David Tennant Is Joining Star Wars
David Tennant will once again voice the droid Huyang in the upcoming Star Wars series Ahsoka.
It’s a good time to be a fan of both Star Wars and Doctor Who. After all, Star Wars fans have new films and shows to look forward to, including the live-action introduction of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Doctor Who fans can look forward to the temporary return of David Tennant as the Doctor and some spinoffs of their own. Now, the franchises are coming together like chocolate and peanut butter: SlashFilm reports that David Tennant will be providing a voice for a character in Ahsoka, which means he’ll forever be tied to that familiar galaxy far, far away.
While it’s weird to imagine David Tennant being a part of Ahsoka, this isn’t his first time being part of Star Wars. In fact, the character he voices in the upcoming live-action show is a character that he voiced before back on Dave Filoni’s hit show The Clone Wars. The character is a droid named Huyang, and he has a special connection to the Jedi despite having no direct connection to the Force.
Back in The Clone Wars, we were introduced to Huyang, an ancient droid that is apparently an expert in the construction of new lightsabers. He helped to instruct younglings in not only how to build their own sabers but how to understand complex ideas like waking kyber crystals up using the Force. In the upcoming live-action show, it looks like David Tennant’s character is now working directly for Ahsoka, but we don’t know if his new role in Star Wars is going to be anything like his old role or not.
It’s entirely possible that this David Tennant-voiced droid is going to help Ahsoka rebuild the Jedi order, something fans were hoping to see more of in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. In addition to being an expert in helping new Jedi build lightsabers, Huyang has blueprints for various lightsabers that have been built over the centuries. Whether Ahsoka needs a new lightsaber for herself or someone else (our money is on Ezra Bridger) or needs to learn more about a saber from the past (perhaps one now being wielded by a Sith or other evil Force user), this droid may have the answers.
Star Wars has often portrayed droids as second-class citizens, so it may be difficult to imagine Huyang playing such a major role in both the plot of the show and the lives of its characters. However, this David Tennant character isn’t just any droid, and we’re hoping that Ahsoka demonstrates his importance to the deeper lore of Star Wars. For example, this droid is older than Yoda, and he may now be the oldest and most reliable repository of information about the Jedi and the Old Republic itself.
And while stunt-casting is a thing (it’s how Chris Pratt became Mario’s voice, after all), we doubt that Filoni would bring a major star like David Tennant to Ahsoka just to have him be another cringe Star Wars cameo (sorry Jack Black, but that Mandalorian scene was hard to watch). We like to think that a major talent like Tennant was brought in because he is going to play a suitably major role in the franchise. Of course, if the droid just ends up running around with random companions and shouting “allons-y” during their misadventures, we wouldn’t exactly complain.
