The latest episode of The Mandalorian was bursting with Star Wars lore. “Chapter 13: The Jedi” introduced fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano into live-action, played by Rosario Dawson. The episode also teased the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn. There even references to the old canon of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. And speaking of Star Wars video games, the episode ends in a way that sets up another Jedi character’s appearance. While Luke Skywalker may seem like the obvious choice, could Cal Kestis, the hero of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, be the one to answer the call? SPOILERS for The Mandalorian, “Chapter 13: The Jedi” follow.
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“Chapter 13: The Jedi” sees Din Djarin traveling to the planet Corvus on the instruction of Bo-Katan Kryze to find the Jedi Ahsoka Tano. Upon meeting Ahsoka, the Mandalorian brokers a deal to assist her in dealing with the planet’s magistrate in return for training the Child, whose name we now know is Grogu.
Din and Ahsoka are successful, but Ahsoka tells him that she can’t train Grogu. Whether this is because she doesn’t think of herself as a Jedi any longer, or because she senses Grogu’s dangerous attachment to Djarin, or because she has another mission, she doesn’t say. Instead, she tells Mando to take Grogu to Tython, home to one of the Jedi’s oldest temples. If Mando takes Grogu to the top of the mountain there, Grogu can choose to reach out with the Force, and another Jedi may come to retrieve him.
Luke Skywalker seems like the most likely character to answer Grogu’s call. We know that Luke wanted to rebuild the Jedi Order after the fall of the Empire. He’d likely be searching for students like Grogu.
But Ahsoka wasn’t the only Jedi to survive the Purge. Much like Grogu, Cal Kestis was a Padawan when the Emperor put Order 66 into action. He escaped and lived on the fringes of society by hiding his Force powers. But we don’t know how his story ends.
In the video game Jedi: Fallen Order, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the Empire’s Inquisitors finally find Cal, forcing him out of hiding. Luckily for him, another Jedi survivor, Cere Junda. Cere is determined to rebuild the Jedi Order. To accomplish that goal, she needs Cal’s help to open a Holocron with the names of Force-sensitive children the Jedi would have sought out for training before the Purge. By the end of the game, Cal and Cere realize that trying to train new Jedi at the height of the Empire’s power would only put those children in mortal danger and potentially squash any chance of the Jedi returning in a meaningful way.
What if Cal decides to try again after the fall of the Empire? With Darth Vader and his Inquisitors gone, it would be safe for him to seek the children of the Force and begin their training. He might be working parallel to Luke Skywalker, or perhaps he’s become Luke’s agent, scouring the galaxy for new Jedi to train.
This idea is assuming the Cal Kestis lived through the Galactic Civil War. That war hadn’t even begun when Jed: Fallen Order rolled credits. Though Electronic Arts hasn’t officially announced anything, there are rumors that a sequel is in development. There’s no telling where that game might take the character. However, since Cal is modeled after and voiced by actor Cameron Monaghan of Gotham and Shameless fame, it shouldn’t be too hard to bring him to live-action, assuming Monaghan was up for it.
New The Mandalorian episodes stream on Fridays on Disney+.