The trailer for The Mandalorian season two is finally here!
Star Wars dropped the trailer yesterday, and while it doesn’t really reveal many details, there are plenty of exciting moments and intriguing discussions to be had. So in this article, let’s dive into the trailer and break it all down. First, though, if you haven’t seen the trailer yet, check it out!
While much of what follows is just my speculation, I’ll be bringing in a few reports we’ve already heard about, so if you don’t want any possible spoilers for the show, it’s probably best to not read any further. But if you’re still here, let’s dive in!
The trailer opens above an unnamed planet, and the Razor Crest has clearly seen better days. One of the engines is sputtering, the ship looks like it’s kinda flying strange, and the hangar bay door is wide open and flapping around. So the ship has clearly taken some damage. What’s unclear is how this damage is sustained, but it’s probably a decent guess to say that it sustains damage in a firefight and has to land on one of these planets in view here. This shot (along with another one we’ll get to in a minute) helps to set the stage and remind us that things won’t exactly go smoothly for Din Djarin. People are still hunting the Child, so as long as Djarin has him, he’ll be hunted too. Starting the trailer with this damaged ship should remind us that trouble awaits.
Next up is Mando and the Child approaching a city at night. I’m not really sure where this is, but I definitely love the cinematography of these shots. So great.
Now we do know where this is, obviously: Tatooine! Maybe the most iconic of all Star Wars planets, we visited in season one and have known for a while now that we’d be returning in season two. In this shot, a Tusken Raider sits atop a Bantha, watching the Razor Crest fly across the sky. I must say, it’s really great to see Tuskens and Banthas again, and they look absolutely fantastic (as in the recent image released).
The concern with Tatooine is that it’s been so frequently visited in Star Wars, especially for a planet that’s supposedly furthest from the center of the universe. But my advice is to not let other uses of the planet take away from this use of the planet. First of all, though Tatooine is relatively insignificant in the larger galaxy, it actually makes sense why a bounty hunter would be more likely to go to the planet repeatedly. But secondly, we’ve heard reports that Cobb Vanth and Boba Fett might be appearing in this season, and if so, then of course we’d return to Tatooine. In fact, what if the main reason for going there in season one wasn’t just to give a nod to fans but set up what was to come in season two? This is strengthened by the fact that the Tatooine episode last season was the only one to really end on a mysterious cliffhanger, and it was never resolved. So suffice it to say, we’re not done with the planet in this show, nor should we be. If Vanth really is going to show up, it would actually be weird if it wasn’t on Tatooine. And, of course, if Vanth does show up, presuming he’s still wearing Fett’s armor, it could create an interesting exploration into what makes a Mandalorian. Fett wasn’t a Mandalorian but simply wore their armor, and that’s also true of Vanth. Djarin is a Mandalorian AND wears their armor. So what actually makes a person a Mandalorian? That could be a cool way to explore it further.
Switching quickly to our third location, we get an entirely different climate, as this planet is snowy. The Razor Crest flies toward a ridge in the snow, and I have a crazy guess as to what this planet is, but I’ll wait and get into that in just a bit…
Here’s the Child! He is standing in the snow alongside Djarin, who kneels down beside him. It appears that Djarin is looking at something in the snow, but that’s unclear. The Razor Crest sits behind them. Again, I’ve got a guess as to where this is (that’s probably wrong), but I’ll hold off for a minute on that.
Yet another location is a shipyard, where a number of people are busy working away at the docks. Djarin (clearly wearing his jetpack, by the way) approaches. This is an oceanic world, and in this shot we see a lot of Mon Calamari and Quarren. Given the number of these species, I can’t help but wonder whether this is Mon Cala, their homeworld. We’ve never seen it in live action before, but obviously it’s a very noteworthy and significant planet in Star Wars. It would be really cool to see, but it’s probably just another planet. The presence of these alien species so prominently involved, however, at least makes me wonder.
The Mon Calamari and Quarren aren’t the most notable appearances at this market, however, as a mysterious figure makes an appearance! Thus far in the trailer, we’ve heard a voiceover of the conversation between Mando and the Armorer from season one: “Show me the one whose safety deemed such destruction,” the Armorer says, and then we also hear her say, “You must reunite it with its own kind.” “Where?” “This you must determine.” So the dialogue is setting the stage for Djarin’s quest in this season. The dialogue continues with the Armorer saying, “The songs of eons past tell of battles between Mandalore the Great and an order or sorcerers called Jedi.” Djarin responds, “You expect me to search the galaxy and deliver this creature to a race of enemy sorcerers?” To that, the Armorer responds, “This is the way.”
