The following contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2 episodes "The Jedi" and "The Tragedy."
The second season of The Mandalorian has seen our title character on a singular mission, to reunite his foundling friend with his people, a mysterious race of sorcerers called Jedi. In the newest episode of the series, Mando brought his friend to an ancient Jedi temple with the understanding that from there, through the Force, little Grogu might be able to connect with another Jedi, one who might be able and willing to take over as his master and teach the little guy the ways of the Force. One can already tell by the end of the new episode that if somebody doesn't help keep the kid on the right path, the Dark Side is in his future.
However, as Ahsoka Tano said at one point, there simply aren't many Jedi left. The majority of them were killed when Order 66 went into effect at the end of The Clone Wars. There are only a handful of Jedi that we are aware of that would have survived to this point in the Star Wars timeline. At the same time, it feels quite certain that Grogu likely was able to contact somebody. It seems like a lot of effort for the story to go through just to end in nothing. So who might come to The Child's rescue in some future episode and take on the role of training him? Here are a few possibilities.
Ezra Bridger
Ezra Bridger is a Jedi who seems to be quite an unlikely candidate, and yet his appearance in The Mandalorian, were it to happen, would make all the sense in the world. Ezra was the main character in Star Wars Rebels, the animated series that followed The Clone Wars and took place in the period of Star Wars history that saw the creation of the Rebellion. At first, Ezra was a headstrong kid but, over the course of the series, he came into his power and ultimately sacrificed himself in order to prevent Grand Admiral Thrawn's plans from moving forward. And that's exactly why Ezra might make sense.
In "The Jedi" we saw that Ahsoka Tano is on the hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn. It seems Thrawn may be back in this part of the galaxy and, if he is, there's a chance that Ezra could be as well. It could be that Ezra, and not Thrawn, is Ahsoka's ultimate goal. And it's been a while since we saw Ezra Bridger. He's not a kid anymore and, while he might not have become a Jedi Master in his own right previously, he may still be the most skilled Jedi willing to take on a pupil.
Cal Kestis
Yes, I know, we recently published an article explaining exactly why Cal probably isn't the guy who's going to show up and train Grogu. And yes, this is probably a long shot. But also, I didn't write that. Yes, there are reasons Cal might not be willing to train Grogu. At the end of the video game Jedi: Fallen Order he leaves the fate of dozens of force-sensitive children up to the Force, afraid that simply by finding them he's putting them at risk, and so Cal may be unwilling to train Grogu, but there are a couple of reasons that things may have changed for Cal.
First off, a couple of decades of time have passed between when that video game takes place and when The Mandalorian is set. Cal is older and, one would hope, wiser. Maybe he has more confidence in himself than he once did. But beyond that, Grogu has already been discovered by the Empire. The thing that Cal wanted to prevent has happened, through by no fault of his. And since it has, somebody has to help. And Cal does have a strong sense of duty. But if he still isn't on board, there is, as they say, another...
Cere Junda
Cal Kestis isn't the only Force wielder seen in the video game Jedi: Fallen Order. Cal finds himself fighting alongside a woman named Cere Junda, who was once a Jedi Knight. At the beginning of the game, she has cut herself off from the Force, she is ashamed of some of her actions in her past, but by the end she has seemingly embraced The Force again and remains by Cal's side. Cere is much older than Cal so, after the events of the original trilogy (assuming she survived) she'd be much older. She'd basically be a female Obi-Wan, and that idea sounds perfect for a teacher for Grogu.
If Cere lives at this point, she is the oldest known Jedi in the galaxy. Even considering she spent time cut off from the Force, she likely knows more about it than anybody, and thus, she'd be the best possible teacher that a Padawan could possibly hope for.
Ahsoka Tano
Yes, Ahsoka has already declined to train Grogu once, twice actually, as she did it more than once in the same episode but, if the life of Ahsoka Tano has taught us anything, the Jedi are like the mob, just when you think you're out, you get pulled back in. If Grogu sat on that sending stone and the connection that he made through the Force was with Ahsoka, do we really think she would just ignore him? Whether or not Ahsoka is truly a Jedi in the formal sense, she believes in all that is good about the order and she clearly holds herself to those standards. If somebody is in trouble, and she can help, she will.
Yes, this is a long shot. It seems clear from where The Mandalorian left Ahsoka that Dave Filoni and company have other plans for her. Still, it's possible that actual training of Grogu won't be possible until all these various quests are completed so, maybe by then, she'll be willing.
Force Ghost Yoda
If these ideas are in order of probability, and I guess they are, more or less, then certainly this is the longest shot of all. At the same time, why can't a Force Ghost train somebody in the use of the Force? Is there a reason they can't? Both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker showed us Force Ghosts affecting the physical world, so they clearly still have the ability. So perhaps little Grogu made a connection with with a Jedi who has passed away and, if he did, then it would make sense that the one he connected closely with was one of his own race.
It doesn't need to be Yoda but, if it were, then we might finally gain some more insight into this race of aliens from the Star Wars universe that we know basically nothing about. Since it's even more unlikely that the Jedi who will come help Grogu is named Skywalker, bringing Yoda in, which certainly seems more likely than drafting Mark Hamill to come back with some de-aged CGI work, would be the ultimate Star Wars callback, which The Mandalorian clearly loves to do.
There's a sixth and a seventh option, of course. One possibility is that we get introduced to another Jedi, one we've never met, who has been in hiding since Order 66 killed all of his or her friends. The other possibility is that nothing happens at all. Grogu made no connection, and he and Mando will simply continue to find Jedi through other means. Still, it's possible that one of these heroes arrives to help save the day. Maybe one of them will appear in one of the final two episodes. But honestly, they're totally going to make us wait until next season, aren't they? The Mandalorian Season 2 is currently streaming on Disney+.
