[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers throughThe Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 3.]
Before the first season ofThe Mandalorianwas unleashed almost a year ago, there wasn’t a lot of speculation about who would be appearing in the new show or what character they would be playing, since creatorJon Favreauand much of the creative team repeatedly stressed how apart from the rest of theStar Warsgalaxy the new show was. (All the better to spring a Baby Yoda on you!) When the show became an out-of-the-gate sensation and revealed that itwastied to our preexisting understanding of the franchise, the scrutiny (media and otherwise) increased and we saw a number of supposed casting leaks reported in the months leading up to Season 2’s debut. Of course, even a rumor that turns out to be false has its own nutritional value, and we’re going to keep an eye on all of the casting rumors that were reported, to see which ones were phony and which were dead-on. This is the way.
Actor: Rosario Dawson
Character: Ahsoka Tano
This is undoubtedly the juiciest rumor.Earlier this yearit was reported thatRosario Dawson, star of Netflix’sDaredevilandQuentin Tarantino’sDeath Proof, would portray fan favoriteClone Warscharacter Ashoka Tano in the new season ofThe Mandalorian. (Ashely Ecksteingave the character her voice onClone Warsand is more than capable of portraying her on the live-action series, which ruffled some fans’ feathers.) Ahsoka was Anakin’s Padawan during the Clone Wars and a clever and empathetic Jedi in her own right. The casting makes perfect sense and both Dawson and Lucasfilm have remained coy since the news broke without issuing a flat-out denial. It’s also worth noting that inThe Rise of Skywalker, Eckstein makes a vocal cameo as the voice of Ashoka during that wonky scene where the old Jedi are speaking to Rey (Daisy Ridley). It’s a very stupid scene in a very stupid movie, but canonically it holds weight – all of the Jedi that speak to Rey are, in fact, dead (Obi-Wan, Yoda, etc.) That means that Ashoka is dead too. BothThe MandalorianandThe Rise of Skywalkerare set afterReturn of the Jedi; The Mandalorianimmediately following the collapse of the Empire andThe Rise of Skywalkera couple of decades later. But Ashoka’s involvement inThe Mandalorianraises the question – will we see how she dies during the course of the series? Bleak, for sure, but on par with the series’ gritty, occasionally nihilistic tone.
Confirmed?Confirmed! In Season 2’s fifth episode “The Jedi,” Ahsoka (as essayed by Dawson) took center stage, communing with Baby Yoda (who she revealed was actually named, er, Grogu) and taking on a vicious warlord who worked for an even bigger foe inStar Warslore, General Thrawn (whose casting remains, for now, a mystery). It wasa lot. And it was incredible how the look of Ahsoka, who many figured would have longer head tails and bigger horns, and also Dawson’s performance, lined up so beautifully with what we’d seen in the cartoons. Hopefully she’ll be back onThe Mandaloriansooner rather than later.
Actor: Temuera Morrison
Character: Boba Fett
Another huge rumor emerged when, shortly after the Dawson/Ahsoka story broke,it was reportedthatTemuera Morrison, who portrayed Boba Fett’s bounty hunter father Jango Fett (whose DNA was used for all of the clones in the Clone Wars) in the abysmalStar Warsprequels, would return to co-star as Boba Fett inThe MandalorianSeason 2. Yes, Boba Fett was killed on Tattooine inReturn of the Jedi. But the character had a long life in what is now being referred to as Star Wars Legends, formerly the Star Wars Extended Universe, and so his death-defying escape from the sandy creature he was knocked into is not unprecedented. Additionally, there’s a moment inThe Mandalorian’s first season which suggests that the formerly mysterious character, introduced first in animated form during 1978’s notoriousStar Wars Holiday Specialand then properly inThe Empire Strikes Back, is indeed back. It’s when Fennec (Ming Na-Wen) is left for dead after a job goes wrong; a figure emerges from the shadow, partially obscured. The figure is wearing a cape and Boba Fett’s spurs, which led to an eruption of speculation from all corners of the galaxy. Now, it seems like the character could be making his return to theStar Warsuniverse in a big way.
Confirmed?Confirmed! In the closing moments of Season 2, Episode 1, right after the aspect ratio goes into super-wideSergio Leoneterritory, we see a battle scarred, bald Boba Fett turn away from the Mandalorian and look right into the camera. Boba Fett is indeed alive. In Season 2, Episode 6, Boba Fett made a much bigger return, complete with his iconic ship Slave 1, and fought alongside the Mandalorian and Fennec (she’s back!) to help save the child in return for his armor. It was just as kick-ass a return for the fan-favorite character as you’d expect - and more.
