The Case for The Mandalorian Season 2 Casting Rumors

With Star Wars Day behind us and the looming threat of Star Wars Celebration being canceled due to COVID-19, a suspicious amount of potentially true rumors about the second season of The Mandalorian have been feeding the Sarlacc-like fandom.

If you do not like rumors which may prove to be major spoilers, turn back now.

The Rumors

In January, appeared on Twitter from an alleged fansite leaking the full cast slate for the second season of The Mandalorian . Most people brushed it off as wishful thinking, considering it included characters like Ahsoka Tano, Iden Versio, Sabine Wren, and an unnamed character played by Temuera Morrison.

The rumors were lent credence back in March when entertainment journalist Peter Sciertta with Slashfilm was the first to break the news that Rosario Dawson was allegedly joining the cast of The Mandalorian to portray the fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano. Again Sciertta provided the exclusive scoop that Katee Sackhoff , the voice of Bo-Katan in The Clone Wars, may bring her to life on screen.

Taking into consideration The Hollywood Reporter’s exclusive reporting about Temuera Morrison’s franchise-return as Boba Fett ( Rex), it sounds like audiences may be looking at a reunion in the second season of The Mandalorian , which certainly has undoubtedly helped in the days following its series finale. But, like with anything in the fandom, not everyone is happy.

Especially considering that fans believed the character was already teased in the first season of the series. Remember when the mysterious figure approached the body of Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) in episode five, “The Gunslinger”? Audiences only saw the figure’s boots, but even then, fans were convinced it was a Boba Fett cameo.

Personally, I have a lot of theories about episode five, which was written and directed by Dave Filoni himself. During the first episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian Filoni and Jon Favreau discuss the throwaway moment in the episode when the Mandalorian walks past Stormtrooper helmets on spikes.

It may be a moment that truly is a throwaway visual, but it also bore a striking resemblance to a poignant moment in the series finale of The Clone Wars . Now, this may just be Filoni putting in an easter egg for his other work, or it was an intentional decision to make audiences think about the two series. This episode also took place on Tatooine — the planet with the Sarlacc pit that Boba Fett “died” in.

It is easy to think that the introduction of characters like Ahsoka, Rex, Bo-Katan, and even Sabine Wren in the live-action series might fall under the idea of fanservice. Still, I am here to argue that it most certainly is not fanservice. Fanservice has been bandied about quite a bit in the wake of The Rise of Skywalker and the controversy surrounding the end of the Skywalker Saga.

Still, everything that involves fan favorites does not equate to fanservice. Especially not when the characters which are rumored to be appearing are already tied to existing plot points in the series.

It was a Mandalorian device that restricts Force users and allegedly the last of its kind. With only forty minutes left in . Especially with the internet’s favorite little Force user, The Clone Wars series, this dialogue certainly wasn’t frivolous. A lot of fans were quick to question whether this device would make a return in The Mandalorian The Child being a central part of the plot.

The Mandalorians have a long and complicated history in relation to Force users. In fact, the Mandalorian-Jedi war was what rendered their homeworld Mandalore inhospitable, changing the path of the Mandalorians forever. You can understand why there’s a lot of hard feelings when it comes to Force users. The Mandalorian-Jedi war also has implications for the darksaber. The darksaber was created by Tarre Vizsla, who was the first Mandalorian inducted into the Jedi Order.

Darth Maul

Do you know who else has connections to the darksaber?

During this period of time, a lot was going on with the Mandalorians. Duchess Satine Kryze (Bo-Katan’s sister) was trying to lead the pacifistic branch of the Mandalorians, Darth Maul was forming the Shadow Collective which the warrior Death Watch group eventually joined, and all of this took place while the Clone Wars were underway.

There is a strong possibility that he might also be portraying the former Clone Trooper Rex, who — like all the clone troopers — was a clone of Jango Fett, just like Boba.

Rex also appeared on where he was reunited with Ahsoka and involved in the plot involving the Mandalorian group The Protectors, as well as the storyline around Grand Admiral Thrawn’s pursuit of the Arc Pulse Generator (which was a terrifying device which was able to disintegrate beskar wearers).

The Timeline

In case you’re not familiar with the timeline, here is a quick explanation for how much time has passed between the end of the Clone Wars and The Mandalorian. The current timeline is based on the Battle of Yavin, which is depicted in. BBY is “Before the Battle of Yavin,” and ABY is “After the Battle of Yavin.” Easy enough, right?

The final episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes place in 19 BBY and Star Wars: Rebels takes place fourteen years later between 5 BBY and 1 BBY. The Battle of Yavin takes place, starting out as year 0. A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi take place over the next four years ending in 4 ABY. The Mandalorian then takes place five years later in 9 ABY.

Roughly thirty years have passed between the two series.

The Bottom Line

We likely won’t find out if the casting rumors are true until later in the summer. Still, there’s definitely a strong case for the fact that we will see some of our favorite animated characters in live-action this October.

, the voice of Darth Maul in The Clone Wars, recently teased that the new season would be mind-blowing. Rosario Dawson tweeted about fans wanting her to play Ahsoka Tano. But with Deadline’s confirmation about Sackhoff joining the cast, it seems like theories may just become a reality.

season two premieres in October only on The Mandalorian Disney+.

Originally published at https://yourmoneygeek.com on May 13, 2020.