No matter what happens during the remaining Mandalorian Season 2 episodes, this season has already reached series fandom peaks thanks to the live-action introductions of Clone Wars characters such as Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan and Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano, with the latter unleashing some key mythology details on viewers and Mando. Pablo Pascal's masked hero is now heading to the planet Tython, and many fans are wondering if this means Ahsoka's Star Wars run is already over so soon after it began.
While The Mandalorian is a show that pretty much sticks to its title character and his adorable li'l buddy (that answers to Grogu), the action-adventure obviously has its share of recurring characters such as Carl Weathers' Greef Karga and Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon. But unless Rosario Dawson is just being extremely coy about her future in the franchise – which by all means is entirely possible – then it sounds like she won't be returning in the final three Season 2 installments. Here's how she put it to StarWars.com:
I mean, I would love that opportunity. I think it’s so cool that this show exists. I think it’s so cool that I got to show up and give information about this character, the Child, that everyone’s loved so much. You know, that she was not so much showing up as a cameo, but really being a storytelling device for new fans that have fallen in love with yet another new character that we’re getting to see grow. Little Grogu is just amazing.
Taking the most basic reading of that answer, one would infer that Ahsoka Tano's role has been fulfilled within The Mandalorian's narrative, at least as far as being the connective informational tissue between the Force-sensitive Baby Yoda and Mando. And that was indeed an extremely important role to fill, since Mando has been 85% clueless since first coming into contact with the bitty creature in Season 1. And with the way Ahsoka both starts and ends the episode with lightsaber badassery, any follow-up appearances from Rosario Dawson's not-so-much-a-Jedi this season would either pale in comparison, or the creative team would need to go even bigger on the fight scenes and expositional mythos.
Now, even if Ahsoka Tano doesn't reappear in the remainder of Season 2, that's hardly a confirmation that Rosario Dawson will never rock the blue eyes and white lightsabers in the future in some other capacity. There's always Season 3, or at some later point in The Mandalorian's future. Or it might not happen on that particular Disney+ series at all.
With Ahsoka Tano's mention of Grand Admiral Thrawn comes a host of speculation about where the franchise might go with that particular character. That theorizing definitely involves talks about a spinoff project in which Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano would return, and possibly even Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan. Of course, those theories haven't left the rumor mill just yet, so only time will tell what happens next. But the hugely popular response is likely being viewed very closely by Disney and Lucasfilm execs.
Below, Rosario Dawson continued to speak about having a legacy-making debut on The Mandalorian.
It’s interesting watching The Mandalorian, realizing you’re not seeing lightsabers, you’re not seeing a lot of what we love about Star Wars. It was really amazing to be able to have that gift of being able to bring that into this series and into this space, and I’m really grateful for that opportunity.
As awesome as all of Mando's weaponry is, and as sweet as Star Wars' various blasters are, and as badass as Timothy Olyphant was altogether, it's hard to deny Rosario Dawson the crown of coolness for bringing her lightsabers to the party. And I doubt any Star Wars fans would complain too hard if those white blades cut through the darkness again in the future.
New The Mandalorian episodes debut on Disney+ every Friday at 3:01 a.m. ET. Let us know if you want to see Ahsoka return soon, and stay tuned to our Fall 2020 TV premiere schedule and our Winter and Spring 2021 TV rundown to keep up to date with all the new and returning shows coming up.
