The Mystery of the Tonnika Sisters

[AmShak]

When I was helping research some images for the Christine Hewett Interview, I found that there was very little, if any, "official" information on which character in the movie was Brea and which one was Senni. To make it even worse, I found bad information on which actress was which, from what some might call "official" sources. Other sources of imformation offered every possible combination that you could imagine. So when it came time for the interview, this was certainly something that we wanted to clear up. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the clarification that we had wanted. The only real "official" source to justify which was which, was that Christine signed as Brea at Celebration III.

In a recent issue of Star Wars Insider (#95), the question was addressed in their Q&A section. This section is written by Leland Y. Chee and it is one of the main reasons I buy the magazine. Leland Chee is a Lucasfilm official and the person who maintains the Holocron continuity database. Below is what appeared in the magazine...

Q: In the cantina scene, which of the Tonnika sisters is Brea and which is Senni? Anonymous, by email

A: Well, for those paying close attention to the EU, the answer is neither. Let's start from the beginning. Brea and Senni Tonnika were first identified by name in the West End Games roleplaying game. Until then, they were simply referred to by Production as "Space Girls." The RPG depicted the Tonnika sisters as identical twins, even though they are not identical in the film. Author Timothy Zahn wrote a short story in the anthology Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, which rectified this discrepancy by explaining that the Tonnika sisters that we see in the film are actually Mistryl Shadow Guards, Shada D'ukal and Karoly D'ulin, posing as Brea and Senni. Shada is supposed to be Brea and Karoly is supposed to be Senni. Since Star Wars Celebration III, Christine Hewett, the Tonnika sister wearing the blue bodysuit in the film, has been signing official autographs Brea Tonnika (aka Shada D'ukal). The other actress, Angela Staines, who wears the green bodysuit in the film, is Senni (aka Karoly D'ulin).

This does not tell us much more than what we already knew, but it is nice to see an "official" source address the question and support what we have.

Click here to learn more about Christine Hewett​