'Star Wars' Leak Reveals Intriguing 'Lord of the Rings' Name For New Series - Inside the Magic

At the 2020 Disney Investor Day event, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced nearly a dozen new Star Wars series, including two Mandalorian spinoffs — Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic.

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While Rangers — which was supposed to star New Republic Marshal Cara Dune (Gina Carano) — has since been scrapped due to Carano’s controversial firing from the Star Wars franchise, Ahsoka is a go. And, now, there is an exciting update for fans.

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Per a new report, Production Weekly has seemingly confirmed that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s latest Star Wars venture will begin shooting in April 2022. Furthermore, the outlet noted that Ahsoka will shoot under the working title Stormcrow.

Lord of the Rings fans will immediately hone in on the fact that this is a well-known nickname for Gandalf throughout the LOTR saga. It tracks, however, since Filoni has previously compared Ahsoka Tano to the iconic white wizard.

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After watching the fan-favorite animated character grow up in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels Lucasfilm Executive Creative Director once shared that Ahsoka was “heading toward the Gandalf stage” in a Vanity Fair interview:

“She is, for lack of a term, a master, because she’s largely an independent at this point. I play her much more as a knowledgeable knight. A wandering samurai character is what she really is at this point. I’ve always made comparisons to her heading toward the Gandalf stage, where she is the one that has the knowledge of the world and can help others through it. I think she’s reached that point.”

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Ahsoka was famously voiced by Ashley Eckstein throughout all seven seasons of Clone Wars and in the Jedi’s Rebels’ story arc.

Rosario Dawson made her live-action debut as Ahsoka in The Mandalorian Season 2 (“Chapter 13: The Jedi”). Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan teamed-up with an unlikely ally, Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to defeat Corvus Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto).

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As Djarin said, “A Mandalorian and a Jedi, they’ll never see it coming” — and they didn’t. The Togruta successfully defeated Elsbeth, but not before learning that Star Wars Rebels villain Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) was behind all of the Magistrate’s ministrations on Corvus.

Ahsoka reappeared in Filoni’s episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1 (“Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger”). She interacted with her former Jedi Master’s son, Luke Skywalker (CGI Mark Hamill/Graham Hamilton) for the first time in the existing Star Wars canon, and delivered Djarin’s beskar chainmail gift to tiny Grogu.

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When Dawson reemerges as the popular character in Ahsoka, she is expected to be expected to be a sort of live-action Rebels sequel, as Ahsoka presumably enters the World Between Worlds on her quest to find Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and fellow Jedi Ezra Bridger (Mena Massoud).

Rebels character Sabine Wren will also make her live-action debut in the upcoming spinoff series, with Natashia Liu-Bordizzo replacing voice actress Tiya Sircar.

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Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company have not confirmed a debut date for Ahsoka, but it is expected to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2023. The Mandalorian Season 3 will reportedly hit the streaming service in December 2022.

Are you intrigued by Favreau and Filoni’s Lord of the Rings-inspired working title for their latest “Mando-Verse” project?