Star Wars fans, rejoice! Here's the first teaser for the Ahsoka series

Star Wars Celebration Day kicked off with the release of an extended teaser for Ahsoka, the latest interconnected series in the Star Wars franchise set to debut this summer on Disney+. Written by Dave Filoni, the series stars Rosario Dawson in the title role.

The Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka was first introduced as a supporting character in 2008's animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent animated series. The character returned in the sequel series Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018) as a member of the Rebel Alliance, operating under the codename Fulcrum, and made numerous other cameo appearances in the extended Star Wars universe. Dawson's live-action version made her debut in The Mandalorian's second season. We last saw Ahsoka briefly in The Book of Boba Fett, when she passed on a gift of chain mail to Grogu after warning Mando/Din Djarin that his presence would be a distraction from Grogu's Jedi training. We all know how that turned out: Din and Grogu reunited and went on to share even more adventures in The Mandalorian S3, which will wrap later this month.

The official premise for Ahsoka is short and sweet: "Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy." In addition to Dawson, the cast includes Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, a young Mandalorian warrior, graffiti artist, and former bounty hunter; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, a former pilot for the Rebellion; Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger, a former con artist and thief who trained as a Jedi; and Ray Stevenson as Baylan.

Genevieve O'Reilly and Diana Lee Inosanto reprise their roles as Mon Mothma and Morgan Elsbeth, respectively, while David Tennant is back voicing Huyang, a lightsaber-crafting droid who appeared in The Clone Wars. Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka's former Jedi mentor who fell to the dark side of the Force and became Darth Vader. We're also likely to get more of Ahsoka's backstory, since Savannah Steyn will play a younger version of the character. And while we know we'll be seeing Grand Admiral Thrawn--an Imperial military leader who leads the remnants of the scattered Galactic Empire in a campaign against the New Republic in a trilogy of novels and Star Wars Rebels--we don't yet know who will play him.

This is just an extended teaser, so we're not offered much in the way of plot details. The teaser opens with an ominous voiceover warning that "something's coming." Whatever it is, it's "something dark," and our cloaked heroine can sense it. "This is a new beginning,' Baylan says in another ominous voiceover. "For some, war. For others, power." For Ahsoka, it starts with reuniting with Sabine, but the reunion seems a bit tense given how much "things have changed." Ahsoka has started hearing whispers about the return of Thrawn "as heir to the Empire." That means, as always, preparing for the worst, even though there are very few Jedi left.

Ahsoka will debut on Disney+ in August 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Disney+