It’s Time To Talk Bo-Katan, Ahsoka Tano And ‘The Mandalorian’

After a year of season 1 hints and casting teases, it all came together this week in the new episode of The Mandalorian, which has quickly turned into a live-action sequel to Dave Filoni’s Clone Wars and Rebels animated series.

The two shows technically have more canon screentime than all the other movies combined, and they have created fan-favorite characters that everyone is losing their minds to see rendered in real life in The Mandalorian.

So, here are the important components that you need to know about, or as a refresher for where we last left them:

Bo-Katan: We met Bo-Katan this week, played by the same actress who voiced her in Clone Wars, Katee Sackhoff. She had a long arc where Darth Maul and Governor Pre Vizla took over Mandalore, and Bo-Katan was forced to contact Obi-Wan for help. This went wrong when Obi-Wan was captured and Maul killed Bo-Katan’s sister, Satine, but she managed to free Obi-Wan. After he left she managed to lead a resistance until the Republic laid siege to Mandalore and drove Maul away.

But…once the Galactic Empire took over, this threw Mandalore into a civil war. This led into a Rebels storyline, the other show, where she was found by Sabine Wren, the main Mandalorian for that series, who had possession of the Darksaber, the famed Mandalorian weapon that is used to signify who was worthy to rule Mandalore. They believed Bo-Katan was that worthy warrior, and last we knew, she was in possession of it.

Something clearly happened, however, which is how we get where we are today. While the original Star Wars trilogy was happening, it seems that something bad took place on Mandalore which allowed Moff Gideon to come into possession of the Darksaber and oust Bo-Katan. We don’t know what that is, and if we’ll learn the specifics this season, but this is why she’s trying to find both him and the weapon, and likely to get revenge for whatever he did back home.

Ahsoka Tano: We have not seen Ahsoka yet, but Bo-Katan name-dropped her as her Jedi contact, so some time in the next few episodes, we should meet her. She will be played by Rosario Dawson, not the same voice actress as the show (Ashley Eckstein) but someone who looks more like an aged version of Ahsoka might.

Ahsoka’s full story is way, way too long to fully detail here, as it spans all seasons of Clone Wars and part of Rebels. She was Anakin’s Skywalker’s padawan, and eventually was forced to square off against him when he became Vader. The temple they were in collapsed, and she was presumed dead, but she was pulled into a “force dimension” by Rebels’ Ezra Bridger. After the events of the original trilogy, Ahsoka was last seen attempting to help Sabine Wren find Ezra, who had gone missing by the end of Rebels.

So, what does all this mean?

An important point is going to be to figure out what Moff Gideon did to Mandalore. That’s an incredibly key development, especially for our central Mandalorian, and I would be amazed if he did not get directly involved in that conflict, given his desire to help his people and his history with Moff Gideon.

As for Ahsoka, if it’s 100% confirmed she’s going to be in the show, that has me wondering what the status of her quest to find Ezra with Sabine might be. Sabine seems like a likely candidate to show up in the series due to the fact that she’s another high profile Mandalorian and we already have two main animated characters on board. Ezra too may appear, if they have found him, or if Mando gets involved in the quest to find him.

Exciting times for Star Wars fans, as what’s happening now sure feels more significant and important than anything that came out of the new trilogy. Stay tuned for next week.

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