The news that fan favorite Ahsoka Tano was set to make her live-action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian has turned out to be pretty divisive. Rosario Dawson, who had publicly declared her interest in the part previously, was announced to be playing the character in news that delighted half of the fanbase, but enraged the other half who wanted to see voice actress Ashley Eckstein reprise the role.
Ahsoka had been rumored for season 2 for a while now – something WGTC first told you months ago, in fact – given that the Jedi was co-created by Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels alum Dave Filoni, who was involved in the first season of The Mandalorian as a writer, director and executive producer, and is set to feature again during the sci-fi show’s sophomore batch of episodes.
Shooting has already wrapped on season 2, so it remains unclear how long ago Dawson was cast, or whether she’ll be shooting her scenes separately from the majority of the cast. In the official statement, however, it was confirmed that she won’t be a series regular, which indicates that Ahsoka’s role could be limited to an episode or two, similar to how Gina Carano’s Cara Dune is being utilized.
Given how popular the character has been with fans ever since she made her debut though, the announcement of Ahsoka’s role in The Mandalorian also hints that her appearances could act as a backdoor pilot to a spinoff series of her own, something outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned last year when talking about potential solo shows for characters introduced on Disney Plus’ Star Wars projects.
After all, you don’t cast a star like Rosario Dawson as a cult Jedi hero in one of the biggest franchises on the planet to simply fill a guest spot, but we’ll have to wait for The Mandalorian to return later this year before we get a better idea of how Ahsoka Tano fits into the bigger picture.
