Fan art imagines Aladdin star Mena Massoud as a live-action version of Ezra Bridger on The Mandalorian. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s Disney+ Star Wars show began as a simple tale of a bounty hunter befriending a helpless orphan of a mysterious species. But by season 2 The Mandalorian had expanded to touch on much more of Star Wars lore as established by prior properties, particularly the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.
The marquee character from the animated shows to debut as season 2 built out The Mandalorian’s world was of course Clone Wars’ Ahsoka Tano as played by Rosario Dawson. But season 2 also saw the arrival of Clone Wars character Bo-Katan Kryze, played by Katee Sackhoff. Now that those two important animated characters have made the jump to live-action, fans have been wildly speculating on what other Clone Wars and Rebels regulars might debut on The Mandalorian somewhere down the line. One popular fan choice is book character Admiral Thrawn, whose arrival was indeed teased during Mandalorian season 2. Rebels character Sabine Wren is another fans seem eager to see join the cast of The Mandalorian. And of course there’s Jedi Ezra Bridger, who many thought would end up being the one to answer Baby Yoda’s desperate call from the Jedi temple on Tython. Of course, Luke Skywalker was the Jedi who came calling to save Grogu instead of Bridger.
Though Bridger did not turn out to be a Baby Yoda rescuer in The Mandalorian season 2, fans still are eager to see the character appear on the show at some point. Indeed, Aladdin actor Massoud fueled more speculation recently when he seemed to hint that he is in the running to play Bridger in the ever-expanding Star Wars Disney+ streamingverse. In light of this, fan artist ApexForm put together an image casting Massoud as Bridger. See the art in the space below:
In Star Wars lore Bridger is an orphan – like Grogu and even Mando himself – who becomes a Jedi and joins the rebellion. A main character on Star Wars: Rebels, he at one point encounters Obi-Wan Kenobi himself and is involved in the battle to defeat Thrawn. Given his significance in these major events from the animated shows, it makes sense that Bridger would soon follow Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze into the live-action world of The Mandalorian and/or one of the many other shows being planned.
If in fact Bridger is part of the plan for Disney+ as they continue expanding their roster of Star Wars shows, Massoud has to be considered a fan favorite to take on the role. Of course it doesn’t hurt his cause that he’s already starred in one Disney property, namely Aladdin, or that by playing the titular Aladdin he’s already basically played a young version of Bridger. The pieces seemingly fit together perfectly for Massoud to become Bridger, but of course nothing is official until it is official. The Mandalorian obviously is in for some big changes in season 3 after the way season 2 unfolded, and it remains to be seen what exactly those changes will bring.
