Kevin Smith Reacts To Ahsoka Tano’s Debut On The Mandalorian

Kevin Smith, who once had an onscreen light saber duel with Mark Hamill in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, took to Twitter on Friday to welcome a member of the View Askew family into the Star Wars universe. Rosario Dawson, who appeared in Clerks 2 as well as Jay & Silent Bob Reboot (as different characters in each), made her debut as the live-action face of Ahsoka Tano on The Mandalorian, and Smith was predictably over the moon about it. The filmmaker, whose “Death Star contractors” joke in the first Clerks was actually referenced by George Lucas and others on Star Wars prequel bonus features, was delighted to see a friend in a galaxy far, far away.

Dawson played Becky, Dante’s boss at a Mooby’s fast-food restaurant and eventually his love interest, in Clerks 2. In Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, she played Reggie Faulken, the wife of Justice, Jay’s ex-girlfriend and adoptive mother to Jay’s daughter Millie (full name Millennium Faulken).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Smith snuck a low-key NSFW Clerks 2 joke into his congratulatory tweet. You can see the comments below.

Fans who went to see Jay & Silent Reboot last year at special screenings held around the country by Fathom Events could stay after the movie and see some bonus features, including a lengthy interview with Dawson, talking about her excitement over coming back to the View Askewniverse. It is not yet confirmed — although likely — that when Smith films Clerks 3 in a couple of years, Dawson will return as Becky.

Dawson is of course far from the first actor in Smith’s company to play multiple roles in the same shared universe. Brian O’Halloran, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, and Joey Lauren Adams have all done it, and Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Biggs, and Shannen Doherty have all played roles in Smith’s films and then also made cameo appearances as themselves, sometimes making fun of their own willingness to work with Smith.

Dawson, who has been in Georgia working on election-related political activism, responded with a virtual fistbump for Smith. She previously had played it somewhat coy about her surprise appearance on the show, tweeting “May the Force be with you.” Earlier today, she shared a message in memory of the late Darth Vader actor David Prowse, and expressed support for his family.

New episodes of The Mandalorian debut on Friday mornings on Disney+.