The Mandalorian is known for its fun Star Wars references and the second seasoner opener was full of them. The plot revolved around Boba Fett’s half-digested armor, Cobb Vance was using one of Anakin Skywalker’s podracer engines from The Phantom Menace as his ride, Boba himself briefly appeared and we got a cool cameo from R5-D4, the astromech droid first seen in A New Hope.
But now fans have noticed a nod to the Original Trilogy that only the most dedicated viewer would ever spot. Early in the episode, we see the reactions of the townsfolk of Mos Pelgo to the destruction of the second Death Star. The station’s explosion is shown over holonet, with text encircling it in the fictional language of Aurebesh. To 99.9% of viewers, that text is just flavor, but it’s now been translated and it turns out that it’s part of the opening crawl of Return of the Jedi.
Here’s what it says:
“Little does Luke know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun construction on a new armored space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star.”
It’s a cute inclusion, though as has been pointed out, it breaks both continuity and the fourth wall. As ScreenRant explains:
While it’s a great callback to George Lucas’ original trilogy, the fact that the reference talks about Luke Skywalker and the Empire building a second Death Star makes no sense since that superweapon was destroyed shortly before this scene took place. [And] since the text does appear on-screen and in canon, it still very much breaks the timeline, but it’s not a huge deal since, again, it’s only supposed to be an Easter egg.
I’m betting that the remaining seven episodes will feature a ton of stuff in this vein. Over the course of the season, we’ll be learning more about what Boba got up to after escaping from the Sarlacc, the history of the Darksaber and some missing chapters from the lives of several fan favourite characters from The Clone Wars. I’m particularly excited to see Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano (and potentially Temuera Morrison doubling up roles and playing Captain Rex).
The Mandalorian returns this Friday on Disney Plus and if the new outing can match the awesomeness of the first episode, we’re in for a treat.
