During the first season of The Mandalorian, Star Wars fans were shown the galaxy from
a whole new perspective with many of the show's characters providing answers to some of the
franchise's oldest questions... and others posing brand new questions for fans to ponder.
In Chapter 3, Star Wars fans got a lot more Mandalorian than they bargained for.
After turning Baby Yoda over to the Client, Mando earns a treasure trove of Beskar steel,
which he brings to the mysterious Armorer seen in the first episode.
This draws the attention of the other helmeted Mandalorians, and one of them isn't too happy
with Mando acquiring the Beskar by working for remnants of the Empire.
This scene reveals a little more about the Mandalorian culture while still raising a
few questions about their creed.
During the brief melee between Mando and his brethren, it's revealed that the Mandalorians
follow a strict warrior code.
"This is the way."
Take Mando's refusal to take the Mudhorn as his signet, because his victory over the creature
wasn't noble enough.
Or the fact that the other Mandalorians compromise their hideout to fight for Mando and his charge
in spite of their earlier hostility towards him.
These incidents speak volumes to the Mandalorians' complex, unyielding sense of honor.
During Chapter 5 of The Mandalorian, the show's protagonist is forced to land on Tatooine
after his ship is damaged in battle with another bounty hunter.
The Razorcrest's landing awakens a small squad of slapstick droids whose design you may remember
from The Phantom Menace, in which the same pit droids appeared in Watto's shop.
While dormant, the droids almost look like metal turtles.
But when Jar Jar Binks unintentionally brings one to life, the young Anakin lets him know
that pressing their prominent noses puts them back into their dormant state.
More of these comical droids appear in the podrace sequence, during which they act as
clumsy, Three-Stooges-esque mechanics for the racers.
Mando insists the human mechanic Peli not allow any of her pit droids near the Razorcrest,
and he's got a couple good reasons why.
Obviously, he doesn't want any of them finding Baby Yoda, and he's not exactly fond of droids
in general.
But Mando's also probably aware of how remarkably bad the droids tend to be at their jobs.
In Episode I's pod race, the droids do far more harm than good when their antics get
one of their colleagues sucked into the pod engine of Ody Mandrell, scrapping the diminutive
alien's chances at a win.
Ming-Na Wen appears in Chapter 5 as the vicious Fennec Shand, an assassin who has been on
the run ever since the New Republic imprisoned many of her old employers.
It's not clear exactly who those employers are, but Mando guesses they could've included
the Hutts.
That seems likely, considering she's in hiding on Tatooine, which has historically found
itself under Hutt control.
But the very fact that Shand is on the run suggests that the Hutts may no longer be in
charge and that's kind of surprising, even considering the recent fall of the Empire.
Sure, Jabba the Hutt died during the events of Return of the Jedi, but he was hardly the
only Hutt.
You would expect another would come in to fill the power vacuum left by the crime lord's
death.
The Hutts operated on Tatooine free from interference during the reign of the old Republic, so why
would that change with the new one?
Of course, it's entirely possible that, with Luke Skywalker's ties to Tatooine and his
crucial role in defeating the Empire, the New Republic gave the desert planet a little
more attention than other Outer Rim worlds.
After Mando and Baby Yoda finally blast away from Tatooine, the show introduces another
character or, at least, their feet.
Not much is seen of the shadowy figure who approaches Fennec Shand's body, but it's a
good guess that they're stalking Mando and baby Yoda.
And considering the prominent cape and the Tatooine setting, it's not beyond the realm
of possibility that this is a cameo by someone fans have been hoping would show up in the
series: Boba Fett.
Now, Boba Fett supposedly died in Return of the Jedi when he was knocked into the Sarlacc
Pit.
But in some versions of the now non-canon Legends universe, Boba Fett's armor helped
him survive and eventually escape the Sarlacc.
Many fans have been hoping the legendary bounty hunter would eventually show up in The Mandalorian,
and it's possible this is who is seen examining Shand's corpse at the end of Chapter 5.
Of course, it goes without saying that this isn't a definitive cameo by any means.
After all, it isn't as if Mando and Boba Fett are the only Star Wars characters with capes
and any number of characters could be behind this sneaky appearance.
The shadowy figure could easily be Giancarlo Esposito's mysterious, caped Moff Gideon,
for example, or someone in his employ — and let's not forget that Darth Maul has a tendency
to show up when you least expect him.
Really, it could be anyone, and even the show's first season finale doesn't offer up any answers
to this question.
But considering the secretive nature behind this character's identity and the planet they're
first seen on, it's clear that the show's creative team at least wants the audience
to think this could be Fett.
The droid known as Zero is the Razorcrest's pilot during Chapter 6 but there's more to
this sinister droid than meets the eye.
