The Mandalorian and, more importantly, Baby Yoda are back for a second season. The next installment will drop on Disney+ Oct. 30. Some of Baby Yoda’s staunchest defenders, including Pedro Pascal’s Mando, Gina Carano’s Cara Dune and Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga, will return, as will the show’s villain, Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito.
Creator Jon Favreau has promised an intense second installment, comparing The Mandalorian’s leap from a more focused first season to a sprawling second season to Game of Thrones. “As we introduce other characters, there are opportunities to follow different storylines,” Favreau told Entertainment Weekly. “The world was really captivated by Game of Thrones and how that evolved as the characters followed different storylines—that’s very appealing to me as an audience member.”
There will be eight episodes of different lengths that drop week-by-week between Halloween and Christmas, helping to ensure that Star Wars fans will have happier holidays, even if we’re stuck inside. The creators have hinted at fan-favorite characters like Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano finally showing up in the series. And we may even get a few answers to the show’s enduring mysteries, like where Baby Yoda came from or what the heck is going on with Moff Gideon’s Darksaber. Here’s everything you need to know about the second season of The Mandalorian.
What happened in season 1, again?
Fans will recall that the Mandalorian takes place between the events of Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens. The Rebel Alliance has defeated the Empire and installed the New Republic. But danger still lurks on the edges of the galaxy. Mando, an orphaned child who was brought up in the ways of the Mandalorian warriors, works as a Bounty Hunter in these dark recesses of the galaxy.
He’s asked by some shady Empire loyalists to take a hit out on a dangerous target only to find he’s been sent to murder a baby belonging to Yoda’s unnamed species. (Baby Yoda is technically a misnomer since Yoda has died at this point in the Star Wars saga.) It’s unclear what the bad guys want with Baby Yoda, but the show hints they might want to experiment on him or use him as a weapon.
Read More: How The Mandalorian Fits Into the Larger Star Wars Timeline
Mando decides to defend this seemingly defenseless creature and spends the season dodging attacks from those who would do harm to Baby Yoda. Finally, at the end of the season, the Armorer, a leader of a tribe of Mandalorian warriors, tells Mando that he is duty-bound to return Baby Yoda to his people, i.e. the Jedi. The Mandalorians and the Jedi have a contentious relationship, so Mando is not psyched about the assignment. But after he and his buddies are attacked by Galactic Empire officer Moff Gideon, Mando takes Baby Yoda and sets off on his mission to reunite the adorable child with his wards—whoever they may be.
What’s the plot of season 2?
At the end of Season 1, Mando set out on a mission to take Baby Yoda to find “his own kind,” i.e. other Jedi. Season 2 picks up shortly after the events from the first season as Mando tries to determine where to find the remaining Jedi.
We don’t know much beyond that except that Moff Gideon, the bad guy from Season 1 played by Giancarlo Esposito, will return as the villain in Season 2. Throughout Season 1, he pursued Baby Yoda for unknown purposes. Whatever his reasons, he faces off against both Mando and his charge in a major fight in Season 2.
Will we finally get to see Boba Fett in The Mandalorian?
Yes! Or maybe just his clone.
Boba Fett, the notorious bounty hunter from Star Wars: Episodes V and VI who met an unenviable end in the Sarlac Pit, has long been a fan favorite. The Mandalorian teased his appearance on the show last season when a figure wearing the bounty hunter’s trademark spurs showed up at the end of an episode.
We know now that Temuera Morrison, who played Boba Fett’s father Jango Fett in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, will appear as some character on The Mandalorian this season, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Fans are speculating he will play Boba Fett.
Read More: Explaining the Difference Between the Mandalorian and Boba Fett
But it’s also possible that that spur-wearing character is not Boba Fett but one of the other clones from the Clone Wars. George Lucas revealed in Attack of the Clones that all the clone soldiers were just DNA copies of Jango Fett and that Boba Fett was a young clone of Jango that Jango decided to raise himself. So while it’s possible the Boba Fett who hunted Han, Leia and Luke could appear in The Mandalorian, it’s just as likely that we could meet another Jango Fett clone.
What’s the deal with Moff Gideon’s Darksaber?
Moff Gideon’s black lightsaber, which he used to cut himself out of his fallen ship in the final episode of Season 1, will play a key role in Season 2. “Where did this saber come from and how was it revived? It’s a key in our second season,” Esposito told Deadline.