It is as we hear the Armorer mention the Jedi that we get a glimpse of this robed and hooded figure, staring from afar through the bustling crowds. It appears as if Mando and the Child see her, but then she just suddenly disappears. Clearly, we are meant to connect this with the line about the Jedi, and Mando’s quest as a whole. But who is she? Well, she is played by Sasha Banks, a WWE fighter. This confirms her casting.
But who is she playing? That’s a lot less clear, but let me just get this out of the way right up front: no, this isn’t Ahsoka Tano. The hooded figure here is human and lacks any of the easily identifiable markings of a Togruta. So this very obviously is not Ahsoka, and furthermore, the reports have indicated that Ahsoka will be played by Rosario Dawson, not Sasha Banks. So though it certainly sounds like the beloved former Jedi will make an appearance this season, this isn’t her. Another option that has more credibility is that this is Sabine Wren, who is also rumored to appear alongside Tano. Granted, there are some semblances of Sabine here, and the hood looks a lot like the ones that the Mandalorians (including Ursa Wren) wear in The Clone Wars season seven when spying on the Pykes and Ahsoka. But the woman here is not Asian and therefore wouldn’t appear to be the right casting for Sabine, and so I’m kinda doubting it’s her (though it’s certainly more plausible than Ahsoka).
So yeah, I think this is a new character. The big question is what her motivations are – is she looking to help Djarin find the Jedi, or is she looking to take the Child? As I’ve seen some people point out on Reddit, remember that one of Dave Filoni’s ideas for The Clone Wars was that, given the relative rarity of Force-sensitive children, there would surely be people in the galaxy who impersonated Jedi to take them. This idea was fleshed out by Filoni, who gave the false Jedi the name Latrans, and the imposter Jedi attempted to take Ahsoka when she was a child, though ultimately it was unsuccessful. Though Filoni never put this in the show, it was mentioned in the Ahsoka novel. With Filoni’s very close involvement in creating this show, I wonder whether that could be something we re-visit. If people get word of Djarin’s search for the Jedi (especially if that’s someone like Moff Gideon), sending someone to impersonate a Jedi to try to take the child makes sense.
Of course, it’s also possible that this woman actually will truly help Djarin’s quest, but since that’s what the trailer seems to so obviously want us to think, I’m a bit more skeptical about that than I otherwise would be.
Anyway, whoever this mysterious woman is, it looks like Djarin and the Child spot her as they stand on the docks.
I love these shots based simply on the fact that we’ve so rarely seen boats in the water in Star Wars! It’s something so simple, yet feels fresh. I love it, and it looks fantastic. Djarin and the Child stand on this boat being taken somewhere, though that somewhere is unknown.
These shots probably made me the most excited of any in the trailer, however: the Razor Crest flies alongside New Republic X-Wings! We first see it in space, but then in a simply gorgeous shot we see the ships zooming through a cloudy atmosphere, following one another. The cinematography of this is so incredible. Notably, as Djarin looks out his cockpit window at one of the fighters, and the X-Wing locks its S-foils in attack position, the shot cuts away before we can get a focused look at who is in the cockpit.
I have a pretty crazy theory, though. I’m quite confident this is wrong, but oh well: what if it’s Ahsoka and Sabine? I’m not sure how interested the New Republic would be in Djarin’s exploits, but Ahsoka and Sabine certainly would be. And though the last time we see them they’re flying away in a New Republic shuttle in Rebels, it’s possible that they would have X-Wings as well. But like I said, this is probably wrong. But we’ll see.
Here we are, seemingly back on Tatooine. Mando rides a speeder bike off into the distance. There’s really no context here, other than that we know he returns to Tatooine at some point, so maybe he’s heading off on a quest to find Cobb Vanth and/or Boba Fett? I’m not sure.
Back on Nevarro (where we spent quite a bit of time in season one), we get a glimpse at Greef Karga (rocking his sweet new outfit) and Cara Dune. I’d guess they’re walking out to meet Mando here, but I’m not sure. Notably this is their only appearance in this trailer, but it’s nonetheless cool to see them again.
This also looks like it’s on Nevarro, so it appears the Empire is still present on the planet. We see some TIE Fighters taking off, and that quickly then launches us into a series of shots from the Imperial point of view…
We see stormtroopers running through a hallway. Without any context here, it’s impossible to tell what’s going on. Is this on Moff Gideon’s ship? On Nevarro? Somewhere else?
This looks to be on Nevarro still, and it looks absolutely incredible. Scout Troopers ride their bikes off of a platform, free-falling down to the planet’s surface, where they don’t seem to miss a stride and keep riding their bikes through the ridge here.
