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Credit: LucasfilmIt’s fair to say that Lucasfilm’s post-Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) “trilogy” of live-action television series is one of Star Wars‘ most exciting projects.
December will bring “The Mandalorian Season 2.5″, or as it is officially known, The Book of Boba Fett. The Mandalorian Season 3 seems a little way off — although it has reportedly entered production –, and then there’s the mysterious, Ahsoka.
We know Rosario Dawson is back as former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, but who else will star remains unknown. Rumors are rife and Dawson may have just accidentally confirmed the reported live-action casting of Star Wars Rebel‘s favorite, Ezra Bridger.
As we continue to move through the latter half of the year, one thing is for certain — a new live-action Star Wars is incoming. Currently, Dave Filoni’s The Bad Batch is satiating Star Wars fans with the new animated series offering a detailed look into the aftermath of Order 66 and the rise of the Galactic Empire.
The Bad Batch, of course, follows directly on from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The popular animated series followed the events of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and brought familiar faces like Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) and Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) into the animated canon Star Wars universe. The Clone Wars also debuted the now fan-favorite Jedi, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein).
Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian brought the Star Wars character to the live-action universe where Rosario Dawson took the role of Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan in “Chapter 13: The Jedi”. Directed by Dave Filoni, “Chapter 13: The Jedi” detailed Ahsoka’s battle against magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, her teaming up with Din Djarin, and the revelation of The Child’s true name. What the action-packed episode also did was confirm the future appearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn in the live-action Star Wars canon.
The end of Star Wars Rebels saw Thrawn vanish along with Rebels hero, Ezra Bridger. With Thrawn’s appearance in an upcoming live-action series pretty much confirmed via The Mandalorian, it would suggest that Ezra will also come back to the galaxy far, far away.
Rumors of the pair have been flying for months now. At one point, Marvel star Benedict Cumberbatch was rumored to take on the evil Star Wars villain — although, the actor has said there’s no truth to these claims. As well as Cumberbatch, Rebels voice actor, Lars Mikkelsen has also been tapped to bring his animated character into live-action.
From the Ezra Bridger perspective, live-action Aladdin (2019) star Mena Massoud has been heavily rumored to take on the role of Kanan Jarrus’s (Freddie Prinze Jr.) former Jedi apprentice. And while neither The Walt Disney Company nor Lucasfilm has confirmed any casting for the Ahsoka television series, the leading actress may have just confirmed Massoud and Mikkelsen as Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn, respectively.
Posting to her Instagram story, Dawson shared an article of the rumored Thrawn and Ezra Bridger casting in the spinoff series along with some interesting thoughts. The post reads:
Yassss the best news ever!! I need my BIPOC representation in @starwars can’t wait to see my BB’s thrive in Ahsoka as my fav characters in the universe!
The photo then tagged Dawson and Massoud, leading the Ahsoka actress to share the reported casting news to her own Instagram story.
While this is by no means a confirmation, it is extremely interesting that Dawson would choose to post such a passionate response to the Ezra and Thrawn casting rumors. Dawson has a track record of making comments regarding Star Wars castings that eventually came true. Before her arrival as Ahsoka Tano, Dawson commented on the rumors in an interview with Variety, which seemingly confirmed her own casting — of course, this would come to fruition a few months later in The Mandalorian Season 2:
“That’s not confirmed yet but when that happens, I will be very happy. I’m very excited for that to be confirmed at some point,” she said, adding it would be “a million and one percent because of the fans.”
So, while we need to take Dawson’s sharing of this exciting post with a grain of salt, it does continue to add fuel to the Mena Massoud/Ezra Bridger casting — even Massoud himself teased his Ezra Bridger casting in the Star Wars galaxy with a mysterious Instagram post.
Only time will tell if Lucasfilm will finally reveal the cast for its upcoming series, but as we know, the Star Wars studio is renowned for keeping secrets not only from its audiences but from the cast too. Even when Ahsoka does start filming, it may be a while until anything more is announced.
Would you like to see Mena Massoud as Ezra Bridger in the upcoming Ahsoka series? Let us know in the comments!
