Season 2 of The Mandalorian: 10 Things We Want to See

At launch, Disney+'s killer app wasn’t its extensive backlog of movies and TV shows. It was an original series that got most people talking—The Mandalorian, the first serialized live-action show set in the Star Wars universe.

The first season, which started in November 2019, dropped us into a fascinating backwater of a galaxy far away, after the fall of the Empire. When an armored bounty hunter is tasked with retrieving a mysterious baby Yoda, things get a little wild for him.

Season one ended with the Mandalorian escaping from Moff Gideon and tasked with investigating the origins of the Child and returning him to his people. We’ve gotten little flashes of action from season two, which debuts on Oct, 30, but this is our official wish list. 

The First Order

There’s a pretty sizable gap in between the original three Star Wars films and the sequel trilogy. In that time, the remnants of the Empire scattered to the winds. We know that eventually the First Order will rise up to challenge the resurgent Republic, but how exactly does that happen? The Mandalorian gives us a way to look in on that process, as power is consolidated and a plan is hatched to take the galaxy back. We’re not asking for it to be an official prequel, but it would be cool to tie things in there.

A Romance

The Mandalorian seems like a bit of a loner, but there has to be some way to continue his own bloodline. One of the recurring themes of the first season was Mando’s unwillingness to accept aid from potential allies as he protected the Child. But no man is an island, and if he’s going to grow as a character, finding a female companion (or a male one, if he swings that way) to allow him to let his guard down might be an interesting way to do it. We’re not asking for things to get super mushy, but as shows expand, it’s important to show new facets of the characters. Din Djarin could be considered a little one-dimensional, and this could be a way to address that.

Clone Wars

One of the odder elements of the Star Wars universe is the relationship of the lab-grown clone troopers who fought for the Republic in the prequel films. Grown from the genetic material of bounty hunter Jango Fett, these disposable soldiers were engineered to age at twice the rate of normal humans. Fett is an interesting case himself—although he wore Mandalorian battle armor, the Mandalorians themselves denied any connection to him. That’s a pretty fascinating story thread to spin out, as the soldiers left over, already aging into senility, probably have a conflicted relationship with the surviving Mandalorians. It’d be an angle we don’t think the franchise has covered in too much detail.

More Gideon

We didn’t set eyes on The Mandalorian’s Big Bad until the second-to-last episode of the first season, where Moff Gideon (played by the great Giancarlo Esposito) swooped in along with a cadre of stormtroopers to try and steal the Child. We know very little about his motivations, and obviously we don’t expect him to pop up right away, but after being shot down by Mando, you can bet he’s looking for revenge. Although we don’t expect him to be quite so hands on, it’s always rewarding to spend time with the villain and learn more about their motivations.

New Worlds

While it’s always satisfying to return to familiar territory in the Star Wars universe, one of the biggest pleasures in the property is the shock of the new. What’s that weird-looking alien? What happens on that planet? A serialized narrative can really do more than a movie, so hopefully the second season of The Mandalorian will keep our hero and his little friend on the move and take us to some places we’ve never been before, or only read about in passing in tie-in novels.

Jetpack Fun

Mando went the whole season without the iconic jetpack made famous by Boba Fett, but when he finally got the last piece of his kit in the finale, it was one of the biggest “F yeah” moments of the whole show. We’re not advocating for him to spend every episode zipping around in the sky—fuel for that thing is expensive, after all—but we’ll be disappointed if we don’t get at least one solid action scene where the trusty Z-6 rocket pack is the difference-maker. Being able to freely move in the third dimension is just such a cool tool in the action choreographer’s toolkit, and the show definitely has the budget to do it right.

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Foundlings

Since the decimation of their civilization, Mandalorians are made, not born. So when young Din Djarin was orphaned during the Fall of the Republic and saved by a Death Watch warrior, he became a Foundling—a child of another civilization raised in the ways of the Mandalorian. We’ve only seen glimpses of that process, but with Mando becoming a de facto father to the baby Yoda, it can’t help but bring up parallels to his unusual upbringing. We’d love to learn more about how a scared little boy becomes an armor-clad warrior, whether through flashbacks or an encounter with a present-day foundling.

The Great Purge

One of the key events in Mandalorian lore is the Great Purge, when the Empire came in conflict with their civilization, murdered most of the population and drove them from their homes while seizing their precious beskar metal. One of the strongest forces in their resistance was the hero Bo-Katan Kryze, who wielded the Darksaber we see in Moff Gideon’s hands. We already know that Katee Sackhoff, who voiced Bo-Katan Kryze in the cartoon series, is slated to appear on The Mandalorian. We’re unsure if she’s reprising the role, but it would be a great way to bridge the current events to franchise canon and give new viewers a path into this admittedly complex part of Star Wars history.

Weird Cameos

It was just one piece of why we liked the first season, but we really hope that the new episodes of The Mandalorian keep up the bizarre, spot-on casting choices. Seeing Brian Posehn, a long-time nerd ally, as the speeder pilot on the ice planet of Maldo Kreis in the opener was a beautiful surprise, and giving legendary director Werner Herzog an acting role as The Client paid off big. We’re already seeing some hints of out-of-the-box casting in season two with WWE wrestler Sasha Banks in a supporting role (and anybody who has seen her work in the ring knows she can tell a physical story better than almost anyone), but we hope there are more new faces that will pack the same pleasant surprise.

A Good Jedi

One of the best things about The Mandalorian is how it sidestepped all of the ponderous themes of Prophecy and Destiny that have dragged down the movies, especially the final trilogy. Hopefully the second season will still be content with telling an interesting story without raising the stakes too high. One thing we’d like to see, even if in passing, is whether the remaining Jedi on the light side have an interest in the Child. As the Mandalorian definitely plays both sides like a true bounty hunter, that would add a little more dimensionality to his quest to keep the Child safe, as there’s no reason for him to trust anybody no matter the color of their lightsaber.

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