At Disney’s 2020 Investor Day, an epic slew of projects were announced to be in various stages of development. This included two TV series spun off from The Mandalorian: Ahsoka, centered around the titular former Jedi, and Rangers of the New Republic, chronicling the New Republic’s efforts to police a post-Empire galaxy.
Now that these spin-offs have been announced, it’s clear that The Mandalorian has been setting them up from the beginning. These shows’ concurrent narrative threads will reportedly build toward a “climactic story event,” which could very well be an Endgame-sized movie event acting as a series finale for all three.
The Jedi
The most obvious way that The Mandalorian has set up one of its new spin-offs is Ahsoka’s appearance ahead of getting her own series. In “The Jedi,” Mando finally managed to track down Ahsoka Tano, whose name was given to him by Bo-Katan, in the hopes that she’d agree to train Grogu.
Rosario Dawson’s casting as the live-action Ahsoka was initially controversial because so much of the character has been defined by Ashley Eckstein’s voice acting, but Dawson’s take on the character both captures Ahsoka’s spirit and avoids pale imitation.
New Republic Patrol
On the way to the Frog Lady’s homeworld of Trask in “The Passenger,” the Razor Crest is ambushed by a couple of New Republic pilots who demand some identification from Mando.
So, he flees to the nearby ice planet of Maldo Kreis (which made its first appearance in the show’s pilot episode), where he gets stuck in a cave for the rest of the episode. These kinds of New Republic patrols will probably be integral to Rangers of the New Republic’s storylines.
The Ancient Temple On Tython
When Ahsoka refused to train Grogu, she told Mando to take him to Tython, where he could reach out to the Jedi through the Force in the hopes of finding someone who would be willing to train him.
A crucial part of Ahsoka’s character arc was renouncing the Jedi and becoming a sort of Force-sensitive equivalent of a ronin. The Mandalorian’s deep dive into the timeline’s living Jedi could be setting up supporting characters for Ahsoka.
The Prisoner
In one of season 1’s most acclaimed episodes, “The Prisoner,” Mando joins Xi’an, Mayfeld, Burg, and Zero on a daring mission to spring Xi’an’s brother Qin from a New Republic prison. The soldiers on board send a beacon to the New Republic’s higher brass and the team double-crosses Mando.
After Mando escapes, trapping the team inside the prison on the way out, Ran tries to send a gunship after him. But he’s too late because the New Republic has answered the call and three X-wings show up to destroy Ran’s hangar.
These specific pilots might not end up being main characters in Rangers of the New Republic, but a glimpse at their day-to-day activities in a changing galaxy has certainly set the stage for the spin-off.
Imperial Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth
Dave Filoni helmed an awesome Kurosawa-inspired duel between Ahsoka Tano and Imperial Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth in the climactic scene of “The Jedi.” It’s a shame that Ahsoka killed Elsbeth at the end of the fight because they seemed to set up a fascinating dynamic and it only culminated in a brief encounter.
However, Ahsoka’s seemingly long-standing rivalry with Elsbeth may be explored in more detail in flashback scenes in the new Ahsoka spin-off series.
The X-Wing Pilots Who Let Mando Off The Hook
At the end of “The Passenger,” Grogu’s appetite inadvertently gets the baby, the Mandalorian, and the Frog Lady mercilessly pursued by a swarm of terrifying giant spiders. Back at the Razor Crest, they’re completely overwhelmed by the spiders and hope is dwindling.
Then, the X-wing pilots who chased Mando into the ice cave in the first place shoot the spiders off the ship and tell Mando there’s a warrant out for his arrest. However, they let him off the hook because he locked up three criminals when he sprung one from prison. This willingness to bend the rules could inform the conflict in Rangers of the New Republic.
Alluding To Anakin
The Mandalorian is pretty disappointed when, after everything he’s been through to get Grogu to a Jedi Master, Ahsoka Tano refuses to train him in the ways of the Force. But she has a good reason: he’s made too many emotional attachments, which is dangerous for a Jedi.
She fears that Grogu could fall to the dark side in the same way that her old mentor Anakin did. Ahsoka’s attachment to Anakin in a post-Empire world could be an exciting concept to explore in her spin-off, especially after the sequel trilogy completely ignored him.
Bo-Katan
Katee Sackhoff reprised her role as Bo-Katan in live-action form in one of The Mandalorian’s early season 2 “side quest” episodes. At the end of the episode, after Mando has risked life and limb for her political cause, she finally reveals the name of the Jedi whom she believes can train Grogu: Ahsoka Tano.
While Bo-Katan isn’t getting her own spin-off (and she’s just about the only character not to get one after Lucasfilm announced a raft of new Star Wars shows like Oprah’s car giveaway), her connection to Ahsoka — and their history in The Clone Wars and Rebels — could be setting her up for a supporting role in Ahsoka.
New Republic Marshal Cara Dune
When Grogu was finally captured by Moff Gideon’s troops in the shocking final moments of “The Tragedy,” Mando went straight to his trusty cohort Cara Dune to ask for help.
But until she finds out the most adorable Force user in the galaxy has been abducted, Dune is resistant to bend the law to help out, because she’s since become a marshal for the New Republic. This development might be setting her up for a supporting role in Rangers of the New Republic.
The Search For Grand Admiral Thrawn
At the end of the climactic lightsaber-versus-Beskar steel duel in “The Jedi,” Ahsoka overpowers Imperial Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth and forces her to reveal the location of her master: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn is a significant villain from the Expanded Universe and later Rebels.
Unlike Force-sensitive villains, Thrawn is a cold and calculating bureaucrat — a master tactician — so the prospect of him becoming the main antagonist of The Mandalorian and its spin-offs’ interconnected storylines is pretty tantalizing.