The Mandalorian Ahsoka Tano Theory That's Raising Eyebrows
We're well into season 2 of the Disney+ Star Wars live-action series The Mandalorian, and it seems fans of the galaxy far, far away are finally on the verge of getting their eyes on some serious Jedi action.
Fans of The Mandalorian have, of course, been aware for some time that a certain Jedi icon from Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series would be making their live-action debut at some point during season 2 of the series, because the casting of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano was widely publicized earlier this year. As exciting as that news is, there is still the question of when fans will see the fearless Tano in the flesh on The Mandalorian. Given the events of season 2's third episode, it appears that moment might be coming sooner than initially thought.
As a brief recap, "Chapter 11" found Mando (Pedro Pascal) and The Child in search of fellow Mandalorians on a watery Outer Rim planet, and finding themselves on the wrong side of some nefarious, squid-faced locals. Luckily, they were helped out of their ensuing jam by another Clone Wars fan favorite in Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) who, after enlisting Mando in a daring heist of an imperial cargo ship, kindly informed the Beskar-clad badass where he could find her old Jedi pal Ahsoka Tano.
That info finally gave Mando and his little Force-sensitive co-pilot some much needed direction, and it might even help them in their quest to find The Child's little green kinfolk. But even as the entirety of Star Wars fandom is anxiously anticipating the live-action arrival of Ahsoka Tano to the Mando-verse, that arrival's also got many believing Baby Yoda is about to begin his own Jedi training at her side (via Screen Rant).
Ahsoka Tano is probably not the Jedi Master Mando and The Child are looking for
While the arrival of Ahsoka Tano is among the most exciting things to happen in a Star Wars tale in years, we're not entirely convinced she'll be so quick to make the powerful young foundling her Padawan. While there are good reasons to believe Tano might take The Child on as her student, there are far more that signal she won't. Chief among them is the fact that Ahsoka Tano (former Padawan to none other than Anakin Skywalker) is no longer a Jedi herself. As most fans of The Clone Wars no doubt recall, Tano left the Jedi Order altogether in the fifth season of that series after being wrongfully accused of bombing the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
While Tano continued to fight the Empire, and occasionally worked with the Jedi, her official break from the Order means she's obviously in no particular position to take on a student; even one as adorable as The Child.
More problematic is the timeframe of The Mandalorian's events in the context of the overarching Star Wars narrative, primarily its setting between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. As Luke (Mark Hamill) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) are essentially the last known Jedi in the galaxy throughout those films, one has to wonder if either Tano or The Child ever even declare themselves as Jedi at all.
As the name of the series is indeed The Mandalorian, it's safe to assume his growing bond with The Child won't soon be broken either — if at all. It's far more likely Ahsoka Tano merely cameos on The Mandalorian, perhaps giving The Child a few Force-weilding pointers before pointing him in the general direction of other little Yoda-folk, thus ensuring his adventure continues at the side of Mando.