Mara Jade is a beloved character from Star Wars Legends, appearing in the 1991 Timothy Zahn novel Heir to the Empire, which is considered to have kicked off the Legend material AKA the Extended Universe. Mara was a vital character in that trilogy and would go on to become a fan favorite. One fan in particular looks to be Star Wars Rebels Vanessa Marshall, who voiced Hera Syndulla in the animated series.
At Fan Expo: San Francisco, during a panel alongside Rebels co-stars Taylor Gray, who voiced Ezra Bridger, and Ashley Eckstein, who voiced Ahsoka Tano since The Clone Wars, Marshall was asked by Collider moderator Arezou Amin about how she would want to be part of future live-action projects. Marshall answered:
"“I would love to play Mara Jade. Can you call Dave Filoni and just let him know that I’d love to play Mara Jade?”"
Screenrant also added Marshall’s reasoning behind wanting to bring Mara into canon, saying:
"“I think we would all just like to be in live-action in some way. We haven’t had the opportunity to do it yet. But my background is in live-action.”"
This isn’t the first time Mara Jade has come up among fans wishing for her return. I’ve attended many panels at Dragon Con in Atlanta, and one of the most common questions fans ask author Timothy Zahn about is if and when Mara Jade will make a return. To be clear, he has his personal ideas on her return, but he doesn’t have much of a say over live-action content. Though, he did serve as a consultant on Ahsoka for Grand Admiral Thrawn’s writing, so never say never.
Still, it’s exciting that Vanessa Marshal wants to play Mara Jade. Thanks to technology developed for The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, there is a world where we could see Mara alongside her Legends husband with a young Luke Skywalker. We fans can dream, right?