Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: The Mandalorian

  • Can We Trust Her? Katee Sackhoff Explains Bo-Katan’s Behavior in the Latest Episode of ‘The Mandalorian’

    Can We Trust Her? Katee Sackhoff Explains Bo-Katan’s Behavior in the Latest Episode of ‘The Mandalorian’

    The book ends of Chapter 19 of The Mandalorian, The Convert, left fans wondering what Bo-Katan Kryze was up to following her experience in the mines of Mandalore. The episode’s opening picked up in the aftermath of Chapter 18’s plunge into the Living Waters where she encountered a massive Mythosaur, an encounter she chose to keep from Din Djarin after asking if he had seen anything alive in the pool. Bo-Katan’s dip in the Living Waters also put her in a position she never thought she’d be in: walking The Way of the Mandalore as a member of the Children of the Watch. With her home world of Kalevala destroyed by a fleet of Imperial remnant TIEs, Bo-Katan, now washed free of her apostasy, was invited by the Armorer to remain with the covert of Mandalorians. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy day for Bo-Katan.

    Did those experiences change the skeptical Bo-Katan, however? Fans aren’t so sure and much of the social media discussion after the episode centered around the character’s decision to remain mute about the Mythosaur, wondering if she intends to use the knowledge of the beast to her advantage. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bo-Katan actress Katee Sackhoff assuaged those concerns, saying her behavior was rooted in something much less malevolent. “She doesn’t trust necessarily what she saw. She might have thought that she imagined it,” explained Sackhoff. “There’s so many things that she’s trying to process in her head that I don’t necessarily think that it’s something that she wants to tell anyone about right now.“

    Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) holding the Darksaber in a scene from Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Part of what Bo-Katan may be trying to process is that the beliefs that Din Djarin has held dear–beliefs she called “cute”–may hold some water. According to Sackhoff, Bo-Katan’s attempts to reconcile her past with Din’s “cult” with her own past and the very recent events of her own present have given her quite a bit to ponder which is why she remained so quiet when she was accepted into Din’s Tribe.

    The mistakes of her past — with Death Watch and the resulting death of her sister Satine — weigh heavily upon her, and she’s in a more vulnerable state than we’ve ever seen her before when Din brings her in. But because of the disagreements with Din’s cult in the past, the Watch welcoming her to their clan with open arms is a surprise to her. To be immediately accepted by people is new for her. She may or may not be trying to figure out if that’s a place where she should potentially stay.

    Katee Sackhoff

    Still, it’s hard for fans to believe that the militant Bo-Katan won’t look to weaponize her newfound friends in another attempt to avenge her sister’s death and ascend to lead the reborn Mandalore. According to Sackhoff, that’s not in the cards, however. “I truly believe at this point that she hopes someone else steps up,” Sackhoff said. “She doesn’t want the responsibility. The responsibility cost her everything,” she explained. “Leading didn’t work, so maybe fitting in will.” With more than half the season still ahead, Bo-Katan’s choice to be a leader or a follower will likely have a huge impact on the events of not only The Mandalorian Season 3 but also the shape of the New Republic.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Puts Din and Grogu in the Backseat for a Look at the Not-So-New Republic

    REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Puts Din and Grogu in the Backseat for a Look at the Not-So-New Republic

    Chapter 18 of The Mandalorian, The Mines of Mandalore, wrapped up Din Djarin’s quest to end his apostasy well enough that it didn’t need to be revisited; however, the book ends of Chapter 19, The Convert, do indeed revisit the events of the previous episode and, to some extent, cleverly revise them. Returning to Kalevala to find it under attack by Imperial remnants, Bo-Katan, Din and Grogu hotfoot it to a safe space one hyperspace away. Where they go and what happens there are left for the show’s closing moments, though an attentive audience surely guessed where they’d land. As interesting as those closing moments–and the moments they surely set up for the future–are, the episode spends 80% of its runtime (the longest of any chapter of The Mandalorian to date) putting Din and Grogu’s ongoing journey in the back seat so Doctor Pershing can take the wheel.

