By now, many of us have caught the second season opener of The Mandalorian. The premiere certainly provided a lot of talking points, not least the surprise cameo of Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett and the introduction of Timothy Olyphant as Cobb Vanth. As these two new guest stars make clear, the Star Wars show is definitely doing a deep dive into the saga’s mythos this year, and that includes linking back to A New Hope in a key way.
“Chapter 9: The Marshal” sees Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin encounter lawman Vanth during a return visit to Tatooine. He soon discovers that Vanth is no true Mandalorian, though, and only bought his suit of armor from some Tusken Raiders who scavenged it from the desert. Djarin, feeling that his culture has been disrespected by Vanth’s use of the armor, asks for him to give it up. He agrees, but only if Djarin will help him take out a krayt dragon that’s terrorizing the locals.
This is the first time that a krayt dragon has been featured on screen, but it actually goes back all the way to 1977. C-3PO passes the massive remains of the beast as he wanders through the desert and Obi-Wan later saves Luke Skywalker from some Raiders by imitating a strange, animal cry that scares them off. The radio adaptation of the film clarifies that he was imitating the krayt dragon’s cry and in The Mandalorian, we once again see how terrified the Tuskens are of the beast.
Interestingly, the dragon has taken over an abandoned Sarlaac pit. Vanth is taken aback by this as he remarks that there are no such thing. Djarin points out that there are, if you get rid of the Sarlaac. The implication is, then, that the dragon killed and ate the Sarlaac, which previously appeared in Return of the Jedi. This means Fett may have the krayt dragon to thank for his escape.
The episode also sees the Tuskens retrieving a giant pearl from the krayt’s carcass. The old Expanded Universe established that the rare pearls’ peculiar refractive capabilities make them an effective alternate for kyber crystals and can be used to manufacture a lightsaber. With the Jedi expected to have a presence in season 2, this fact could prove important.
The Mandalorian season 2 continues Fridays on Disney Plus.
