Which Jedi Are Still Around In The Time Of 'The Mandalorian'?

Ahsoka Tano might just be the most active Jedi alive during the time of The Mandalorian. That she is active isn’t in doubt; Ahsoka’s one-person rampage on the forest planet of Corvus in search of Grand Admiral Thrawn is proof of that. It is her status as Jedi that is in question.

Tano infamously parted ways with the Jedi Order during the course of the Clone Wars after the council showed a disturbing lack of faith in her. She returned to fight alongside the Jedi for the Siege of Mandalore, but Order 66 was enacted before she had a chance to be formally reinducted. Though Ahsoka’s official alignment remains ambiguous, her actions thereafter embody the light side of the Force far more than the dark - and she doesn’t seem to mind much when Din Djarin explicitly refers to her as a Jedi. 

As for now, Ahsoka has snipped short any hopes of her serving as Grogu’s master, but never say never.

Cal Kestis, the protagonist and primary playable character of Jedi: Fallen Order, was a Padawan training under Jedi Master Jaro Tapal at the time of Order 66. Tapal sacrificed himself to save Kestis, and the young Jedi went into hiding thereafter, until an encounter with the Inquisitors brought him out of the shadows and into the earliest rebellion against the Galactic Empire.

Cal eventually came to train under a new master, Cere Junda, becoming a Jedi Knight and surviving a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader by the skin of his teeth about five years after Revenge of the Sith. What happened to Kestis and Junda in the nearly 25 years between then and The Mandalorian is unknown, but one or both could definitely still be out there. 

Ezra Bridger is the protagonist of Star Wars: Rebels, a clever young Lothalite who came under the tutelage of the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and quickly displayed a prodigious connection with the Force. In the years before the Battle of Yavin, Ezra and his crewmates aided the early rebellion, giving him the opportunity to achieve several impressive Force feats: battling Siths like Vader and Maul, taming Loth-wolves, and rescuing Ahsoka Tano through the World Between Worlds.

In the same year as the destruction of the first Death Star, Bridger freed his planet from the occupation of Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Empire. Unfortunately, he did so by Force-hijacking a pod of hyperspace-traveling whales and blasting himself and Thrawn deep into the Unknown Regions. The fact that Ahsoka Tano is looking for Thrawn around the time of The Mandalorian suggests that the Grand Admiral found a way to make it back to the galaxy far, far away - so could Ezra be far behind? If Ezra has survived all this time, he would be of the perfect age and temperament to mentor Grogu.

Following his heroic actions in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker set about rebuilding the Jedi Order from scratch. During the events of The Mandalorian, set less than five years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Skywalker is presumably quite busy traveling the galaxy, searching far, far, and wide for ancient knowledge and young Force-wielders to recruit. 

Given that Din Djarin is on a quest to find a mentor for Grogu, and Luke is on a quest to find young Jedi to mentor, this may seem at first like a match made in Cloud City. Given that Skywalker’s new Jedi Order ultimately ends up being destroyed by the Knights of Ren, however, fans can be forgiven if they hope for someone else to take the beloved Baby Yoda under their wing.

Yoda survived the Jedi Purge, retreating to a swampy home in the Dagobah System, but he also perished of natural causes long before the time of The Mandalorian. Yoda is still, however, floating around as a Force ghost in The Last Jedi, meaning there’s a chance that he could come face-to-face with young Grogu.

In fact, given that Grogu was raised at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, it’s quite likely that he has already met Yoda in the flesh. That would seem to open the door for a posthumous visit, though Yoda might want to wait until Grogu is a little more communicative before he shares his words of wisdom.

Save for Yoda and perhaps Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis is undoubtedly the highest-profile Jedi to survive the Purge. An active and respected member of the High Council when Order 66 was enacted, Rancisis somehow managed to escape unharmed, going into hiding. There he remained, though legions of Inquisitors hunted him across the galaxy.

Best known for warning against the induction of Anakin Skywalker (if not his outrageous amount of facial hair), Oppo was also wise enough to stay off the Empire’s radar for the entirety of its reign. As of The Mandalorian, he’s still missing and, given his advanced age, may reasonably be presumed deceased. If not, it’s worth noting that his Jedi Master was Yaddle, the only other known member of Yoda and Grogu’s species. Oppo Rancisis taking on Grogu as a Padawan would have a fair bit of poetry to it.