Oh man what a trailer! I’m so happy to have Season 2 of the Mandalorian on the way. I’ve been waiting for months and months as we all have for some fresh Mando content, and here we are!
So we start off with a Razor Crest that feels like nobody’s actively piloting it. Clearly Din’s been getting into more trouble since we last saw him, and someone has finally out-flown our favorite Mandalorian. The back door’s ajar, leading me to get more concerned for the ship given the discoveries I made building the LEGO version.
From there, things transition to a snowscape. Peeking at the planet Din seems to be heading to in the first shot, it seems to be a different scene. The Razor Crest is fine as it descends into the snowy planet, leading me to believe it’s had some repairs since. The Hu plays in the background. They’re an amazing band by the way, and have been involved with Star Wars before in Fallen Order and Oga’s Cantina mix. I highly recommend you check out their work.
We hear the Armorer and Mando’s dialogue from S1E8 about the Child’s heritage. How these sorcerers would be interested in the discovery of this powerful child. It makes me so happy that the show is set after the OT, so that we don’t have to deal with more powerful force users who exist in the same timeframe that Luke, Vader, and the Emperor are the only known users up until the events of RotJ. Mando and the Child walk through a darkened bazaar. Later, we see Mando shoot down someone hanging from a pole in this same scene. As is mentioned later, no place for a child.
We get treated to a nice classic Tusken Raider roaming the Jundland Wastes of Tatooine. I don’t care what anyone says, I loved S1E5, The Gunslinger, Fan-service and all. I still think that was Boba at the end, or someone in his armor, and I wager this means we might get a bit more of a tease in that direction.
I just hope the rumors of Rex, Boba, Ahsoka, Bo Katan, and Sabine showing up isn’t true. I love Rebels, but I think that would be a bit distracting, personally speaking. Boba seems okay though. People really love Din Djarin now, as we understand and connect with him far more than we really ever got a chance to with the Boba we all know and love (sorry Daniel Logan, it’s not you, it’s all of AotC). This means that there will be an even amount of Djarin Stans to fight with the Fett Stans of old.
We’re then treated to more shots of the snow planet, just as they’ve landed. There’s a big trench that they seem to have landed in, and I gotta say, something feels mighty familiar. Paired with the speech from Season 1 talking about Jedi, this feels like they’re heavily suggesting that this could be Ilum.
So we’ve seen Ilum a few times, and once in the movies on the Big Screen. Ilum is shown to be a source of kyber crystals, the tools of a Jedi’s lightsaber. Our first onscreen appearance with Ilum was in The Clone Wars, in the episode “The Gathering” when Ahsoka and Yoda take a group of Younglings on their ceremonial task of choosing a kyber crystal for their lightsabers. It’s a cold, frozen, inhospitable planet, but it houses ancient Jedi temple caves, where mirrors allow you to open pathways through melted ice. It’s extremely treacherous however, and only accessible at specific times during the cycle.
During Order 66, the 481st Legion was dispatched to Ilum in order to root out surviving Jedi who attempted to hide there. Given it’s location as one of the few planets mapped in the Unknown Regions, in Sector 7G (incidentally the same sector Homer Simpson occupies at the Springfield Power Plant), it seemed a good place to attempt to hide out.
Next, I’m going to spoil a bit of Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, so buckle up.
This is your last chance, it came out a year ago, so don’t get mad.
Okay, are they gone? Good.
In Fallen Order, at some point Cal is going to go through a traumatic re-living of his experiences during Order 66, and accidentally destroy his lightsaber and crystal. To resolve this, he heads to Ilum to both reforge his blade and reconnect with what it means to be a Jedi. It’s one of my favorite parts of the game, but the biggest revelation was something darker:
Ilum was taken over completely by the Empire after Order 66. It was strip mined of its kyber, and by 18 BBY the Empire had begun building what was to one day become Starkiller base. We could see the beginnings of the trench in the game’s events.
So it stands to reason that Mando might hear about it in passing, in an attempt to seek out these sorcerers for himself. I’m curious if the shots seen later where the Scout Troopers are on their bikes, and Mando jetpacks off, are in anyway related. I’d say it seems to be a separate Imperial Base.
We are also treated to shots of the Outland TIE’s, the same model that Moff Gideon used in Season 1’s excellent Finale to make his entrance. We get to see Cara Dune and Greef Karga, clearly with a nice remote base of operations. I’m curious to see what happens to Dune’s character, given the unfortunate comments her actor, Gina Carrano, has chosen to make on Twitter. I won’t get into it here, but I’m less happy to see her back after learning how she is in the public image.
There’s also an interesting scene that will take place on the waterfront, on a shipping boat, most likely to the town where we are treated to Sasha Banks’s character. I imagine she’s playing someone Jedi related, but I don’t think she’s Sabine Wren. She does have the look but I’m just not convinced this show is going to jumpstart Live-Action Rebels. Not yet anyway, Lothcats be damned.
Clearly Mando’s also going to get into some trouble with the law, moreso than he risked last season with S1E6 The Prisoner. We see him get winged by two X-Wings, who very impolitely open their S-Foils into attack position. We’re treated later to shots of them dogfighting in a cloudy atmosphere, meaning that fight will last a bit longer than just in space.
Shots of the Razor Crest burning up in re-entry probably connect to the opening shot, but I don’t think it’s the X-Wing battle that causes him to crash. If he’s fighting them in Space, then in Atmo, how would he then be careening towards a different planet? So it seems the Razor Crest is in for a world of hurt this season.
Finally, my favorite part, is the Gammorrean Vibro-Boxing pit. It’s just amazing to see all these dark underbelly shots, filling in the shadows that we glimpsed through in Mos Eisley all those years ago. I love seeing them bringing back all these aliens we barely got to see in Jabba’s Palace or in the Cantina.
Mando gets double crossed by a one-eyed Abyssin.
And we’re given the best and most memeable Baby Yoda sequence yet. Mando activates the Whistling Birds, and the Child just nopes on out.
Don’t believe me? I’ve already got a meme locked and loaded for this format:
So with this, I am decidedly hyped. We only got glimpses at a few potential setpieces, but that’s just it. I can glean a few bites of details here and there but I can happily say I’m still wanting more, which is exactly what you want from a trailer. Expect me to be reviewing each episode on Friday nights as they come out, week by week! Thanks for stopping by as we analyze some Mando.
