Star Wars report says Ahsoka is casting a popular animated Rebels hero

The upcoming spin-off of The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Ahsoka, is reportedly casting a popular character from the animated series in live-action for the first time. Alongside Rosario Dawson, who's reprising her role as Ahsoka Tano – a character that originated in The Clone Wars animated series – Lucasfilm is reportedly searching for an actress to play Sabine Wren from the series Star Wars: Rebels.

Casting rumors have circulated this show for a long time now, but this one comes from the sources of the well-connected The Hollywood Reporter. The report – which is otherwise about Marvel's What If...? show – says Lucasfilm is currently looking for an actress to play Sabine, who in the show was a Mandalorian warrior and a fan-favorite. The wording suggests she's a key part of Ahsoka.

If true, that likely means the project, which comes from The Mandalorian's executive producer Dave Filoni, is coming along somewhat. Another previously announced spin-off of The Mandalorian, Rangers of the New Republic, was reportedly put on hold. As well as being the overseer of the animated shows, Filoni directed the unbelievably good The Mandalorian season 2 episode 'The Jedi', which introduced Ahsoka in live-action.

It's unclear when Ahsoka will release on Disney Plus, but we'd expect it some time after the shows The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor and The Mandalorian season 3, which are all expected to release across the next 1-2 years.

The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka will culminate in what's been described by Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy as a "climactic story event". What form that'll take hasn't been clarified.

Analysis: How this ties in to the end of Star Wars: Rebels

Spoilers for the events of Star Wars: Rebels follow – you can go watch it on Disney Plus if you don't want it spoiled.

Casting Sabine makes perfect sense for this show. While most casting rumors around the Ahsoka show have focused on who's playing Ezra Bridger – Rebels' Jedi hero – Sabine is more likely to be at the center of this series.

That's because at the end of Rebels, a time skip occurred to take the series up to the events of Return of the Jedi. Ahsoka and Sabine then team up in the show's final moments to go find Ezra – who previously disappeared, along with the antagonist Grand Admiral Thrawn.

When we meet Ahsoka in The Mandalorian, which is set five years after Return of the Jedi, she reveals she's searching for someone: Thrawn. From this, Star Wars fans assumed the show will focus on her and Sabine's search for Ezra – as was hinted at by the end of Rebels. Though some also speculate that scene took place after The Mandalorian.

When the show releases, we'll likely learn more about its exact place in the Star Wars canon.

This series, then, sounds like it's going to pick up the story of a canonical animated series in live-action – which is surely unprecedented, but not too surprising in this age of franchise extensions. We can't wait to see how it pans out, and to see Dawson's take on Ahsoka again.