The Mandalorian delivered another very fun slice of Star Wars today. The core plot involved a Mandalorian child being abducted by a dragon-like creature, with Din Djarin, Bo-Katan, Paz Vizsla, and others forming a squad to mount a rescue. That provided swashbuckling action and gave the Mandalorians some fun new pets that we can’t wait to see become fully grown.
But Grogu’s mid-episode flashback is certain to dominate the debate. This took us back once again to Revenge of the Sith and Order 66, showing the attack on the Jedi Temple from the pint-sized Force user’s perspective. After this, we now know how Grogu dodged the brainwashed Clone Troopers, though his whereabouts during the original trilogy are still unknown.
And Grogu’s savior? Well, let’s just say he’s put a smile on fans’ faces and resulted in more than a few happy tears.
Ahmed Best has left Jar Jar Binks in the past and is now an awesome Jedi Master
We hate Jar Jar Binks as much as anyone, with a recent rewatch of The Phantom Menace proving he’s precisely as unfunny and infuriating as he was back in 1999. But we don’t put any of that on Ahmed Best, who provided his voice and played the character on set. Best had a rough ride post-The Phantom Menace, regularly getting hatred from fans claiming he’d “ruined their childhood” and receiving no support from Lucasfilm. Since then, he’s revealed that at his lowest point, he once contemplated taking his own life.
All of which means we’re over the moon that The Mandalorian decided to make Best’s Kelleran Beq Grogu’s knight in shining armor. Beq first appeared in Star Wars in 2020’s online kid-focused game show Jedi Temple Challenge, which was firmly non-canon.
Now he’s an official part of the saga, with Best dismantling Clone Troopers with dual lightsabers and leading a ship on a daredevil chase through the Coruscant streets. Fans erupted in joy when they realized who was playing Beq, and we’re hoping this flashback isn’t the last we’ve seen of him.
So, Best has gone from perhaps the most hated figure in Star Wars to one of the most beloved. Everyone loves a redemption arc, right?
‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’ may feature a Jedi from ‘The High Republic’ era
Star Wars‘ The High Republic project has been quietly bubbling away in the background of the canon for a few years now. With the Skywalker Saga era somewhat limited when it comes to telling big new stories that fit into continuity, the smart decision was made to use the setting hundreds of years before The Phantom Menace.
Here, the Jedi are at the height of their powers and almost everyone is a new character save for particularly long-lived aliens like Yoda. But eagle-eyed fans have spotted someone in the new trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor that seems to have made the jump into the “present” (aka the period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope). The first trailer for the game showed a mysterious figure floating in a bacta tank, and now they’ve emerged to tangle with Cal Kestis and are still sporting a telltale High Republic insignia.
Waking up from a long period of hibernation to discover the Jedi are all but eradicated and a Sith Lord is ruling the galaxy under an iron thumb will be a rude awakening, so we’re curious to see how this fish-out-of-water story plays out.
It’s also worth mentioning that we’ll soon get our first live-action show set during The High Republic in the upcoming The Acolyte, so perhaps there’s the potential for some character crossover between that and Survivor.
Jon Favreau says ‘The Mandalorian’ isn’t ending anytime soon
And finally, Jon Favreau has confirmed that The Mandalorian isn’t even close to its conclusion. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed that neither he nor Dave Filoni is in a hurry to end the show as both enjoy working on it so much. He specifically praised the character development we’ve seen and seems to be thrilled that the show is spawning its own ‘Mandoverse’ in Star Wars:
“I’m having a blast, and I love working with Dave, and I love how the characters develop over time. I also love that there are other stories now being told in that same time period, like Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew.”
Favreau is a busy man and in Disney’s good books for helming hits like the live-action The Jungle Book and The Lion King, though it sounds like his heart lies in a galaxy, far, far away, and that isn’t changing anytime soon:
“I really have been enjoying this tremendously and I love these characters and I love seeing how they’re growing together. I’ve really enjoyed working with this group of people and I love collaborating with all these different filmmakers and different storytellers, both from the directors we work with, and other showrunners like Dave and, and others like [Skeleton Crew’s] Jon Watts and Chris Ford.
I don’t know what would make me not enjoy doing it, especially as long as the audience is connecting with these characters. This feels like a really enjoyable moment. And I love this format of telling one chapter at a time and keeping the audience guessing, but also fulfilling certain expectations.”
Favreau was once considered for the directing job on The Force Awakens, but given the revolving door of creatives at Lucasfilm and their failure to get any cinematic Star Wars release since 2019, we’d love to see him given the reins on a big-budget blockbuster. Whether that’d be linked to the Mandoverse is anyone’s guess, though if Lucasfilm needs someone with a proven track record of hits and a heartfelt passion for the franchise, they need look no further than The Mandalorian‘s production office.
That’s it for today’s news, though we’re sure that there’ll be more to chew on once fans have digested today’s episode of The Mandalorian, the new Bad Batch, and there have been some interviews with cast and creatives. We’d be particularly interested in an interview with Ahmed Best about his action-packed return, as for him, the positive fan reaction must be manna from heaven.