With the explosive finale of The Mandalorian season three, fans are debating the truest MVP of the season, and the arguments for the internet’s number one choice are incredibly persuasive. Fans of Grogu are finally starting to convince his naysayers that his most endearing qualities are his limits as an actual puppet. The latest episodes showed our little hero leaping and bounding around the set, and fans are ready to embrace the ridiculous workarounds Lucasfilm has landed on outside of CGI.
In a glorious turn of events, it is starting to sound like John Boyega may actually be reconsidering his self-imposed exile from Star Wars. We can’t blame the actor for stepping away from the vitriol that dampened his Star Wars experience, and we hope he accepts the fandom’s apology and once again fills FN-2187’s shoes.
‘Droids are not good or bad. They are neutral reflections of those who imprint them.’
The Mandalorian came to its heart-warming conclusion this week, and though fans were polarized by some of the moments they felt came from left field, the consensus is that the finale washed away many fears that the season wouldn’t live up to its predecessors. One of the things that has captured fans’ love — beyond absolutely cool Mandalorians themselves — is the unlikely hero, R5. The astro droid may not be as intrepid as some of his bipedal counterparts, but his impact is powerful just the same. Fans were quick to label him the MVP after the little guy defied all odds and convinced the droid-opposed Din Djarin to call him “buddy.”
Not everyone agreed with the droid winning the title. There were plenty of arguments for Paz Vizsla, Axe Woves, and even the low-hanging fruit that is Bo-Katan, but at the end of the day, we have to agree. The silly little droid finally getting his redemption arc almost 50 years later is so incredibly Star Wars that it’s hard not to cheer him on.
Judge me by my size, do you?
Since the beginning of The Mandalorian’s run, fans have been polarized on the adorable little fella, Grogu. For some, it seems the prospect of the tiny creature being an actual puppet is a bit too much to bear. The series has received ample flack in the past for “terrible” CGI around Yoda and Grogu’s more elastic moves, but it seems that a majority of fans have come to accept that, when it comes to Grogu, you just have to accept some corny moments.
Over the course of the latest season, fans have finally come to embrace the absolute cheese that is cast members hucking a puppet at one another. There is something incredibly charming about seeing Grogu’s lifeless puppet eyes as he soars through the air, “leaping” to his next destination. Once viewers take a moment to accept the absurdity of a cast member kneeling just beyond the edge of the camera, preparing to hurl the tiny puppet to whoever needs to catch him in that scene, it makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable. Non-Star Wars fans were quick to mock people expressing their love for the whole situation, claiming that it was low expectations that kept Star Wars from failing.
You do you, haters. It’s too late for the rest of us as this adorable, dead-eyed baby has already leapt into our hearts.
‘Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.’
After years of saying he was done with the Star Wars universe, it seems like John Boyega, the actor behind Finn in the sequel series, may actually be returning to the franchise. Boyega left the series somewhat embittered by the lack of support he felt Disney offered after being ruthlessly attacked for years online. The actor suffered discriminatory barbs from all corners of the internet, as a minority of bigoted Star Wars “fans” attacked him for the color of his skin. Boyega has been incredibly candid about the experience and was so put-out by the negativity, he swore he’d never return to Star Wars again.
After Moses Ingram suffered a similar slew of abuse for deigning to portray a Sith as a Black woman, Disney was much more vocal about its backing of the star, and a bevy of Star Wars alum swooped to her defense. It seems that the renewed vigor in defending minority cast members has been enough to encourage Boyega to think about returning to the galaxy far, far away. The news came during an interview on The Hot Mic podcast when co-host John Rocha revealed that there are ongoing negotiations between Kathleen Kennedy and John Boyega.
Fans of the character have long felt that Boyega and Finn never got a fair run after the backlash to episode seven and have pushed for his return for years. For his part, Boyega has long been a fan of the ‘verse, but his experience with the fandom definitely soured the joy that should have come with such an illustrious position. Since the rumors that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Damon Lindelof’s Star Wars entry would feature returning cast members from the prequel series, and Lindelof made a point of placing a protagonist of color in a leading role, many fans have been dying to see Boyega return and finally give Finn the story arc he deserves.