The Star Wars fandom had its collective mind blown last week when it was revealed that Rosario Dawson has been cast as Ahsoka Tano for the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian. The fan favorite character’s role in the Disney Plus show will mark her live-action debut, after serving as the breakout star of The Clone Wars animated series. Fans have been crying out for Ahsoka to make the jump from animation for ages, so it looks like Lucasfilm is finally capitalizing on her popularity. In more ways than we initially realized, in fact.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision column has confirmed the story of Dawson’s casting, which was originally broken by /Film, and has suggested that this Mandalorian role could be the start of something bigger. The column poses the question of whether this will lead to a spinoff series for the former Jedi, pointing out that there have been “rumors” of such a thing being in the works. This is far from a confirmation, of course, but it has definitely piqued our interest.
At present, it’s not exactly known how major the Luke Cage actress’ role will be in season 2, but Deadline writes that Dawson will definitely not be a series regular. At best, she’ll have a recurring part, then. If THR is onto something, though, maybe Ahsoka will turn up for a single episode and it’ll act as a backdoor pilot for her own live-action series.
Doing an Ahsoka show set concurrently with the Pedro Pascal vehicle would be a smart move, too. The Rebels series finale flashed forward to after Return of the Jedi, sending Ahsoka and Sabine Wren on a quest to find the missing Ezra Bridger. Remember, Sabine was the last owner of the Darksaber, which Moff Gideon had in his possession in The Mandalorian season 1 finale. That connection is presumably how Ahsoka will come into the orbit of Mando and The Child in the next run.
The Mandalorian season 2 is due to hit Disney Plus later this year, and you can currently see Ahsoka Tano’s earlier adventures as The Clone Wars season 7 unfolds weekly on the streaming service.
