Ahsoka Tano could well have founded a New Jedi Order based in the Unknown Regions, to be introduced in The Mandalorian season 2. Ahsoka was Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, and one of the stars of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and animated series. One of the few Jedi to survive Order 66. she played a key role in the Rebel Alliance, as revealed in Star Wars Rebels. In chronological terms, she was last seen at the end of Rebels season 4 when she picked up Sabine Wren to head to the Unknown Regions and seek out their missing friend, Ezra Bridger.
Anakin's old apprentice is due to return in The Mandalorian season 2, with Rosario Dawson cast as the live-action Ahsoka. The Armorer has charged Din Djarin with the mission of taking Baby Yoda to the Jedi, and the first trailer for The Mandalorian season 2 suggests that the quest will take him across the galaxy. This wouldn't be an easy task, because while Luke Skywalker would be a legend to the Rebel Alliance, the Mandalorian probably hasn't heard of him. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian is set only a few years after Return of the Jedi, well before Luke has founded his own Jedi Order. All this explains why, rather than stumbling upon Luke, the Mandalorian looks set to find Ahsoka instead.
Ahsoka isn't in the trailer, with Lucasfilm presumably wanting to leave her live-action debut as a surprise for general viewers. But there is a glimpse of WWE superstar Sasha Banks, clad in what appear to be Jedi robes. Is it possible Ahsoka has established her own Jedi Order, out in the Unknown Regions?
Ahsoka May Have Recommitted To The Jedi Order
Ahsoka wielded white lightsabers in Star Wars Rebels, and that's not just because showrunner Dave Filoni fancied getting creative with lightsaber colors. According to Filoni (via Lucasfilm), the color represented the fact she no longer considered herself to be a Jedi. She stood in a very solitary place, as a former Jedi who had left her old order and was blazing her own trail: a servant of the light side who opposed the Sith, but did not owe allegiance to the Jedi Code.
There have, however, been consistent rumors Ahsoka will carry a blue lightsaber again in The Mandalorian season 2, a color traditionally associated with the Jedi. Assuming these rumors are true, the lightsaber color suggests Ahsoka has returned to her Jedi roots since the fall of the Empire. This is important because, where Ahsoka would previously only have been focused on battling the Sith and the Empire, reconnecting with her Jedi heritage would naturally mean she was now interested in restoring the order. Indeed, that may be one of the reasons she went to seek Ezra in the Unknown Regions in the first place - because he too was a Jedi, and she wanted to bring him back.
There Are Many Force-Users In The Unknown Regions
Lucasfilm has finally begun to explore the Unknown Regions, most notably in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy. This treacherous area of space was apparently created millennia ago by a series of chained supernova explosions, with the resultant gravitic and electromagnetic fluxes creating constantly changing hyperlanes. Only Force-sensitives are really able to navigate the Unknown Regions, by using an ability referred to as "Skywalking." Fortunately, Force-sensitives are pretty common in the Unknown Regions, and many hire their services out to the Navigator's Guild, an independent force who offer a service to the Unknown Regions' countless inhabitants.
The Navigators' Guild appear to take a pretty utilitarian view of the Force. They consider it an essential tool, using it to navigate what they call the "Chaos" of the Unknown Regions. But they do not seem to have any philosophy of the Force, any concept of the light or dark sides, or even of balance. This is most likely because none of the Navigators have ever really been encouraged to experiment with the Force; they master the one technique, and then they use it as a source of income. No doubt Ahsoka would be fascinated by this - and many Navigators by Ahsoka as well, as they begun to realize just what can be done when the Force is your ally. She could find many potential recruits in the Unknown Regions.
Sasha Banks Could Be One Of Ahsoka's New Jedi
This theory would potentially explains Sasha Banks' role in The Mandalorian season 2. She only makes a brief appearance in The Mandalorian season 2's trailer, and there's been some speculation she could be playing a live-action Sabine Wren, but frankly that seems unlikely. Rather, the narrative flow of the trailer itself suggests she is actually one of the Jedi that the Mandalorian is looking for. Given that Luke hasn't started training Jedi yet (Ben Solo was his first student) she could only have been mentored by Ahsoka Tano. Din Djarin's efforts to find the Jedi could well catch Ahsoka's attention, leading her to send a Jedi out to figure out who is looking for. Ahsoka trained under Master Yoda, so the description of a diminutive green alien would mean a lot more to her than it did to the Mandalorians.
But What Happened To Ahsoka's Jedi Order?
All of this, naturally, raises a disturbing question; if Ahsoka has begun to found a New Jedi Order in the Unknown Regions, what will happen to it? Sadly, the most likely scenario is that, like Luke's Jedi Order, they will be destroyed by the Emperor and the First Order. Ahsoka probably thinks the Unknown Regions are a safe place to rebuild the Jedi, avoiding the political complications that came from the Old Jedi Order being based on Coruscant, and bound too tightly to the Old Republic. Unfortunately, according to Chuck Wendig's novel Aftermath: Empire's End, the last Imperial loyalists fled to the Unknown Regions. There, they regrouped and gradually transformed into the First Order. Meanwhile, Palpatine himself was resurrected in the depths of the Unknown Regions, on the legendary Sith redoubt of Exegol. Both the First Order and the Emperor would look upon Ahsoka's New Jedi Order with hatred, and seek to destroy it.
This would explain why Ahsoka's Jedi Order has never been mentioned before; because her attempt to reform the Jedi ended in tragedy, not in success. It's possible Luke Skywalker never even heard about it, completely unaware someone else attempted to recreate the Jedi before he began training his nephew Ben, and founded a Jedi Temple of his own. If this is the case, The Mandalorian season 2 could well be setting up a story of tragedy for its new live-action Ahsoka Tano.