Having Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian would be a definite fist-bump to every female fan. But the possibility of her return brings up some concerns.
Star Wars fans love when their favorite characters appear in more than one movie or show. Early in Star Wars: Rebels, an animated teenage Leia Organa interacted with the show’s main cast for one episode, and audiences were thrilled.
Recently, speculation about who could appear in the second season of The Mandalorian later this year has ramped up significantly. Rumors about beloved bounty hunters and animated characters hitting the live-action scene for the first time have kept the pop culture news cycle spinning.
When a rumor about Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan returning to Star Wars was first leaked, the initial wave of excitement quickly gave way to concern — and for more than one reason.
Here’s one issue: What if fans don’t want The Mandalorian — an original show with an original cast of characters with no connection to the Skywalker saga — to include so many familiar faces?
First there were the live-action Ahsoka Tano rumors. We still technically don’t know where the character will appear in the future, since there are several live-action Disney+ shows in the works (and a movie!). But story-wise, an appearance in this one would make sense.
Then there were whispers about Boba Fett. His appearance in The Mandalorian has been speculated since December, but the latest rumor revolves around Temuera Morrison, who originally played Jengo Fett, Boba Fett’s father (and, notably, the “father” of all the clones).
This further sparked rumors that Captain Rex, directly linked to Ahsoka, will appear in a live-action show at some point.
And now there’s the possibility that Katee Sackhoff will reprise her role as Bo-Katan, the Mandalorian Ahsoka teamed up with at the end of The Clone Wars (and something about claiming a darksaber, but we won’t spoil that for you).
Many fans don’t want this show to be about all the other characters we already know and love. There’s always the risk of making the Star Wars universe feel small. A lot of people just want a story completely disconnected from everyone and everything they’ve already seen, as much as you can in a franchise like this.
There’s actually a much bigger problem with this otherwise exhilarating news: Many fans wish the information — even if it does end up being a rumor — hadn’t leaked.
Baby Yoda was a viral success not just because he’s adorable (you know it to be true), but also because no one knew about him before his first appearance — the same way no one knew Yoda would appear in The Last Jedi.
Some surprises are thrilling because they’re just that: surprises. The general disappointment seems to be that now that we’re expecting Bo-Katan to show up, her Mandalorian entrance — if she does end up having one — won’t be as exciting as it would have been if it had been kept under wraps.
Let’s be clear: Seeing Bo-Katan again would certainly heal some of the pain fans just endured post-Clone Wars, and we’ve always wondered what happened to her between when we last saw her in the timeline and when the darksaber showed up in someone else’s hands. Katee Sackhoff is fantastic; we’d never turn her away from a grand re-entrance.
But at what point does bringing in so many familiar characters — and telling us about every single one of them before you do it — wear off the excitement too soon?
Do you consider these types of leaks spoilers? Would you still be excited to see Bo-Katan again even if you knew she was going to appear?