Ahsoka: Who is Hamato Xiono?

This review contains spoilers for Ahsoka Episode 3 “Time to Fly.”

Hamato Xiono was perfect in Ahsoka. He was absolutely everything I wanted him to be and so much more.

This was the live-action debut of the Star Wars Resistance character. Portrayed by Nelson Lee, Hamato was first teased in the Ahsoka trailers when some super sleuth fans saw on Getty Images that he was coming into the series. Since then, Resistance fans (myself included) have waited for any nuggets of their beloved show.

So who is Hamato Xiono? As seen in Ahsoka, he is a New Republic senator of Hosnian Prime who is also the father of Resistance’s protagonist, Kazuda “Kaz” Xiono. He was stern and did not put up with his son’s antics. It’s heavily hinted that Kaz’s bumbling ways in the New Republic Academy led to Hamato financially bailing his son out of various jams.

When Poe Dameron recruits Kaz to join the Resistance, Hamato is against the idea. Hamato thinks the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa, is a group of radicals. Kaz disobeys his father and leaves with Poe.

At the end of the first season, Kaz watched his homeworld of Hosnian Prime get destroyed by Starkiller Base as the series fell in line with The Force Awakens. He panics because he doesn’t know if his father, mother, and the rest of their family are dead.

Season two answers this mystery quickly: Hamato and the rest of Kaz’s family were off-world at the time of their planet’s destruction. Hamato pleads with Kaz to come home. Kaz being a Resistance spy puts their entire family in danger. Kaz chooses to stay with the Resistance and walks away from his father, which is the last fans have heard of Hamato since the show ended.

In Ahsoka, Hamato Xiono is just as stuck up, stubborn, and full of himself as I hoped he would be. He embodies the New Republic’s problems and why they fail. When a character is against Leia Organa, they are not someone to root for. Nelson Lee absolutely nailed Hamato’s character, and I really hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him and other Resistance tie-ins.

Fittingly, August 29th is supposed to be Remembering Resistance Day in the fandom. Organizers pushed back the event due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Wouldn’t that have been such a lovely accidental tie-in with Ahsoka and a Resistance character coming into live-action, Disney?

Stay up to date on all things Ahsoka here at Dork Side of the Force.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the Star Wars content being covered here wouldn’t exist.