The Mandalorian season 2 kicked off on Disney Plus today, and the premiere episode definitely brought the hit Star Wars show back with a bang. As per the producers’ decision to keep the series’ secrets as much as possible, the opener wasn’t screened for previews, so viewers have been able to discover its contents together without any prior warning. And now that we’ve seen it, we realize what all the secrecy was about, as the premiere features a very surprising and exciting cameo.
The opening instalment sees Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin return to Tatooine where a fellow Mandalorian is said to be serving as a local town marshal. It turns out, though, that the marshal is actually Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), who bought his Mandalorian armor off some Jawas who scavenged it from the desert. Fans will instantly recognize that this armor once belonged to Boba Fett, thereby confirming that it was Vanth’s spurred boots that cameod in season 1.
Djarin is offended that his culture has been co-opted by Vanth, who agrees to give up the armor if Mando helps him take care of a krayt dragon terrorizing the town. With the aid of some Tusken Raiders, the beast is dealt with and Djarin takes off with the armor. But at the end of the episode, we see him watched by a bald figure from behind. As the angle changes, we learn that this is none other than actor Temuera Morrison, whose character sports a badly scarred appearance.
Morrison, of course, played Jango Fett in the prequels. We’ve never seen Boba’s face before, but he is a clone of Jango, so we can assume that this really is the franchise’s original Mandalorian bounty hunter. Just as all those reports claimed, Boba really is back and he didn’t get eaten by the Sarlaac creature in Return of the Jedi, after all. And no doubt he’ll turn up again to get his armor back from Djarin.
The Mandalorian continues next Friday on Disney Plus.
