A few days ago, the internet didn’t know what to make of the *RUMOR* that Rosario Dawson had allegedly been cast to portray fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano on Season 2 of Disney+’s breakout hit ‘The Mandalorian’. One the one hand, Dawson is a very popular actor and she doesn’t hide her nerdy side. Among her roles have been nurse Claire Temple in the Netflix Marvel shows, the voice of Batgirl in ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’, the voice of Wonder Woman in multiple DC animated projects, and parts in ‘Clerks II’, ‘Men in Black II’, ‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’, and most recently ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’.
On the other hand, what about Ashley Eckstein, the woman who has voiced Ahsoka– who has only appeared in animated form up to this point– for over a decade now?
So fans weren’t sure how to react. Was Eckstein being slighted? Or would Dawson possibly draw more viewers? (Not that ‘The Mandalorian’ needs help in that regard!)
It must be stressed that Dawson’s casting has not been confirmed. But either way, Eckstein won’t be portraying a live-action Ahsoka, and she broke her silence via Instagram:
As she wrote in part:
“The truth is, I am not involved in The Mandalorian. I can’t answer questions that I have not been a part of. I am an actress and have performed in all types of mediums; live action film/television, theater, voice-over, hosting and it has been my dream for 14 years to continue to play Ahsoka Tano in all forms. I will continue to be grateful for opportunities to help create stories for Ahsoka Tano and I am always happy to see her legacy continued. I am only one member of a tremendously talented team of people that it takes to bring Ahsoka Tano to life. The final decisions for Ahsoka are not mine to make and I cannot comment on something that I truly know nothing about.”
Should Dawson be playing Ahsoka, the news comes a bit late. Reportedly the second season wrapped filming on March 8, and is set to arrive in October, although the current COVID-19 crisis may delay that. But the announcement of Julia Jones’ and Ming-Na Wen’s castings for Season 1 arrived well after it had wrapped and alongside the release of the first trailer, late last summer. In fact, the assumption was that they had been cast for S2, but as we have since seen, they were in S1, with Jones portraying potential love interest Omera, and Wen playing fellow bounty hunter, Fennec Shand.
At the very least, Eckstein got to sort of appear in one of the live-action theatrical movies, having contributed the voice of Ahsoka during a sequence in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’. She can also currently be heard in the seventh and final season of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ on Disney+ and many other Disney animated series.
As for Dawson, she has been cast in the lead of the pilot for post-apocalyptic series ‘DMZ’ for HBO Max.
Are you excited that Rosario Dawson might appear as the live-action Ahsoka in ‘The Mandalorian’? Or was this a slap in the face for Ashley Eckstein?