For one, he's voiced by critically-acclaimed director and actor Richard Ayoade, best known
for playing Moss on The IT Crowd.
"I came here to to drink milk and kick ass.
And I’m I’ve just finished my milk."
But there's also the type of droid Zero is.
It seems likely that Zero is an RA-7 droid, or something very much like it.
These droids were largely used by the Empire as spies, and in spite of some of his shortcomings,
Zero does come off as slightly more cunning than the rest of the crew.
After all, he's the only one who thinks to examine the recording of Greef Karga's message
in case there's something important about it which, obviously, there is.
It's also interesting that Zero's immediate reaction to Baby Yoda is to try to kill him.
Not to capture him and sell him to the Guild, but simply to kill him.
This could easily be down to his former Imperial programming as a type of droid that was used
specifically on clandestine missions, he may know exactly what Baby Yoda is, and what he's
capable of.
Credited only as "New Republic Soldier," the sole free human aboard the prison ship before
Mando and his crew arrive doesn't seem particularly impressive at first.
He's as green as Baby Yoda, but without the Force skills, and seems about as capable of
pulling the trigger on Mando and his crew as he is of pulling off that helmet.
So it might surprise you to find that this guy is actually Darth Vader.
Well, kind of.
Playing the New Republic Soldier is Matt Lanter, an actor with a whole lot of voice work under
his belt, including voicing none other than Anakin Skywalker on the animated series The
Clone Wars.
He voiced the would-be Sith lord again in Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Forces of
Destiny, as well as in video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II and a number of
the LEGO Star Wars games.
The sister/brother duo of Xi'an and Qin aren't exactly the most sympathetic characters in
The Mandalorian.
Xi'an comes off as the kind of killer who would just laugh as she tears her victims
to pieces, while Qin betrays just about everyone in Chapter 6, including the crew sent to break
him out — and even his own sister.
However, it does seem like the pair have good reasons to have turned cold and heartless.
Xi'an and Qin are Twi'leks, a race known for being targets for galactic slave traders.
Female Twi'leks in particular are sought out because they're considered physically attractive
to many different races, and you might remember seeing female Twi'lek slaves in Jabba's Palace
in Return of the Jedi or in Mos Espa in The Phantom Menace.
Xi'an hints that she and Mando have been intimate in the past, and even implies she might have
seen him without his helmet but she doesn't seem like a particularly reliable source,
either.
While Qin is seemingly dead by the end of Chapter 6, Xi'an is still alive on the prison
ship, and it could be that more about her and Mando's past is revealed at some point
later in the series.
By the time Mando returns to the space station after springing Qin from the New Republic
prison ship, he knows he's got nothing but more betrayal waiting for him.
He takes the tracker that was triggered by the prison guard before his death and plants
it on Qin.
Once Mando leaves the station, Ran orders a pilot to kill him, but the waiting gunship
never gets a chance.
Qin discovers the tracker and moments later, three X-Wing fighters appear and open fire
on the hostile vessel.
But the three pilots who attack the space station are all used to working on the other
side of the camera.
They are Rick Famuyiwa, Dave Filoni, and Deborah Chow.
All three have directed episodes of The Mandalorian, with Famuyiwa directing this very episode.
Meanwhile, both Filoni and Famuyiwa have writer and producer credits on the series.
Filoni has been with the Star Wars universe for a while.
In fact, he oversees Lucasfilm's entire animation division.
Before The Mandalorian, he worked as a developer and supervising director of The Clone Wars,
Star Wars Resistance, and Star Wars: Rebels.
When Mando returns to the planet where he first meets Cara Dune, the Rebel veteran is
having a ball brawling a spiky-headed opponent.
Cara's opponent is a Dathomirian Zabrak a species whose most famous member
is Darth Maul.
The resilient Sith lord killed Qui-Gon Jinn way back in The Phantom Menace, and was
seemingly cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi, but miraculiously survived and showed up in both
The Clone Wars at the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Because Sith lords are super tough to kill, right Palpatine?
Too soon?
Feels too soon… anyway…
This Zabrak's name isn't revealed, but in spite of Cara Dune getting the best of him,
he must be a resilient sort as well.
The Sith wiped out much of their race during the Clone Wars in retaliation for an assassination
attempt on Count Dooku.
Whether this Zabrak or his parents were lucky and happened to be off-world or if they managed
to escape the Sith's punishment by other means, he's likely one of the last of his people.
It may be a running joke that stormtroopers aren't very good at hitting their targets,
but the kernels of truth that make those jokes funny don't apply to the Death Troopers.
In Chapter 7 of The Mandalorian, the troopers in black armor who show up outside the Client's
compound are Death Troopers elite Imperial soldiers specializing in stealth and trained
to achieve maximum body counts.
