Season 2 of The Mandalorian is stirring up some new interest in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
There’s never been a better time for curious Star Wars fans to jump on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars ship. Of course, fans have spent many years dispelling the “it’s for kids” myth that’s barred some people from watching. And it looks like that myth is seriously about to be blown out of the water.
As we know in “Chapter 13: The Jedi” (spoilers abound, of course), the Mandalorian and the Child finally made their way to Corvus to find Ahsoka Tano — the character who originated in the animated Clone Wars series. There, Ahsoka told them all they needed to know about the Jedi and what Mando and Baby Yoda needed in order for the little one to get trained. And even in this episode, written and directed by The Clone Wars’ Dave Filoni, there were a few nuggets referencing the rest of the Star Wars universe — such as her mentorship with Anakin Skywalker and the lurking shadow of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
For fans who’ve seen Ahsoka on The Mandalorian and nowhere else, that might spark some curiosity about her origins and what she’s done prior to meeting Mando and Grogu. And, what better place to start than the origin of it all? The Clone Wars. According to The Verge, it looks like there’s now data supporting the fact that Star Wars fans have indeed been flocking back to The Clone Wars, and The Mandalorian has a lot to do with that.
The data The Verge pulled comes from a report by Parrot Analytics, and they claim that there have been three spikes of interest in The Clone Wars since hitting Disney+. The first, they say, was when Disney+ first launched last year. The second, was when season 7 of The Clone Wars was released earlier this year. And the final uptick occurred just as The Mandalorian season 2 began premiering back in October.
What’s interesting about this is that Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian wasn’t necessarily the starting point of the spike — it was the season 2 premiere. It’s possible that the rumored cast could have played a large part in that. It was reported very early on that Rosario Dawson would be playing a live-action version of Ahsoka Tano this season. (Though it was never confirmed by Disney until the episode actually aired.) And so with that, it’s possible that some fans wanted time to brush up on the character’s arc ahead of time.
Chapter 11, as well, introduced a live-action version of an animated character: Bo-Katan Kryze. In The Mandalorian, they did a good job of setting up her character’s backstory just enough for fans who were unaware of her. But her quest to find the Darksaber may strike even more interest in fans wanting to know her backstory and family history prior to her appearance in The Mandalorian.
The Verge notes that there was no data on Star Wars Rebels but says it is trending higher on Google. We’re sure as fans begin to make their way through The Clone Wars, Rebels is the next logical binge — because so much from those storylines seems to be setting up future Star Wars projects.
Have you begun watching The Clone Wars thanks to The Mandalorian? Are you thinking about giving it a try? Or are you a life-long Clone Wars fan? Let us know in the comments!