George Lucas has never been shy in admitting that the creation of Star Wars saw him draw influence from a wide range of sources across the cultural spectrum including politics, history, literature, film and television, with a huge helping of his own imagination tying it all together into a large intergalactic space opera.
The three most primary inspirations have always been viewed as pulp favorites like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, Westerns and sweeping epics from Hollywood titans John Ford, Howard Hawks and David Lean, as well as the filmography of Akira Kurosawa. The latter’s fingerprints in particular are all over the Original Trilogy from both a visual and narrative standpoint, with various shots, character beats and plot threads echoing The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Derso Uzala, Rashomon and, of course, Seven Samurai.
Those influences have continued right through to the franchise’s Disney Plus expansion, too, with The Mandalorian heavily indebted to the Western genre and the tropes of the lone gunslinger, and we’re now hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us she’d be appearing in season 2 of Din Djarin’s adventures long before it was confirmed – that Ahsoka‘s show will take its cues from classic samurai cinema.
A dual-wielding Jedi with lifelong ties to the most evil figure the galaxy has ever seen, who finds herself exiled and spends the majority of her time fighting for her life in the aftermath of Order 66 and the rise of the Empire while reckoning with her past certainly fits the ronin mold, and it would offer a unique juxtaposition between the dusty Western vibes of The Mandalorian to see Ahsoka unfold as the story of a wandering lone warrior trying to find her place in the world.
