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Add one more to the list of characters who were better before they were important. Or at least important to certain parties.

Sabine Wren, one of the heroes of Star Wars: Rebels, got an upgrade of sorts in Ahsoka when she was turned into a Force user, something that wasn’t in the show…by choice. A recent interview in the Rebels rewatch podcast Pod Of Rebellion, as reported on by Bounding Into Comics, featured an appearance by show producer Henry Gilroy among the usual podcast panel of show voice actors, was asked about Sabine being made a Jedi in her live-action appearance. Turns out that wasn’t just something the original animated series didn’t bother with, it was outright rejected:

In turn, the producer bluntly admitted, “I’ll say that it was absolutely not the plan,” before explaining, “As a matter of fact, we had a discussion in Season Three about whether that and we really felt, not only did it step on Ezra’s story, but it was like a retread – Okay, we already did this.”

“Yeah, the idea of Sabine training as a Jedi when she is already you know, this fantastic warrior of her own type, we felt like, ‘Well, this is overkill.’ So honestly, I had nothing to do with the Ahsoka series, so I was shocked because our entire story team had discussed it in Season Three and thought it was a bad idea. We kind of did a pros and cons list and were like, ‘Oh, yeah, this just kind of like a weak retread, why would we push that way?’”

“However, what I love with [Sabine’s] story about the Dark Saber is you don’t have to be a Jedi to have Jedi ideals and embrace the Jedi philosophy – and I think that’s what’s really like the more important thing rather than ‘Okay, now I’m gonna you know, force push Ezra, you know, one hundred feet when I’ve never used the Force before.’”

So Sabine didn’t need to be a Jedi to be an important character or for her character growth, and in fact her character arc was tied only in the idea that the Jedi ideals are something anyone can follow, which is a good message. Like with superheroes, you don’t need the powers and gear to emulate your favorite hero. A great message for kids that was lost to adults because someone insisted she’d only be good if she were among the important characters in the Star Wars universe, the Force users. Somehow you only matter if you have all the power, meaning that Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, Padme Amidala, Dash Rendar, Giri, Wedge Antilles, the various droids, and anyone else who couldn’t manipulate minds and make things float don’t matter because they didn’t use or in a couple of cases believe in the Force. That is why they fail. It’s not even the only time I’ve seen this in Star Wars, and it’s definitely not the first time in fiction.

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