Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, will have a much bigger role in season 2 of The Mandalorian.
The last we saw of him, he was escaping from a crashed TIE fighter following an epic fight with Mando. And during the final scene, it’s also revealed that his character has in his possession the Darksaber. It’s no surprise he’ll have a larger role in the second season, then. You also don’t cast an actor of Esposito’s caliber as a heavy and then kill him off after only two episodes.
Of course, Esposito is most known for portraying the iconic villain Gus Fring on Breaking Bad. He reprises that role in the criminally underrated Better Call Saul, which returns in February and during the 2020 TCA panel for the show, he was asked if we would see more of Gideon in the Star Wars universe and if he has a larger role in season 2 of The Mandalorian, to which he replied:
“It’s growing. Yes, I do. I most certainly do.”
A number of small red dots then appeared on his chest as a warning not to say anything more. Okay, I made that up. But it is Disney and Lucasfilm we’re talking about and they obviously don’t want to divulge too much information about his character or the highly anticipated new season. Although, that won’t stop diehard Star Wars fans from theorizing.
Of course, it was revealed that Gideon was the one who tasked The Client (Herzog) and Dr. Pershing with finding Baby Yoda in the first place. Gideon appears to know the full potential of the little guy, but his true intentions with The Child remain a mystery and Esposito was coy in saying too much more during an interview with IGN.
Nevertheless, Gideon appears to be a formidable antagonist for our titular character moving forward and unfortunately, Mando can’t run forever.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian debuts this fall on Disney Plus.