During Ahsoka‘s first season run, Eman Esfandi’s portrayal of the Jedi Ezra Bridger is simply one of the best casting choices thus far in Star Wars TV. Esfandi embodies the character so perfectly, garnering praise for his role in the show. He instantly became a fan favorite.
It seems like destiny that Esfandi would play Ezra. At Fan Expo: San Francisco 2023, the actor spoke on a panel with Collider‘s Arezou Amin about how he knew six months before he was cast that he would play Ezra. The story goes that when he was watching Star Wars Rebels, he felt this instant connection with the young Jedi Padawan. He didn’t know when he would play Ezra, but Esfandi knew it would be sometime in his life.
Then, six months later, he got a call from Dave Filoni that would change everything. It was the call that would confirm he would play Ezra Bridger in Ahsoka. He said during his panel:
"“But then I’m, like, hearing Ezra, and I’m like, ‘Uhh, hello?’ And I’m in my living room, and it’s Ezra, and he’s like, ‘What’s up?’And I’m like, ‘Is this what I think this is?’You know, like, is this? And it’s all happened sort of immediately, and like, ‘Yeah, this is what you think it is.’And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, okay, so you’re here because you want to play through me?’And it was kind of just like a ‘Yeah, if you’re down, you know?’ and I was like ‘Yeah, you’re a Jedi dude, of course I’m down, bro.'”"
Everything after that was history.
I once tweeted that Eman is the greatest Star Wars casting “in the history of ever,” and I completely stand by it. He was so perfect as Ezra that it felt like the character walked right out of the animated screen. He is Ezra Bridger, and I can’t wait to see what he does next with the character.