How Social Media Influenced Rosario Dawson Casting

Words by: Sentwali Holder

Social media fan castings are rarely taken seriously.  In fact, they almost never happen.  But every once in a while Hollywood dream cast ideas that evolve on a thread come to fruition. And that’s what happened with Rosario Dawson cast as Ahsoka Tano on the hit Disney+ Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. 

The idea came into play pretty simply.  In an interview with Vanity Fair, Dawson said her casting came about after she retweeted a fan’s idea from social media, which cast her as Ahsoka Tano.  Behind Dawson’s mild 707,000 Twitter followers, the idea went viral and caught the attention of Lucasfilm.  Who knows what happened behind the scenes but it would be nice to know that’s all it took to lock in Dawson. 

In a recent episode of The Mandalorian, Dawson made her first appearance as Ahsoka Tano.  Until now, Tano only appeared in animated form on The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, marking the first live-action appearance of the fan-favorite Star Wars character. Last year Dawson’s casting was only rumored until confirmation of the move eventually leaked.

Dawson explained, “Actually it first came from fans online. Someone tweeted me and fancast me. I retweeted back and I was like, ‘Absolutely, yes please’ and ‘#AhsokaLives.’  And apparently that got the attention of someone who has been doing the Star Wars press for years. She forwarded it to Dave Filoni. That kind of started a whole thing.”

After The Mandalorian Executive Producer Dave Filoni saw the fan-casting, his wheels started turning, but that was the behind the scenes push the social media idea needed which led to casting Dawson before the Star Wars spinoff series originally premiered.

Catch The Mandalorian‘s second season on Disney+.