Well, the Star Wars world is certainly buzzing once again with yesterday’s Mandalorian Season 2 trailer reveal. From new worlds (Nar Shadda, perhaps? Illum? Mon Calla?) to pit-fighting Gamorreans, the trailer packed in quite a bit in just two minutes. No scene, however, has drawn more speculation than the one featuring Sasha Banks. All eyes are on the WWE star, with fans wondering just who she could be playing.
Initial reactions across the board seem to suggest that she’ll play Rebels standout Sabine Wren. Sabine appearing in the show would stand to reason. From what we understand, Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze, both associates of Wren, are already slated to appear. But…. Sasha Banks, as she appears in the trailer, seems a bit more sinister than we’re used to when it comes to Sabine. Given that Dave Filoni has his hands all over this show, our guess is that Banks will indeed play one of his characters, just not Sabine.
Sasha Banks to play bounty hunter Latrans?
Let’s face it: The Mandalorian is rife with bounty hunters. It’s no stretch to say they’re a go-to group for Filoni. (“The Box,” a Clone Wars episode featuring a bounty hunter competition, is one of this writer’s favorites of the series.) Filoni had even more bounty hunter stories in hand that were never used. One of them included a Jedi-impersonating bounty hunter named Latrans, who in concept was to have tried to kidnap a young Ahsoka. Sasha Banks could very well fit the bill:
So this here was a character called Latrans that I was investigating, developing and it was a Jedi that appeared very fair and seemed very kind and had all the things that you’d like to attribute to a Jedi: the flowing robe, the kind of long, graceful hair, a beautiful alien look…. [B]ut it was actually a bounty hunter in disguise, and I had surmised that because Jedi children were very rare and imbued with the Force that there would be people in the galaxy that would want to kidnap them and take them away.”
~ Dave Filoni speaking at Celebration Europe 2016.
The overall Mandalorian plot features a galaxy-wide hunt for the Child, after all. Sasha Banks wearing Jedi robes, perhaps impersonating an “enemy sorcerer,” isn’t so far-fetched…. Especially considering how may unused plot points or elements from greater Star Wars canon Jon Favreau and Filoni have already infused into the series.
So what do you think? Could Sasha Banks be the force-sensitive child-hunting bounty hunter, Latrans? Or someone else? Let us know your theories!
The Mandalorian Season 2 premieres on Disney+ October 30.
Thanks to Nerdist for the inspiration.