The hotly-anticipated debut trailer for the second season may have been mysteriously delayed, but with shooting having already wrapped before the Coronavirus pandemic forced the entire industry into hibernation, there’s no real reason to expect The Mandalorian to be pushed back from the intended October release on Disney Plus.
Like every Star Wars project, Mando and Baby Yoda’s latest adventure remains shrouded in secrecy, with most of the talk focusing on how fan favorite character Ahsoka Tano will factor into her live-action debut, not to mention the return of the legendary Boba Fett. However, let’s not forget about Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon, who already looked to pose a major threat in the future even based on the small amount of screentime he received in the season 1 finale.
There are few actors that project quiet menace quite like the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star does, and he’s been happy to reveal that he’s sharpened his lightsaber skills in anticipation of playing a much bigger role in the upcoming batch of episodes. There’s been rumors that the Darksaber could play a pivotal part in The Mandalorian‘s next outing as well, one that could involve any number of familiar Clone Wars favorites, and in a recent interview, Esposito hinted that Moff Gideon might have an unexpected connection to the Force.
“I say that’s a possibility. I can’t say for sure that that is completely the truth, but look, we’ve seen him come out of his TIE fighter, and we’ve seen him also with the Darksaber. I would have to say that there’s some surprises coming down the pike in regards to the connection he has to the Force. You don’t quite know where he fits in there, but he certainly has some information that we don’t that connects him to the old school.”
There’s been no shortage of speculation that The Mandalorian will dive deeper into the mythology of the Force, especially with the impending introduction of Ahsoka given her reputation as the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, so it would make sense that the show’s villain would also be tied to the millennia-spanning feud between the Jedi and the Sith in some form.