    Last seen on Moff Gideon’s light cruiser in the Season 2 finale, Doctor Penn Pershing’s reemergence served as a reminder of where Din and Grogu’s journey began, provided a look at the Reconstruction Era of the galaxy and seemed to put the pieces in place for Gideon’s next move. Part of the New Republic’s Reintegration Program, Doctor Pershing’s arc in The Convert serves up a heaping helping of The Who’s We Won’t Get Fooled Again. Co-writers Jon Favreau and Noah Kloor deftly take advantage of years of conditioning of the Star Wars audience to subtly say an awful lot about the New Republic without saying anything at all. Like the other members of the Reintegration Program, Pershing is now a number and not a name, ironically finding himself given the same cold, impersonal identification assigned to the Clone Troopers by the “evil Empire.” An entirely different article could be written on the episode’s commentary on the inefficiency of the New Republic’s handling of old Imperial and Alliance resources, but their handling of a resource as valuable as Pershing as nothing more than a mundane cog in the machine set the gears of his “regression” at the behest of Elia Kane, who is likely working with Gideon. Pershing’s final fate, having his brilliant mind wiped by the “good guys” of the New Republic using an Imperial Mind Flayer, might as well have been done with Roger Daltrey screaming “meet the news boss; same as the old boss” in the background. The hypnotized never lie.

    (L-R): Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and R5-D4 in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Whatever Gideon wanted Pershing to do with Grogu’s blood, it looks as though Kane will now help see it through putting Mando and The Child back in the sights of the former Imperials. However, if the closing moments of the episode are any indication, Kane, Gideon and whoever else they assemble may not like what they find the next time they cross paths. As Din returns to the Mandalorian covert to prove he’s come back to the faith, the full measure of his rescue from the Living Waters of Mandalore by Bo-Katan. Though she has never walked the Way of the Mandalore, by bathing in the Living Waters herself, Bo-Katan has been “redeemed” and may now live among the Children of the Watch. The details of Din and Bo-Katan’s experience on Mandalore (Bo-Katan is keeping one tiny detail to herself for the time being) are sure to encourage The Tribe to consider returning to Mandalore and begin the culture’s prophesied return to glory. Bo-Katan’s no dummy and these new brothers and sisters in “faith” provide her with an army of warriors who will certainly do everything they can to protect one of their own, as they’ve demonstrated in the past.

    So while the “Big Three” of the first few episodes only get a small fraction of The Convert’s runtime, the detour to the Coruscant of the New Republic is by no means a waste of minutes. The events on Coruscant serve as a reminder that while you can take the solider out of the Empire, you can’t always take the Empire out of the soldier: the threat of Gideon, in this case in the form of Kane’s ongoing loyalty to his “plan”, still looms large. Additionally, the time spent exploring the ins-and-outs of the New Republic is long overdue. Through two seasons of The Mandalorian, only bits and pieces of what was going on at the center of the galaxy could be gleaned when Mando’s Outer Rim adventures attracted their attention. The New Republic is still new story telling territory and with the rise of Mandalore drawing nearer with every episode, it’s safe to say that the hypocrisy of the New Republic will come into play. There’s nothing in the street looks any different to me…

  • RUMOR: ‘The Mandalorian’ May Have Introduced ‘Skeleton Crew’s Villain

    RUMOR: ‘The Mandalorian’ May Have Introduced ‘Skeleton Crew’s Villain

    When the first episode dropped for the long-awaited third season of The Mandalorian, we met the pirate king Gorian Shard. While it’s uncertain if we might see more of him in this season, a new rumor from Bespin Bulletin may have pointed out that this was a way to set up the main antagonist in the upcoming Jon Watt‘s directed Disney+ Star Wars series, Skeleton Crew.

    There was a strong focus on the character during the episode, as his crew seemingly are obsessed with mentioning his name. They also went all out with the make-up that hinted at this character having a bigger role overall but we won’t know until more episodes are released from The Mandalorian.

