The Mandalorian is now midway through its second season and things are getting very interesting. In “The Siege,” we received some big clues as to why the Imperial remnants are so eager to capture Baby Yoda, with the next episode apparently heading for the long-awaited second clash between Moff Gideon and Din Djarin (with former Jedi Ahsoka Tano caught in the middle). Last time Gideon came off worse, but judging from the final shot, he’s not taking any chances now.
The scene showed two rows of intimidating looking black-armored Stormtroopers, which fans quickly identified as Dark Troopers (and the audio description track confirmed them as such). They’ll be familiar to those who played classic LucasArts Star Wars video games, being at the core of 1995 FPS Dark Forces, where they were cybernetically enhanced and heavily-armed, intended to combine the initiative and smarts of a clone with the toughness of a droid.
Now, Carl Weathers, who both directed “The Siege” and starred in it as Greef Karga, has hinted that The Mandalorian‘s Dark Troopers will be every bit as dangerous as the originals in the game.
“They’re not just souped-up. Man, they are on uber-steroids, let’s put it that way… You look at that scene, and particularly the very last shot when I pull back and you reveal, ‘Oh my goodness, man!’ It’s like walking into the hall of mirrors at an amusement park. It just goes on and on forever.”
Weathers also went on to say that the next few episodes will prove that Gideon is a villain to be reckoned with, explaining:
“I remember Muhammad Ali said, ‘…and I’m a baaaad man!’ Well guess what? Moff Gideon is a baaaad man, you know? He has plans, and I gotta tell you, I think anyone in the path is going to find trouble.”
My theory is that Moff Gideon is something of a Darth Vader fanboy. His snazzy new outfit has a couple of extremely Vaderish touches, he’s been seen wielding a lightsaber (well, the Darksaber to be more specific) and may be trying to artificially become Force-sensitive through infusions of Baby Yoda’s blood. We should get some more answers tomorrow, though, when the next episode of The Mandalorian drops on Disney+. Don’t miss it.
