a reputation for hazy, static backgrounds.
But what’s being sacrificed for the sake of the budget? Will there be fewer CG effects? More, to cover up the lack of proper sets? Or is the story just more self-contained, meaning there won’t be a noticeable aesthetic difference to the viewer at all?
If nothing else, it seems the minds behind Ahsoka understood the criticisms of Season 1. During a New York Comic-Con panel, prolific Star Wars TV director Bryce Dallas Howard explained that Ahsoka is borrowing from one of the more popular Star Wars spinoffs. Via Star Wars Holocron, production involves someone who worked on the cinematography for Rogue One. That’s probably not the very in-demand Greig Fraser, the cinematographer behind Rogue One, The Batman, and the Dune movies, but anyone involved with the process could help give Ahsoka the fresh eye it so desperately needs.
Hopefully, greater care for Ahsoka’s look will make up for the tightened budget. A show with fewer special effects but better color and composition is definitely preferable to a soulless big-budget affair. Star Wars TV set a high standard for itself, and it will be in trouble if it fails to meet it.