    There is some uncertainty if the school that the pirates try to enter might even be the same where Jude Law‘s character works. It’s not confirmed but would make for some fun world-building by the Disney+ corner of Star Wars exploring its very specific connections.

    We’ve heard very little of the Disney+ series that is set to release at some point this year. We may get a first tease during the upcoming Star Wars Celebration and they might even confirm the appearance of Shard as one of its main antagonists. He also seems perfect for a series that wants to explore the pulpy side of the galaxy far far away.

    Source:

  • REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Heads to the Mines of Mandalore for a Monstrous Measure of Mythos

    REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Heads to the Mines of Mandalore for a Monstrous Measure of Mythos

    Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are playing the long game with The Mandalorian and an even longer one with the story of Mandalore. A location frequently visited and revisited in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Mandalore–and its fascinating history, culture and politics–has always been integral to the larger goings on of the galaxy and taken a pretty bad beating along the way. Over the course of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and the first season of The Book of Boba Fett, it’s been clear that Favreau and Filoni are building towards Mandalore’s return to glory but in Chapter 18 of The Mandalorian, The Mines of Mandalore, that return to glory begins in earnest.

    As has often been said, The Mandalorian is a slow burn; however, in retrospect, it has provided Star Wars fans, both subtly and overtly, with an incredible amount of information about Mandalorian culture. “This is the Way” doesn’t carry the same meaning it did 2.5 seasons ago (that’s counting The Book of Boba Fett as the .5) because the Way has become so well-defined to the audience through the experiences of Mando, Grogu, et al. Favreau and Filoni made a decision to let the intricacies of The Way of the Mandalore be discovered over time rather than force-fed to the audience. That decision has led to a clear understanding of the differences in culture between the Children of the Watch and the rest of Mandalorian society. No greater example of that rift exists than the relationship between Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze and this Chapter exploits that rift expertly.

    Din Djarin’s visit to pouty Bo-Katan illustrates a key difference between The Children of the Watch and every other Mandalorian: faith. Against all odds, Din Djarin’s intentions to return to Mandalore and bathe in the Living Waters is an expression of the depth of his beliefs in The Way of the Mandalore; Bo-Katan’s dismissal of his quest–and her general malaise–is an expression of the lack of hers. While there’s been some controversy among fans around whether or not Din Djarin should be the one to reunite the great Houses of Mandalore and lead them to their renaissance, The Mines of Mandalore provides adequate evidence to suggest he may just be the guy. Though the depth of their zealotry seems to border on irrational, The Children of the Watch have kept the faith and Din Djarin’s experience in this Chapter rewards them for doing so.

    Chapter 5 of The Book of Boba Fett, Return of the Mandalorian, laid much of the groundwork for The Mines of Mandalore and the insane payoff within its final moments. Din Djarin’s road to redemption, as explained to him by The Armorer and Paz Vizsla, is presented as an unwalkable one. Now an apostate, his only path to being forgiven lies in the ruins of Mandalore which is believed to be uninhabitable. Moreover, the belief of the Children of the Watch is that Mandalore’s destruction is tied to a legend that points to Bo-Katan’s “undeserving” nature as the leader of the people; however, those same legends and songs, kept alive by the Children of the Watch’s adherence to The Way, prophesize a return to glory for Mandalore that will be heralded in by the rise of the Mythosaur, the heretofore unseen beasts of legend.

    2.5 seasons of The Mandalorian have partially conditioned the audience to see things much in the way they are seen by Bo-Katan. Though the Children of the Watch, exemplified by Din Djarin, continue to hold their faith as the galaxy closes in around them, how can their return to glory ever occur when it is tied to the rise of an extinct beast of myth? And Chapter 18 provides the spine-tingling answer to that question in all its glory. It’s a payoff that only works because Favreau and Filoni have let the audience slowly build their own opinions about The Way of the Mandalore and the nature of Din Djarin’s quest to redeem himself. Those who kept the faith, like Din Djarin, now see the fruits of their faith and that the future for Mandalore is bright and also probably involves Din Djarin wielding the Darksaber while riding on the back of a Mythosaur sometime very soon. It’s a story 13 years in the telling and nearly 50 years in the making and it is just getting good.