Actor: Michael Biehn
Character: Unnamed Bounty Hunter
This could be along the lines of one of the smaller roles from Season 1 (think Bill Burr as one of the scumbags on the space station, etc.) but it’s still a big deal if Biehn, known for a trio of unforgettable collaborations withJames Cameron(The Terminator,AliensandThe Abyss) that made him a genuine sci-fi icon. Soreports from this springthat Biehn would be joining the cast was pretty big news indeed. It’s been indicated that this season would follow more of the galaxy’s dangerous criminal underworld, so him being a bounty hunter makes sense (not too many orthopedic surgeons in this universe). As the kids say: huge if true.
Confirmed?Confirmed! Although the details of Biehn’s casting were definitelyoff. Instead of playing a fellow bounty hunter, Biehn showed up in the very important fifth episode of Season 2, “The Jedi.” He played Lang, the lieutenant working for the evil Magistrate (Diana Lee Inosanto). And while his villainy might have been more bureaucratic than we were expecting, he still chewed scenery with the best of them, including a fabulously Spaghetti Western standoff with the Mandalorian in the episode’s final moments (when there’s a lightsaber fight going on elsewhere, this is the next best thing). Annoyingly, given the show’s commitment to killing off interesting side characters or baddies, we doubt we’ll see Biehn again. But hey, stranger things have happened …
Actor: Katee Sackhoff
Character: Bo-Katan Kryze
Bo-Katan Kryze is a character that apparently appeared, in animated form, on bothClone WarsandStar WarsRebels. If you are someone like myself who watched both shows but cannot place this character, something tells me you aren’t alone. Apparently, she is a Mandalorian warrior-turned-leader who first appeared inClone Wars’fourth season. And why her involvement in the show,reported earlier this spring, could be legit is the character once wielded the darksaber, the negative space-y black-bladed lightsaber that you see Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) swing around in the final moments ofThe MandalorianSeason 1. (Also keep in mind thatClone Wars/RebelscreatorDave Filoniis one of the chief creative voices ofThe Mandalorian.) It’s interesting thatKatee Sackhoffwill be playing the same character she voiced on the animated series, but truth be told she looks almostexactlylike the character, so it does make sense.
Confirmed?Confirmed! During episode 3, “The Heiress,” Sackhoff makes her debut. It’s a great character, at odds with the Mandalorian, both more militant and more relaxed than our hero, who sheds new light on his upbringing with what she claims is a cult-like zealotry. Hopefully it’s not the last we see of her, and with her comments on Moff Gideon and the darksaber, we’re pretty sure we’ll be seeing her again.
Actor: Timothy Olyphant
Character: Cobb Vanth
Initially, there were reports that theJustifiedactor (who can currently be seen on the latest installation of FX’sFargo)Timothy Olyphantwould be involved inThe Mandalorian, butthat it was unclearif he was playing a new character or one familiar to fans of theStar Warsuniverse.A later reportconfirmed that he would be a preexisting character, with a super cool backstory. Olyphant supposedly plays a character called Cobb Vanth (these names), from a series of novels byChuck WendigcalledAftermath. (Talk about a deep cut!) Vanth is an ex-slave who becomes a sheriff (not unlike hisJustifiedcharacter) of a dusty outpost on Luke Skywalker’s home world of Tattooine called Freetown. Now, what makes the character Olyphant is supposedly playing even more interesting is that he wears Boba Fett’s armor, fished out of the Sarlacc pit by the Jawas (who then sell it to Cobb). So we could have Boba Fett (in new armor presumably) and Cobb Vanth (in Boba Fett’s old armor) on the same season ofThe Mandalorian. Wonder how that’ll go down.
Confirmed?Confirmed! The dusty backwater town is not called Freetown but Cobb Vanth is there, he’s the sheriff, and he’s wearing Boba Fett’s armor (that he did indeed purchase off of some Jawas). The armor becomes the driving narrative engine of season 2, episode 1, as the Mandalorian enters into a deal with Cobb – he’ll help Cobb kill a deadly beast and in exchange, Cobb will give up the armor. And it all worked out, except that Boba Fett himself noticed the transaction and seemed none-too-pleased. (See above.) We doubt this will be the last we see of Boba Fett this season.
Stay tuned as we continue to update this article with more casting rumors asThe MandalorianSeason 2 progresses. For a full rundown of all the characters in the Disney+ series,click here.
