'Mandalorian' Season 3 Leak Would Confirm Huge Jedi Theory
Actor Mena Massoud recently posted a caption on an Instagram post of his that, although it seemed just like a casual comment at first, caught the attention of eagle-eyed Star Wars fans, who recognized it as a quote from none other than Star Wars Rebels character Ezra Bridger. Why is this significant and how does this connect back to The Mandalorian? Several reasons. First, as far back as February19 of this year, the YouTube podcast Kessel Run Transmissions suggested during a live stream that Massoud, who has previously worked with Disney before on the recent live-action adaptation of Aladdin (as the titular character) is a front-runner for playing a live-action version of Ezra Bridger.
However, neither Massoud nor Disney/Lucasfilm have confirmed this as of yet, leaving the matter in the realm of speculation for now. Complicating the matter is that this is not the first time a possible live-action casting for Ezra Bridger has been rumored, only to be acknowledged as false later. Actor Rahul Kohli implied last year via tweet, to great excitement, that he would be playing a live-action version of Ezra, only to later admit, to great disappointment, that he was just trolling.
Also, it is unclear, if Ezra Bridger does return as a live-action character, where exactly he might show up. In the last season of The Mandalorian, Din and Grogu meet up with Ashoka, who is searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn. While Ezra is not explicitly mentioned onscreen by Ashoka in that episode, fans of the animated Star Wars Rebels series are fully aware that, at the conclusion of that series, Ezra, along with Grand Admiral Thrawn, goes missing, and Ashoka resolves to find Ezra. The natural assumption would be that her search for Grand Admiral Thrawn, as dramatically announced in The Mandalorian, will ultimately lead to her finding Ezra as well. This may also mean that Ezra will return to the known Star Wars galaxy, where he has some unknown role to play in the interim period of galactic history between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy, when not only The Mandalorian is set, but also when other live-action spin-off series such as Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic are set.
It is my considered opinion that, if a live-action version of Ezra Bridger is to eventually come to pass, it seems most fitting that he would appear in the Ahsoka spinoff series. As far as whether Massoud is more or less likely to ultimately be cast as Ezra, difficult the future is to see, as the late and great Master Yoda might say. It is entirely possible that Massoud is just a huge fan of Ezra Bridger as a character and just thought it would be cute to quote him on his aforementioned Instagram post. It is entirely possible as well, that he is latching on to the wishes and suggestions by many Star Wars fans that he be cast as a live-action Ezra Bridger. Casting Massoud as Ezra actually seems a somewhat fitting choice to me in that somebody who has already played the role of one famous "street urchin" in a Disney-produced story would be a superb choice to play a similar kind of character again in another one.
I also recall that, when Star Wars Rebels was first released, the character of Ezra Bridger was introduced to us as an orphan boy living on the streets of Lothal (i.e. street urchin) before encountering and then joining the Ghost crew. Some Star Wars/Disney fans have previously suggested some similarities in the original appearance between Ezra and the character of Aladdin, as originally conceived for Disney's 1992 animated Aladdin film, referring to Ezra as "Space Aladdin." Also, assuming no major leaps in the timeline beyond what is established for whatever series he might appear in, Massoud would precisely match the age profile range of Ezra Bridger, who would be approximately 28-29 years old. (Massoud is currently 28.)
What do you all think? Would Massoud be a good choice for Ezra Bridger? Do you think that he might be hinting at joining the ranks of other actors starring in Star Wars movies and series? Please feel free to let us know in the comments section.
Source(s): Kessel Run Transmissions, Inverse