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Debut Sets the Stage for Fan-Favorite Pirate

    ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Debut Sets the Stage for Fan-Favorite Pirate

    So close, yet so far! That’s how Star Wars fans are feeling after the Season 3 debut of The Mandalorian which tantalized fans before letting them down. Chapter 17 of the series brought a new kind of trouble into Din Djarin’s path in the form of pirates. For longtime fans of Star Wars, especially those of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, the appearance of the pirates most likely brought to mind the premiere pirate in the galaxy, Hondo Ohnaka. You’d be forgiven for thinking that, at any point during the tense standoff between Greef Karga, Mando and the band of thirsty pirates, Hondo was going to walk around the corner and help cooler heads prevail. Alas, the old Weequay outlaw was nowhere to be found, but that certainly doesn’t mean he won’t make an appearance sooner or later.

    Theories about a potential live-action debut for Hondo aren’t anything new. In fact, they date back well over two years when it was revealed that Season 3 of The Mandalorian was filming under the working title “Buccaneer.” The Mandalorian co-creator Dave Filoni created Hondo for Star Wars: The Clone Wars and has never been shy about his love for the pirate; as he and Jon Favreau continue to find ways to bring fan (and creator) favorite characters into their expanding live-action universe it would be shocking if Hondo didn’t eventually make the jump and the events of the episode of The Mandalorian, The Apostate, seem to hint at that possibility becoming very real very soon.

    Though it jumped around a bit, The Apostate was primarily set on the Outer Rim planet of Nevarro. The Outer Rim Territories have always been a wild place full of pirates, slavers and outlaws of all sorts, so it’s unsurprising that the gang of pirates, run by newcomer to the franchise Gorian Shard, found their way into the episode. Though Din Djarin made short work of Vane and the rest of Shard’s nameless gang, he certainly left a score to settle with the pirate king when he escaped after briefly squaring off. Past seasons of The Mandalorian have given enough reason to presume that Shard will come back into play at some point in Season 3, most likely at a very inopportune time for Din Djarin and Grogu, and when he does it might just open the door for another chapter in the legend of Hondo to be written.

    Presumably, no pirate roams the Outer Rim Territories without having a shared history with its most famous–at least in his own mind–outlaw. Hondo is known to be alive and well during this New Republic era and while he turned in his pirate hat to help the Rebellion during the rise of the Empire, it’s possible he’s found his way back to his favorite past time. Hondo’s appearances in Filoni’s stories have almost always served the same purpose: to bail the good guys out of a jam and with Shard on the hunt for Mando, an appearance by Hondo to help out a new hero seems all but a sure thing. Oh, the stories he could tell…so many of them true!

  • REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Reminds Us What’s Out There in the Galaxy Far, Far Away

    REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Reminds Us What’s Out There in the Galaxy Far, Far Away

    The Mandalorian has never been in hurry. For the most part, concerns about the pacing of the series have died down a bit over the years as fans seem to be able to accept it for what it is. Part of that acceptance has likely come from the fact that “filler episodes” have often turned out to be more than filler an episode or two down the road. With Chapter 17 of the series, The Apostate, it seems as though Jon Favreau and Rick Famuyia chose to kick off the third season of The Mandalorian with what feels like a “filler episode” but also feels like something a bit more.

    From start to finish The Apostate seems hellbent on reminding us (both directly and indirectly) of what’s out there in the vastness of the galaxy. The Watch. Greef Karga. Kowakian monkey-lizards. Pirates. IG-11. A host of Anzellans. Bo-Katan. We’ve seen it all before; however, as they hopscotched around the galaxy and caught up with familiar faces from their own story, Din Djarin and Grogu’s adventures almost certainly led fans astray on more than one occasion. As they journeyed through hyperspace Grogu’s first encounter with Purrgil reminded Star Wars fans that there are other stories left to be finished in the Filoni-verse. And certainly, no Star Wars fan worth their weight in credits didn’t wonder for a beat or two when Hondo was going to walk around the corner during the dispute on Nevarro. The decision to intentionally and indirectly bring Ezra Bridger’s ongoing narrative to mind in the season opener of The Mandalorian seems a fairly clear indicator of just how central the series is to the New Republic universe that Favreau and Dave Filoni are building but it also makes the galaxy far, far away feel a bit smaller than it probably should, even if for only a few moments.