The weapon has a storied history in the Star Wars universe. It’s called the Darksaber, and the only way to become its master is to defeat its previous owner. Created by the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi order, Tarre Vizsla, The Darksaber has symbolic significance among the Mandalore. Whoever wielded it became the leader of Clan Vizsla, one of the largest clans on the Mandalorian planet.
Darth Maul (the red-faced villain from Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace) usually wielded a red double lightsaber but coveted the Darksaber. He eventually won the Darksaber in the years following Phantom Menace after he defeated a Mandalore named Pre Vizsla. However, in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is set between Episodes III and IV, Darth Maul can be seen holding his old red lightsaber. It’s unclear whether he lost the Darksaber or simply hid it.
In an episode of the animated series Rebels, a Mandalorian named Sabine Wren found the saber on Dothamir, the planet where Maul’s crime syndicate was based, after the Empire took control of the galaxy. (More on Sabine Wren later.) Sabine passed the Darksaber to Bo-Katan Kryze, the last known owner of the saber before it appears in the hands of Moff Gideon. And it just so happens that Bo-Katan Kryze will appear in Season 2 (more on her later too).
It’s unclear how Gideon acquired the saber and how Mando would feel about Gideon weilding such a powerful totem of Mandalorian culture. Gideon seems to be obsessed with the Mandalorians: he played a major role in the Purge on Mandalore and even went so far as to discover the true names of the foundlings—or orphans—who were rescued and trained by the Mandalorians, including Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), whose name was revealed in the final episode of the first season.
Read More: The Darksaber Made a Crucial Appearance in The Mandalorian‘s Season Finale. Here’s Its Significance in Star Wars Lore
Who is Ahsoka Tano, the character Rosario Dawson may or may not be playing?
Fans of the Star Wars animated series, The Clone Wars, have long been vying to see the Jedi in a live-action series or film. They may finally be getting their wish. Rosario Dawson has all but admitted in an interview with Variety that she was playing Ahsoka on the show: “That’s not confirmed yet but when that happens, I will be very happy. I’m very excited for that to be confirmed at some point.”
Ahsoka was introduced as Anakin Skywalker’s willful young apprentice but evolved into the protagonist of the Clone Wars and a character beloved by fans. She is part of the Togruta race and in her later years wielded two lightsabers. She fought as a young woman alongside Anakin early in the Clone Wars, which is largely set between Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, but left the Jedi order in time to avoid becoming a victim of Order 66, otherwise known as the Jedi Purge. She turned to spy craft and eventually fought her old master, Darth Vader.
The last we saw Ahsoka, she was headed out on a mission to find her old apprentice alongside a Mandalorian named Sabine Wren (who happened to wield the Darksaber for a period of time). The Mandalorian is set between the events of Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens. That means that if the Mandalorian were to encounter her, he’d be meeting a 40-something Ahsoka in the show.
It’s unclear how Mando would meet Ahsoka: Perhaps he finds Ahsoka at the “home of the Jedi,” wherever that may be. Maybe Sabine, as a Mandalorian who trusts Ahsoka, brokers a partnership between the two characters.
We only have one other piece of information concerning Ahsoka’s fate in the Star Wars canon: During her climactic battle with Emperor Palpatine at the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey hears the voices of several fallen Jedi, including Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gonn Jin, Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker and—you guessed it—Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka’s inclusion among these voices seems to suggest she died. Let’s hope she survives long enough to make a major impact on the plot of The Mandalorian.
What other new actors are joining the show?
Rosario Dawson isn’t the only addition to season 2. Deadwood and Justified star Timothy Olympant has joined the cast but remained tightlipped about who exactly he will be playing. Michael Biehn of Aliens and Terminator fame is set to play a bounty hunter from Mando’s past.
Katee Sackhoff, who voices the character Bo-Katan Kryze in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, will be playing a live-action version of the character on The Mandalorian. As mentioned above, Bo-Katan Kryze is a Mandalorian who was the last known holder of the Darksaber before Moff Gideon. This season will likely explain how Gideon acquired the weapon and what has happened to Bo-Katan since.
Will IG-88 show up this season?
Favreau has previously stoked rumors that IG-88, one of the mercenaries hired by Darth Vader to track down the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, will appear on The Mandalorian. The droid was nearly destroyed while in pursuit of the Falcon and his parts lie in a junk room in Cloud City toward the end of that film. If rumors are to be believed, IG-88 survived and will appear in some way in The Mandalorian, which of course takes place after Empire.
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