Shared universes arguably don’t need flagship characters to succeed, although it helps during the early days. Robert Downey Jr. was the focal point for the entire MCU during his decade-long run, but across town, the DCEU has never positioned any of their marquee heroes ahead of the others, while the same is also true for Star Wars.
Indeed, Lucasfilm’s galaxy far, far away is populated by countless iconic figures, and that number has only increased since Din Djarin and his tiny green surrogate son debuted in The Mandalorian. Even one-off supporting players like Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth and the Frog Lady manage to instantly gain cult status, proving once again that the mythology itself is the main selling point.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming, though, that Mando, Grogu and Ahsoka Tano will reportedly lead Disney Plus’ expanding Mandalorian universe and be the faces of that pocket of the franchise. Which is kind of obvious. After all, Pedro Pascal’s bounty hunter is responsible for the explosion of small screen content in the first place, and Snips has been a cult favorite among the fanbase for years already.
Of course, The Mandalorian will remain the number one series given that it acts as the centerpiece for the three upcoming spinoffs and bestowed the world with the gift that is Baby Yoda, who Richtman says will be returning despite the events of last season. And if Ahsoka’s solo show delivers on expectations, then the trio are certainly well positioned to lead the episodic arm of the franchise well into the future, especially when many of the other in-development projects have finite conclusions given their status as prequels in terms of the canonical timeline, whereas there are still two decades and change to go until Mando bumps heads with The Force Awakens.