    So while it’s a little awkward to kick off a fresh new season in first gear–indeed neither The Mando nor Grogu was much changed by the events of The Apostate–and fans of the series probably feel a bit indifferent about bits and pieces of the episode (did we really really need an update on Cara Dune?), the episode does provide plenty of opportunity for contemplation about just how important the story of Din Djarin and Grogu truly is in this New Republic Era. In fact, the episode is filled with an almost overwhelming amount of small and important details buried in exposition. So while The Apostate feels familiar and sluggish as it retreads old ground, it seems to be laying the foundation for an entire suite of New Republic adventures coming to Disney Plus this year. And, if past precedent for the series is to be followed, Chapter 18 will turn on the jets anyway.

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Showrunner Already Wrote Season 4

    ‘The Mandalorian’ Showrunner Already Wrote Season 4

    We’re only a few weeks away from finally returning to the world of Din Djarin and Grogu. After a long pause and a pit stop in The Book of Boba Fett, the two reunite in the third season of The Mandalorian to continue where we left off. Din is on his journey to regain his right as a Mandalorian once more by going to the long-forgotten home planet of Mandalore.

    The various trailers already teased a conflict is brewing and he’ll reunite with his brethren and sisters to take on a yet-to-be-determined threat. But, it seems like it won’t be the end for our beloved duo as showrunner Jon Favreau has revealed that he already finished writing the fourth season which has yet to be officially confirmed.

    Season 4? Yeah, I’ve written it already. We have to know where we are going to tell a fully formed story. So, we had mapped it out, Dave [Filoni] and I. And then slowly you just write each episode. So I was writing it during post-production, because all of it has to feel like a continuation and one full story.

    Jon Favreau

    It is interesting to note that Favreau and co-creator Dave Filoni have had this habit of already working on the next season just as they were wrapping work on the previous one. So, it’s not necessarily a surprise that they already mapped out the next season but more that they’ve already finished writing it while working on the post-production. It’ll be interesting to see if the wait between this season and the next might be quite a bit shorter.

    Source: Collider

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Trailer Overtakes ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ As Most Viewed Star Wars Disney+ Trailer

    ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Trailer Overtakes ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ As Most Viewed Star Wars Disney+ Trailer

    The Mandalorian is about to make its grand return. The series that not only started Disney+ but also Star Wars‘ first venture into live-action is almost upon us. Now, it’s about to enter its third season with a grand scale being teased in the trailer with a long-awaited return to Mandalore. Within 24 hours, the trailer has pulled in 83.5M views, which makes it the most-watched Star Wars Disney+ series.

    It has now overtaken Obi-Wan Kenobi, whose trailer was viewed 58M times. That series had the nostalgia of seeing Ewan McGregor back in the role but there’s still something special about seeing Din Djarin reunite with Grogu once again in the upcoming Disney+ series. We haven’t seen them since the finale of The Book of Boba Fett back in January.

    It’ll be interesting to see how long-time viewers will jump into the series’ return, especially with one of the main plot points from the last season having been resolved in a spinoff series. Grogu left to become a Jedi with Djarin taking off his helmet to say farewell to his adoptive child. Yet, now their already reunited going into the third season.

