The world of Star Wars is basically sacred to many of its die-hard fans, and that includes Disney Plus’ new live-action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian.
Since Disney acquired George Lucas’ franchise, they’ve made many decisions that many fans aren’t exactly keen on.
I genuinely don’t have too much of a problem with the sequels, but the lack of a full plan did end up turning the trilogy into a strange battle of big-budget one-upmanship and ‘fixes’ between Rian Johnson and J.J. Abrams.
This led to the rehashing of stories we’d already seen and the return of characters we didn’t really need, as well as sub-plots that went nowhere and the introduction of new characters who did nothing.
The one thing most fans agree on is that The Mandalorian is the best thing about Disney-era Star Wars.
It placed itself into a recognisable world but told a story that was distant enough to avoid interfering with the legacy of the main series.
With season two on the horizon, we’re looking at five ways Disney can have The Mandalorian interact with the events of the Skywalker Saga, without it ruining things for fans of the franchise.
Temuera Morrison Can Play Rex, NOT Boba Fett
Credit: Lucasfilm
Read more: Will The Mandalorian Be Able To Use The Force In Season 2?
One of the things that has been confirmed for a while is the return of Temuera Morrison to Star Wars.
He played Jango Fett in the prequel trilogy, and he became the genetic template of the clone troopers featured throughout The Clone Wars and the execution of Order 66.
Now, it has been strongly rumoured that he is returning to play Boba Fett in The Mandalorian.
While an iconic character, Boba Fett doesn’t really… do much. He is also dead.
Resurrection doesn’t seem to be out of the question for Star Wars these days, but the death of Boba Fett is iconic, cemented part of the original trilogy that shouldn’t really be undone.
Bringing Boba Fett back would needlessly overshadow the story of the Mandalorian himself and start to turn the show into sequel trilogy-esque fan service.
Temuera Morrison could, however, play a live-action version of Captain Rex.
With Ahsoka Tano strongly suggested to be appearing in live-action for the first time in season two of The Mandalorian, it’d make sense for her fellow The Clone Wars survivor to appear alongside her.
After all, he does have Temuera Morrison’s face, we know he was alive at the Battle Of Endor, and it wouldn’t interfere with original trilogy material.
It Can Show Us The Rise Of The First Order
Credit: Disney
Read more: Boba Fett Will Reportedly Have a Bigger Role In The Mandalorian Season 3
The Mandalorian is set in an era that hasn’t been covered in detail.
The Battle Of Endor wasn’t that long ago, Luke hasn’t started up his school yet and C-3PO doesn’t have a red arm.
Also, the rise of the First Order is a fair few years away.
While the timeline of The Mandalorian probably isn’t ever going to take us so close to The Force Awakens that we see the First Order in all of its glory, we could certainly see the building blocks coming together.
Certain Empire loyalists remain, and there are a surprising number of Stormtroopers still alive.
If Disney approaches it in the right way, we’ll be able to see subtle hints towards the shape of things to come, adding to the lore of the First Order perfectly.
What we really don’t want is a pointless cameo from a young General Hux, or a hidden message from the not-actually-dead Palpatine.
We Can Visit Some Iconic Locations
Credit: Lucasfilm
Read more: The Mandalorian Season 2 Will Feature Boba Fett In A ‘Small Role’
One thing that The Mandalorian did really well was make us feel like we were in the Star Wars universe.
Even brand new locations just felt right.
The return to Mos Eisley in Chapter 5 was nostalgic, convincing and not at all overdone.
It’s highly likely that season two will allow us to venture into a few more familiar places, and as long as it’s kept subtle and necessary, it’ll probably be brilliant.
Endor? Maz Kanata’s Castle? Mustafar? The options are endless.
Baby Yoda Can Be Connected To Yoda, But NOT As A Direction Relation
Credit: Lucasfilm
Read more: The Mandalorian Season 2 Might See Boba Fett And Din Djarin Save Baby Yoda Together
Baby Yoda, less affectionally known as ‘The Child’ by boring people and Disney, accidentally became the face of The Mandalorian.
Without bringing back actual Yoda, Disney cleverly presented us with a character we inadvertently recognised, creating a connection to the Skywalker Saga that we couldn’t complain about because we’d technically never met the character before.
The importance and relevance of Baby Yoda is one of the series’ main hooks, and with such bounty on his head and some impressive force powers, we want to find out who he really is.
The worst answer is, of course, that he is some sort of direct Yoda descendant. That’s way too ‘Rey Palpatine’ to work.
Another possibility is that he is a Yoda clone, but that’s a bit too ‘Palpatine’s Not Dead’.
I think the only way to pull off a connection to Yoda successfully is to keep it relatively indirect.
Perhaps we get to visit Yoda’s home planet for the first time? Maybe the little green guy is a heroic legend amongst his people, and we see statues of him in the background.
Or we could meet Baby Yoda’s parents, and discover that they knew Yoda himself many years ago.
Personally, I hope he’s related to Yaddle.
There Is A Lot Of Opportunity Within The History Of The Darksaber
Credit: Lucasfilm
Read more: Will The Mandalorian Season 2 Feature Boba Fett As The Main Villain?
If Disney really wants to dive headfirst into fan service, then the way to do it is through flashbacks.
This way, we can see a familiar face or two, without forcing them into the timeline of The Mandalorian for the sake of it.
Season one ended with Gus Fring Moff Gideon in possession of the Darksaber, but many fans will know that it was once in the possession of Darth Maul himself.
The ex-Sith is dead by the time of The Mandalorian, so a flashback would be the perfect way to fill the fan service quota without doing anything weird.
Maybe we’d be able to take a look at Maul’s time with the weapon, and discover that it intersected with the history of a few other familiar faces as well?
They just need to be careful not to overdo it, which seemed to be the mantra of season one.
What do you make of this feature?
Are you looking forward to The Mandalorian Season 2 on Disney Plus?
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