The Mandalorian season three premiere has gone down very well amongst fans and critics, re-introducing us to Din and Grogu, setting up their pilgrimage of atonement to the Mines of Mandalore, and catching up with some old friends. For us, the most welcome sight was Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga, who greeted Din with a hearty “Mando!”
In the years since the second season Greef has clearly gone up in the world. He’s now fully dripped out as Nevarro’s High Magistrate to the point where he has two adorable droids carrying his coat for him. But for many fans his hearty handshake with Din has made them remember another iconic Carl Weathers moment:
The scene being referenced comes early in the 1987 action sci-fi classic Predator, which sees Weathers and Arnold Schwarzenegger engaging in a muscular hand-shake that has launched a million memes. Whether this was an intentional reference or not, Star Wars fans are here for it:
Perhaps this line would have cemented it:
Let’s see a Mando/Karga muscle-off!
Well, he is the best in the galaxy:
If we can have a line as silly as “that’s using your head” we can have this too:
Greef is one of our favorite The Mandalorian characters and we hope the future holds nothing but happiness for him. Then again, it seems inevitable that he and Din facing down a squad of space pirates is going to have consequences down the line. But, if Nevarro needs a protector, we’re sure there’s someone in a suit of Beskar armor and a heaping helping of lethal armaments who’ll step in to save the day.
The Mandalorian airs Wednesdays on Disney Plus.