We then cut to a shot of Mando in trouble. Water is rising, and he pulls himself up and apparently is trying to get through these bars. I wonder if this is on the water planet seen earlier. And when I saw this shot, I couldn’t help but think of the recent Star Wars comic (set in-between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) where Luke Skywalker is lured to the ocean planet Serelia by Verla. This planet has a port and ships, and then Luke finds himself in the same situation Mando appears to here. All of these similarities makes me wonder whether there’s some sort of connection here, since it would be a pretty crazy coincidence. But we’ll see.
Mando’s got his jetpack! It looks like this is in a similar location as the one where the Scout Troopers ride their bikes along the ridge on Nevarro, so I wonder if it’s part of the same sequence. Mando gets a running start and then powers his jetpack, flying across the chasm. But is he attempting to fight the Scout Troopers or flee from them?
It looks here like we’re back on that planet seen early in the trailer, as it’s a city at night. Someone is strung upside down attached to a pole, and Mando shoots at it – it looks to me like he might be trying to free the person, but I’m not sure.
Ok, so I kept mentioning that I have a crazy guess as to what the snow planet is, and here we go: I wonder if it’s Ilum. I saved it until this shot because this is the one that really made me wonder if this might be Ilum, as Djarin carries the Child into this ice cave. But the previous shots also would support such a guess. There are a couple of additional reasons why this would make a lot of sense. Firstly, Djarin’s quest seems to be to find Jedi to return the Child to. But Jedi aren’t exactly running around all over the place at this point, so it seems he’ll have to try to track them down. If he gets a tip about Ilum, of course it makes sense to check it out, since this was such a sacred sight for the Jedi. So thematically, it would work. But secondly, series creator and showrunner Jon Favreau has hinted that this show will connect to the First Order in some way. Before the series even premiered last fall, he hinted at that in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. We’ve been very curious since then about how this could tie in, but here lies a perfect opportunity. The Empire mined Ilum for kyber crystals, and the First Order eventually picked up on that and turned the planet into Starkiller Base. So at this point in the timeline, Ilum would be disfigured and damaged from the Imperial mining, but likely still very much explorable for Djarin, especially since the Empire has fallen.
It looks like the Razor Crest is rapidly approaching a planet, looking like a fireball upon approach. I wonder if this is connected to the previous shots that began the trailer of the ship badly damaged – maybe the damage causes the ship to catch fire on approach into the atmosphere?
I’ve got nothing to base it on, but my guess is that this location is somewhere on the dark city planet we’ve seen already, and Mando walks into an arena where two Gamorreans are fighting. The first ever glimpse of season two we got was when Jon Favreau posted a picture of a Gamorrean on social media, and here they are! Two of them are in the ring facing off against each other. Meanwhile, an Abyssin stands by Djarin watching the fight. We first hear a voiceover of him saying, “You know this is no place for a child.” Djarin responds, “Wherever I go, he goes.” To this, we see the Abyssin say, “So I’ve heard,” and he and several others all pull their guns on Mando in an instant. He’s in trouble…
We then get my favorite shot from the trailer. As Mando is in trouble, the Child looks on. He sees Mando very subtly prep and arm his whistling birds, and upon seeing this, the Child quickly reaches out and presses the button on his floating carriage, closing the lid. It’s hilarious, and you need to see it to fully appreciate it:
The screen then goes black, and we just hear the sound of Mando’s whistling birds springing into action, as well as other fighting sounds.
When we get a visual again, we see that Mando has taken out all but one of the thugs, and he chucks a knife at the other, striking him in the chest. That one falls to the ground, and we then cut to Mando, who says, “This is the way.”
Regarding that dialogue, I doubt it’s actually original to this scene. Instead, I think it’s picking back up on the conversation with the Armorer used earlier, as Mando here is acknowledging his quest as the trailer ends. This is further proof that the Child is still being hunted, and so as the Armorer said, Djarin needs to return him to his people. At first we thought this meant his species, but maybe the hunt (at least initially) is in search of a Jedi. Either way, I think this line is supposed to let us know that Mando is aware of his mission and is ready for it.
And that’s it! The trailer cuts to the title card, and reminds us that the season will begin on October 30. I can’t wait!
This trailer showed us a ton of locations, which I think helps us get the sense of the scope of this show, as we’ll be following Din Djarin and the Child across the galaxy as they search for the Jedi. That’s a thrilling premise, and I’m really excited to see how it all plays out!
Star Wars Thoughts 