The Mandalorian will get two spinoff series: Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic

By Rick Marshall December 10, 2020

To the surprise of no one, Disney is betting big on the Star Wars franchise as it looks to the future. Runaway hit The Mandalorian will get not one, but two live-action spinoff series set in the same timeline as the Disney+ series.

The two series, Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic, will spin out of the events of The Mandalorian and culminate with all three shows’ storylines converging for a crossover event. The announcement was made during the Disney Investor Day event, and was accompanied by the debut of title art from both shows.

Ahsoka, a new Original Series, starring @RosarioDawson and set within the timeline of @TheMandalorian, is coming to @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ZojpCkhPS7

— Disney (@Disney) December 10, 2020

Rosario Dawson is expected to reprise the role of former Jedi Ahsoka Tano in Ahsoka after making her debut as the live-action incarnation of the character in season 2 of The Mandalorian.

As for Ranger of the New Republic, that series is likely to be an expansion of a plot point in season 2 of The Mandalorian that had former Rebel Alliance shock trooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano) become an officially recognized peacekeeper for the New Republic.

Both spinoff series will be executive produced by The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau, and although Disney declined to provide the premiere date for the two shows, the presentation did indicate that the “next chapter” of the Star Wars saga will premiere around Christmas 2021. The two series will join a host of other Star Wars shows in development, including Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Bad Batch, as well as the newly announced Lando.

Season 2 of The Mandalorian will conclude later this month on Disney+ and will likely receive a renewal for a third season in the near future.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Entertainment

What the hell happened to The Mandalorian?

Bo-Katan holds the Darksaber while standing next to Din Djarin in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 6.

The Mandalorian has always wanted to have its cake and eat it, too. Across its first two seasons, the series attempted to blend sidequest-heavy, episodic storytelling with one longform, serialized story. While the show never found the perfect balance between those two modes, its first two seasons both came together well in the end. Unfortunately, The Mandalorian season 3 hasn’t been quite as effective.

Over the course of its first six episodes, The Mandalorian’s latest season has struggled to maintain any kind of singular, serialized story. Instead, it has delivered a handful of sidequests and one-note villains that so far haven’t amounted to much. Along the way, the series has loosely threaded together its latest batch of adventures with a story about Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) setting out to retake Mandalore, which has progressed at a frustratingly uneven pace.

Entertainment

A new Star Wars quest begins in the first trailer for Ahsoka

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in Ahsoka.

Today at Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm unveiled trailers for three of its upcoming Star Wars series. Unfortunately, the only trailer that the fans at home will get to see is for Ahsoka, a new original show featuring Rosario Dawson as the fan-favorite heroine from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. As revealed during her guest appearance on The Mandalorian, Ahsoka is seeking out an old enemy, Grand Admiral Thrawn, a popular character from the Star Wars novels. And his return as "the heir to the Empire" is something that has Ahsoka deeply concerned.

Fans of Star Wars Rebels should recognize Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla and Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, two of the leading characters from that series. Hera and Sabine were also close to Ahsoka in that series, and they collectively mourned the loss of their friend, Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi who disappeared alongside Thrawn years before. But if Thrawn has returned from parts unknown, then what happened to Ezra?

Entertainment

5 questions we have after The Mandalorian season 3 episode 6

Bo-Katan sits next to Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 6.

Most of episode 6 of The Mandalorian season 3 is dedicated to a side quest. The episode, titled Guns for Hire, sends Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), and Grogu to the opulent planet of Plazir-15, where they hope to convince Bo-Katan’s former Mandalorian followers to rejoin their cause to retake Mandalore. Before they can do so, however, they have to perform a task for the planet’s leaders, a former Imperial officer named Captain Bombardier (Jack Black) and his wife, The Duchess (Lizzo).

As its guest stars suggest, Guns for Hire is a surprisingly silly installment of The Mandalorian. However, that doesn’t mean it didn’t leave us asking a few important questions.
Are there more Mandalorian privateers?