One of their main tasks was guarding high-ranking members of the Empire, so the fact that a
squad of these deadly warriors precedes Moff Gideon's arrival on Navarro speaks to just
how influential Gideon is.
If the Death Troopers look familiar, they should.
The Death Troopers kept Orson Krennic company through most of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
They can be seen in the spin-off's opening sequence, when Krennic finds the Erso
family in hiding, and they're with him on Scarif when the heroes arrive
to get the Death Star plans.
The deployment of the Death Troopers to the battlefield is one of the moments that turns
the tide against the Rebels' surprise attack on the facility.
In Chapter 7, The Mandalorian's main antagonist makes his first appearance: Moff Gideon.
And Gideon gets some more to do in the show's finale, including making a stunning reveal
that calls back to Star Wars' animated shows.
Some interesting details about Gideon become clear in Chapter 8.
First, Moff Gideon is apparently presumed dead by much of the galaxy.
When Mando tells his allies who is waiting for them outside the compound, Cara says it's
impossible because Moff Gideon was executed for war crimes.
Second, it seems that Gideon had a position of power on Mandalore.
After Gideon reveals that he knows Mando's birth name, Mando tells his allies the only
record of that name was in the registers of Mandalore, and that Gideon was an officer
with the Imperial Security Bureau during the Mandalorian Purge.
But the biggest reveal comes after Gideon's TIE fighter crashes on Navarro.
Gideon cuts himself free from the crash with the Darksaber a black lightsaber that first
appeared in the Clone Wars animated series.
The Darksaber was originally held by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian Jedi.
The weapon changed hands a number of times and was last seen in the possession of Sabine
Wren and Bo-Katan in Star Wars Rebels.
It's not yet clear how Gideon got his hands on the Darksaber but considering the man in
question, it's fair to say he probably didn't get it by asking politely.
Even at the end of The Mandalorian's first season, not much is known about Greef Karga's
past.
Obviously, he's a man of high rank in the bounty hunters' guild.
From his dealings with Mando, it appears Greef is a cunning, intelligent bounty hunter who
will happily stab his allies in the back if it suits his needs.
He does show a spark of honor in Chapter 7, however, when he saves the Child and his protectors
in return for Baby Yoda saving Greef's life earlier in the episode.
Season One's finale does offer up one big hint about Karga's past, though.
When Moff Gideon and his Imperial forces have the heroes cornered, he reveals that he knows
very specific information about them all.
Along with what he tells us about Mando and Cara, Gideon refers to Greef Karga as a "disgraced
magistrate."
Greef being a disgraced magistrate suggests that unlike his allies this bounty hunter
once walked a much different path.
It's not clear what exactly Greef did to earn his dishonor, though he is seen reaching for
a bottle of liquor in his most desperate hour.
It's entirely possible that Greef has a soft spot for a vice or two.
"I never once touched my per diem - I go to craft service, get some raw veggies, bacon,
cup of soup, baby I got a stew going!"
Chapter 8 opens on the pair of scout troopers who killed Kuiil and kidnapped the child in
the previous episode.
Waiting outside the town in which Gideon has surrounded Mando, the troopers wait around
for orders — and a comical scene unfolds with the troopers arguing about the Child,
and trying and failing to shoot at a piece of rubble.
"A pet?
OWWW!”
“Serves you right."
Although their helmets hide their faces, the show's credits reveal that the troopers are
played by two actors more than familiar with a little comedy.
One of the troopers is played by former Saturday Night Live writer and cast member Jason Sudeikis,
more recently known as one of the stars of the 2017 science fiction black comedy Colossal.
The other scout trooper is played by Adam Pally, who Marvel fans might know as Gary
the Cameraman from 2013's Iron Man 3 — the Tony Stark superfan who helps his idol with
his news van's hardware.
At first there didn't seem to be much to say about the enigmatic Manadalorian Armorer who
works with Mando's Beskar in the show's early episodes.
Chapter 8, however, gives a little more insight into the Armorer's past.
First, it's clear that the Armorer is more than just a woman who fashions armor and weapons
she's a person of authority within the Mandalorian culture.
The first hints of this appear in Chapter 3, when she stops the impending brawl between
Mando and his brethren.
In Chapter 8, when the Armorer tells Mando he must discover the Child's unknown species
and reunite them, her word on the matter seems final.
This would suggest her standing in relation to Mando has an almost religious weight to
it like a priest sending a knight on a holy quest.
Second, it's shown that the Armorer is as much of a warrior as she is an armorer.
When she rebuffs Mando's insistence that she come with him and his allies, it seems like
she's content to die fighting like so many of her fellow Mandalorians but that isn't
what happens.
With nothing more than the tools of her trade, the Armorer takes out an entire squad of fully-armed
stormtroopers armed with blasters.
Don't be surprised if this particular character shows up again somewhere down the road.
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