According to Star Wars Resistance executive producer/head writer Brandon Auman, the Disney animated series very nearly featured a battle between the villainous Kylo Ren and fan-favorite Star Wars: The Clone Wars character Asajj Ventress.During an appearance on the Friends of the Force podcast, Auman explained that the Star Wars Resistance character Mika Grey (Tudi Roche) was originally envisioned as an older version of former Sith assassin Asajj Ventress that had survived the Clone Wars era. This falls in line with comments made by Lucasfilm Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo back in 2019. However, Auman also revealed that, at one point, there were plans for Resistance's Ventress to face off against Kylo Ren (Matthew Wood), the central antagonist of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (portrayed in live-action by Adam Driver).
"We had... Mika Grey, who, originally, early on, was actually Asajj Ventress in the storyline," Auman said. "That was going to be an older version of Asajj Ventress. And that was [Dave] Filoni's idea. And we were even gonna have a scene where... Asajj Ventress takes on Kylo Ren. That was something that we had discussed very early on."
According to Auman, Resistance creator Filoni ultimately changed his mind and decided not to include Ventress in the show. While Auman was initially "heartbroken" by this, he eventually came to understand Filoni's point of view on the matter. Filoni believed that if Resistance were to bring back Ventress, she would become the focal point of the show in the eyes of fans, thus taking attention away from its original characters and derailing other story plans. Auman says that, in short, Filoni did not want Resistance to become "The Asajj Show."
Asajj Ventress (Grey DeLisle) first appeared in Genndy Tartakovsky's non-canon Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series from 2003. In Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, Ventress is enlisted by Count Dooku to kill Anakin Skywalker. Anakin gets the upper hand on the assassin, however, killing Ventress on Yavin 4.
Ventress is now considered canon thanks to Filoni's 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent animated series of the same name. In The Clone Wars, Ventress (now voiced by Nika Futterman) is a Dathomirian Nightsister and former Jedi Padawan who once again serves as Dooku's personal assassin and Sith apprentice. Dooku eventually betrays her at the behest of his own master, Darth Sidious, with Ventress later going on to become a bounty hunter. Ventress' final major role in The Clone Wars came in the final arc of the animated series' fifth season, in which she helps to prove the innocence of Ahsoka Tano, who had been falsely accused of committing crimes against the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic.
While Ventress did not appear in Season 6 or 7, her story did get a continuation in the canon 2015 novel Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden, which is based upon unproduced episodes of The Clone Wars. In Dark Disciple, Ventress joins forces with maverick Jedi Quinlan Vos in an effort to kill Dooku, with the two falling in love. However, Vos is captured by Dooku and falls to the Dark Side after enduring endless torture. Ventress manages to bring him back to the Light Side, albeit at the cost of her own life. She is ultimately laid to rest on her home planet of Dathomir by Vos and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Created by the aforementioned Filoni -- who is also known for his work on The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and The Mandalorian -- Resistance ran for a total of 40 episodes across two seasons on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Set during the Sequel Trilogy era, the series follows Kazuda Xiono, a New Republic pilot who is recruited by the Resistance to spy on the First Order.
Source:Â Friends of the Force: A Star Wars Podcast, via Twitter