    Still, there’s something exciting about seeing what the future has in store for Star Wars. The Mandalorian had that perfect mix of nostalgia with enough new to make it stand out. It also feels like a callback to the original trilogy with how it uses similar shot techniques. It’ll be interesting to see what we’ll see in the third season and what it’ll be like with more Mandalorians running around.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • New Trailer for ‘The Mandalorian’ Hints at Revisiting one of Star Wars Most Harrowing Events

    New Trailer for ‘The Mandalorian’ Hints at Revisiting one of Star Wars Most Harrowing Events

    The latest trailer for Season 3 of The Mandalorian is filled to the brim with Mando madness, putting a dozen or so different armored warriors on display and making clear the path forward for Din Djarin involves a trip to the ruins of Mandalore. Fans who have been following the story of the war-torn planet through the animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels are sure to feel giddy at the prospects of The Mandalorian following through on those unresolved arcs but it’s another unresolved arc that caught the attention of fans upon first seeing the trailer.

    During Luke Skywalker’s time with Grogu as seen in The Book of Boba Fett, the Jedi Master helped the young Force-wielder tap into his memories, giving audiences a glimpse into his tragic backstory. As seen in the flashback, Grogu bore witness to members of the 501st murdering a trio of Jedi who protected him. The scene brought to life the events that Grogu communicated to Ahsoka Tano in Season 2 of The Mandalorian. After communing with Grogu through the Force, Ahsoka shared that Grogu was raised at the Jedi Temple and was taken from it during Order 66. The identity of his savior, however, remains unknown though it may not stay that way for long.

    At around the 1:07 mark of the new trailer, a shot of the interior of the Jedi Temple can be seen and close attention to the door in the center of the frame seems to indicate that not only will Season 3 of The Mandalorian revisit Order 66 once again but that its most terrifying myrmidon may make an appearance.

    The door in frame is clearly being cut open by a lightsaber, leaving the only question to be who is using it on the other side. Following the debut of the trailer, fans immediately began to speculate that Anakin Skywalker is the unseen menace behind door number one and that Grogu will come face-to-face with Hayden Christensen. There is, of course, another option in play, however. While it’s entirely possible Christensen will make an appearance in the series (he did reprise the role of Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, after all and could have filmed his Mando scenes then), it’s equally possible that the shot is a bit misleading and that Grogu’s savior stands behind the door.

    One of the more popular theories about the identity of Grogu’s savior revolves around the idea that the traitor Barriss Offee, who was a prisoner of the Jedi during Order 66, may have played a role. In the Summer of 2022, during production on the live-action Ahsoka series, a rumor made the rounds that Lucasfilm was looking to cast an actress as Barriss Offee. Given pickups and reshoots for Season 3 of The Mandalorian took place during the time Ahsoka was filming, it’s possible the actress could appear in both. Given Offee had gone to the dark side, her reasons for taking Grogu might be a bit mysterious, but obviously whoever is behind that door didn’t kill the Youngling.

    Without any strong evidence at this point, the identity of the person holding the lightsaber will remain a classic 50/50 scenario until the third season of The Mandalorian debuts on March 1st.

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Directors Revealed

    ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Directors Revealed

    Along with a new trailer for the upcoming third season of the Star Wars Disney Plus streaming series, The Mandalorian, comes news on the group of the team of directors that worked on bringing it together. The team, made up of equal parts new faces and old hands, looks to have leaned heavier than ever into the mythology of Mandalore for the new season of Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau‘s baby.

    Rick Famuyia, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Carl Weathers, who also portrays Mando mainstay Greef Karga, will return to helm an unknown number of episodes of the third season. That trio will be joined by newcomers Lee Isaac Chung, Rachel Morrison and Peter Ramsey, all of whom are entering the galaxy far, far away for the first time. Chung directed the highly regarded Munyurangabo, which debuted at Cannes in 2007 and later that year won the grand prize at the AFI Film Fest. Morrison has a long resume as a cinematographer, including working as the director of photography on 2018’s Black Panther, but has begun to direct more and more over the past 6 years, including several episodes of the STARZ series Hightown. Interestingly, Ramsey has extensive experience in art and animation, having worked as a story artist on films such as Minority Report, Monsters vs. Aliens and Sausage Party, and directing the acclaimed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018.

    Season 3 of The Mandalorian debuts on Disney Plus on March 1st.