Rosario Dawson Bringing Another Familiar Mandalorian Warrior To Live-Action

By Dylan Balde | 1 month ago

rosario dawson ahsoka tano

Sabine Wren is bringing her distinctive brand of street artistry to the Ahsoka Tano solo miniseries, Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter reveals. While promoting the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest Phase Four entry What If…?, Disney+ Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum lets slip a much-needed Star Wars update. Sources close to Lucasfilm confirm the resident Mandalorian of the starship Ghost is joining the cast of Ahsoka alongside Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano) as a Jedi rebel. Sabine and Ahsoka haven’t reconnected since Star Wars Rebels, while running errands for Ghost captain Hera Syndulla and searching the galaxy for Sabine’s one-time savior Janard.

Lucasfilm is currently scouting for an actress to play her in this Ahsoka Tano series. Mads Mikkelsen and Mena Massoud joined Rosario Dawson in the cast two weeks ago as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger, respectively. Both are key characters in Sabine Wren’s backstory.

Sabine Wren solidified her role in the Star Wars canon by being one of the first Rebel Alliance recruits to challenge the newfound authority of the Galactic Empire. A top-rate graffiti artist, she developed the Starbird, the inevitable precursor to the Rebels’ Phoenix — the group’s official insignia. All records of Sabine may have disappeared in the mists of prehistory, given the massive scope of Star Wars lore, but her work has stood the tests of time. Luke Skywalker and his friends bore the symbol of the Alliance Starbird and carried it to battle against Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and the chief hierophants of the Dark Side of the Force. A part with Ahsoka Tano means she had another mission to consider that was never mentioned in Star Wars Rebels, something as dire as the fate of Mandalore that duly commanded her presence.

The Fennec Shand to Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano suffered a rather dismal, yet memorable, start as a galactic insurgent. She was a revolutionary leader who liberated her home planet from the clutches of the Empire, but before that, she was simply Sabine, of the Clan Wren. She was trained for combat at an early age and indoctrinated into her mother Ursa’s Death Watch, a terrorist splinter group that taught war and bloodshed over pacifism and nonviolence, and eventually sided with the Imperial government. Sabine Wren enlisted in the Imperial Academy, but immediately found herself at odds with her fellow cadets, who are all devoted backers of the Empire. She soon left and denounced the Empire as an enemy, effectively putting a target on her back. Her clan branded her a traitor and she was forced to depart Mandalore a fugitive.

How she fits in alongside Ahsoka Tano does remain to be seen. Like most characters pre-original trilogy, Sabine Wren rebuilt her life after exile and became a bounty hunter. She met Syndulla and Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus during her travels and eventually banded together to form the crew of the starship Ghost. A movement burst from the group’s diligent attempts to undermine the Galactic Empire and strip it of its power, which would later grow into the Rebel Alliance fans know and love.

Sabine returned to her home during the civil war armed with a prized Mandalorian artifact, the Darksaber, and represented the oppressed’s hopes for a better Mandalore. She and her friends orchestrated the murder of Imperial Viceroy Gar Saxon and freed the planet from the influence of the Empire. It was only after the war that Sabine met Ahsoka Tano, then disguised as the informant Fulcrum and one of Syndulla’s contacts. The two embarked on missions of their own to protect the galaxy from Palpatine’s rule.

ahsoka tano rosario dawson

Rosario Dawson made her live-action debut as Ahsoka Tano in the Disney+ miniseries The Mandalorian. Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan allied herself with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his adoptive youngling Grogu in the second season of the show, only to be given her own solo series in response to fan urging.

The character first appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2018 as Anakin’s protege. She is a witness to the Galactic Empire’s early years and her own master’s defection to the Dark Side. The young Togruta grappled with betrayal and hopelessness, but had tirelessly fought to redeem Darth Vader till her eventual death. The Ahsoka Tano solo miniseries with Rosario Dawson will likely chart this same journey, with added weight. Anakin Skywalker may also cameo as Darth Vader, given his prominent role in Ahsoka’s backstory, in the same way, Mark Hamill was de-aged for The Mandalorian. Ahsoka is currently in pre-production.