Earlier this week, the long-awaited trailer for the upcoming Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, dropped, and Star Wars fans across the world lit up with excitement! To my Mando brothers and sisters in arms, it’s time to raise our buckets on high and give a mighty OYA!!!
Yeah, that Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker trailer was pretty awesome, but as your resident Fandalorian, I have been looking forward to this one for quite a while. After watching this teaser, it pretty much confirms that this series is a big reason to get on board the Disney+ streaming service.
From what I can glean from this teaser, we see a lot of old-school Star Wars charm and I’m going to break it down for you here. Set after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, we see the fall of the Empire, but things don’t automatically all click into place with 24/7 celebrations and Ewok parties.
While the New Republic has strengthened after the Battle of Jakku, there is still a lot of turmoil and chaos across the galaxy. Especially when it comes to the lawless area known as the Outer Rim.
Right off the bat, the trailer gives off that old-school western vibe, with Pedro Pascal, as the Mandalorian, doing his best impression as the stranger with no name. He walks past rows of stormtrooper heads that would excite King Joffrey (yep, that’s my one Game of Thrones reference in a Star Wars article). We then see the bounty hunter take down some Trandoshans (same race as the bounty hunter Bossk from the original trilogy).
All the while, we’re treated to a voice-over from an unknown character who is played by Werner Herzog, “It’s a world more peaceful since the revolution. It is a shame that your people suffered. But bounty hunting is a complicated profession.”
I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark here, but I’m guessing this refers to the Death Watch events from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Then, more nods to the original movies, with the carbonite freezing of some bounties. And then we get a look at the Mandalorian’s spacecraft, known as The Razorcrest, which is kind of giving off Firefly vibes. We also FINALLY get a glimpse of Herzog’s character. My guess is that he’s one of the Empire’s former Moffs (aka generals) or at least some sort of former Empire official.
Cantina full of scum and villainy? Check! Shoot out from said cantina of scum and villainy? Double check!
In the next scene, we see a small child, along with his family, in red robes, in the middle of a battlefield, as they are being chased by super battle droids. In the sky, it’s a Separatist HMP Predator gunship. All of which are from the animated Clone Wars series. I am loving the fact that they are bringing aspects from the animated series into the live-action show. It gets a big thumbs up from me.
We switch off to an ice planet next and see the Mandalorian hunting down a Quarren (the squid faced alien). We also get a look at the Mandalorian wrangling up a rhino-like creature. The looks drive home the whole western motif, again.
The scene changes again, this time to the desert planet, where we see Carl Weathers as Greef Carga, the head of the Bounty Hunter Guild, along with his posse. Then, Gina Carano as Cara Dune, the former Rebel turned mercenary, and the Mandalorian, doing their best recreation of Weathers and Schwarzenegger in Predator.
The next series of scenes are pretty much giving us a glimpse of the other characters, such as Omera, played by Julia Jones, who has some sort of (romantic?) tie to the Mandalorian. We also see Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, IG-11, voiced by Taika Waititi, and a three blaster wielding character played by Bill Burr. It then closes out with the Mandalorian responding to Herzog’s characters’ invitation of people waiting for him with a simple, “Yeah? Good.”
This trailer totally has me hyped for November 12, when The Mandalorian finally begins streaming on Disney+. As a fan who has been waiting for this series since it was first announced, this trailer hit me on all the levels. It’s a good time to be a Mandorian fanatic.