Zoruagible is convinced that Rowlet is going to go the way of Piplup, Oshawott, and Chespin and remain unevolved for marketing and comic relief purposes, and his mind's not going to be changed until we get solid evidence that Rowlet is going to evolve. Like that cake and script that spoiled Goodra, Luxray, Braixen, and Gourgeist. Unfortunately, the anime team has been a lot more careful about not leaking anything in this series so far.
Nothing has happened to change my mind on this topic. I still maintain that either Mareanie or Rockruff is going to be the first to evolve. Toxapex's card was drawn by an animator and looks like something straight out of the anime when (I would think) it would be a lot easier to just use standard TCG art. Meanwhile, that set also contained a Midday Lycanroc card, but no Dartrix or Torracat. I would think if there were any plans to evolve the starters anytime soon, we would have seen an Ash's Dartrix or Ash's Torracat. Not to mention the fact that starters never evolve early for marketing purposes. No, I don't expect to see any of the starters evolving anytime soon. However, the fact that the Lycanroc card used TCG art instead of anime art like on Toxapex's card makes me think that we're still not going to see Rockruff evolving anytime soon.
However, I do agree that there is a chance of Rowlet evolving before Litten, but for a different reason. Simply put, Litten has no immediate need to evolve. It went toe-to-toe with Pikachu in its capture episode and learned Fire Fang in the following episode. As of right now, it seems to be a perfectly capable battler without evolution. That's not to say Rowlet isn't a capable battler, of course, but it hasn't battled since the Grand Trial. Even in the battles it has participated in, it hasn't really impressed. Its wins are against a fodder Pokemon in Yungoos and a Crabrawler that it needed a comeback win against. While I do think it needs a little bit more battle experience before evolution, as of right now, I think it could benefit from evolving now, where Litten could go without for a little while.