In November, The Mandalorian began airing its 8-episode season on Disney+ and took the internet by storm. In December, three days after the season had premiered its final episode, a report claimed that, unlike the first season, Season 2 would feature several familiar Star Wars characters. In February 2020, Bob Iger confirmed that Disney+ was considering spin-off series focused on characters appearing in Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian.
Last week, Rosario Dawson was reportedly cast as Ahsoka Tano for the show's second season. To borrow the words of the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, this "was not a coincidence; nothing happens by accident." If a popular actor like Rosario Dawson really has been cast to play Ahsoka Tano, then a live-action spin-off is something Disney must at least be considering.
Although it's important to note many of these reports have not been confirmed by Disney, it's hard to ignore just how well the reports line up to tell a story across the months of their release. The Mandalorian was a massive success for Disney+, and using it to spin-off other characters into new shows would be an excellent way to capitalize upon that.
However, new shows are always risky, so bringing back preexisting characters that fans already know and love could easily help encourage executives to be willing to that risk, and if you are going to attempt to spin familiar characters into their own show from The Mandalorian, they will need to be introduced at some point in Season 2. So the star of this potential spin-off needs to already exist, be popular enough among fans to warrant their own show, and yet still somehow fit into The Mandalorian's existing world.
Ahsoka Tano fits that bill perfectly, and she even has an open-ended story that needs finishing to boot.
Appearing across both The Clone Wars and Rebels for years, Ahsoka is one of the most popular preexisting figures in the Star Wars Universe, and as a character, Ahsoka is uniquely suited to join the cast of The Mandalorian. In a galaxy where Jedi are little more than myths and where Mandalorians are so rare that they can be impersonated without consequence, Ahsoka is the only character in the canon at this point in the timeline who has extensive knowledge, history and experience with both groups.
If that wasn't enough, Ahsoka's open-ending in Rebels sets her up perfectly to cross paths with Mando and the Child before spinning off into her own show. The former Jedi was last seen chronologically in the Star Wars: Rebels series epilogue set after the Battle of Endor. In her final scene, she and a Mandalorian named Sabine Wren vow to set off across the galaxy in the hopes of finding fellow-force user Ezra Bridger, who had disappeared into hyperspace years earlier.
Similarly, Mando is searching for other Force users in an effort to find the Child a home; it would be very simple, story-wise, to have the two pairs cross paths on their respective journeys, introduce Ahsoka and Sabine to The Mandalorian's audience and then use their appearance as a backdoor pilot of sorts that could draw in audiences from all three of Ahsoka's shows before sending her off to finally find Ezra in her own series.
The Mandalorian's inclusion of the Darksaber in its finale is just one more piece to tie these various plot threads together. Ahsoka has fought against its wielders many times over the years and will likely do so again, but its real impact on a potential spin-off would be its ability to introduce its most potent co-star: Katee Sackhoff of Battlestar Galactica fame.
Before it fell into the hands of season 1's main villain, the Darksaber had last been seen in the possession of the animated Mandalorian, Bo-Katan. Introduced in The Clone Wars, Bo-Katan eventually became Mandalore, leader of the Mandalorians, with Sabine's help in Rebels. Ahsoka and Sabine encountering the Darksaber in Moff Gideon's possession could easily be used to bring Bo-Katan to live-action in The Mandalorian and then send her off with Sabine and Ahsoka into the spin-off as well.
Ahsoka is one of the only characters in the Star Wars canon that could possibly be incorporated into The Mandalorian's second season who can unite the show's Mandalorian and Force-using plot threads, and her unique position as an ally of two Mandalorians and as a character with an open-ended story set her up perfectly to be the star of her own spin-off. Her Mandalorian companions would add star power and direct ties to the parent-show, and her first season would already have a clear, season-long arc.
The plan falls into place perfectly: take advantage of a hit show's popularity to introduce its audience to another fan-favorite character with an unfinished story and unique ties to its culture in order to give her a series that would truly feel like a spin-off, and not simply another Star Wars series. Though this spin-off may never materialize, it's almost a certainty that it's being seriously considered... unless none of these reports are true.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito and Emily Swallow. Season 1 is streaming now on Disney+. Season 2 is slated to arrive this October.