No, Rahul Kohli isn’t playing Ezra Bridger in The Mandalorian…so he says

Actor Rahul Kohli caused a stir when he hinted he was playing Jedi Ezra Bridger in The Mandalorian. He walked it back, but it’s out there now…

We know that the second season of The Mandalorian will feature a lot of Star Wars characters from shows and movies past, including Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett and more. That’s part of the reason why fans sat up and took notice when actor Rahul Kohli, lately seen in The Haunting of Bly Manor, hinted on Twitter that he may be playing a live-action version of Ezra Bridger, a character from the show Star Wars Rebels.

Once fans started to latch onto this and take it as confirmation that Ezra was showing up in The Mandalorian, Kohli backed off, but by then it was too late; fans wondered if the retraction was just him covering his steps. Once a fandom gets ahold of an idea, there’s no wrestling it away from them. Once the fan art starts coming in, it’s officially out of your hands:

Still, Kohli confirmed to Inverse that he is not appearing in The Mandalorian season 2; he’s just a huge Star Wars fan who was goofing around. “I was trolling,” he said. “I heard rumors that there was a casting call looking for a live-action Ezra that was looking for Asian actors in their late twenties, early thirties. I had watched a bit of Rebels that morning, so it was fresh in my mind. I was going to the gym and I thought I’d fire off a cheeky tweet.”

"I say stuff like that all the time and everyone ignores me, it’s just me being a little geek and fancasting myself. I came back to my phone and I realized I may have kicked up a hornet’s nest. But because I’m a troll and a bit of a child I ended up doubling down because I couldn’t help myself."

That said, the experience was positive on the whole. “I’m a part of the Star Wars community as much as anyone,” Kohli said. “I know it can be a toxic place. I’ve seen it, and it hurts. But when that Ezra stuff went out, the outpouring of support, positivity, and celebration felt so good. It sucked that it was bollocks, but it just made me say ‘This fandom is awesome.'”

“It was lovely,” he concluded. “It was just a shame it was bullshit.”

I believe him…but like I said, it’s in the air now, and I’d be lying if I said there’s not a small part of me that watches The Mandalorian season 2 expecting Kohli to show up. We’ll see for sure when it premieres on October 30.

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