The New Republic is a big part of the Star Wars show The Mandalorian, which takes place about five years after the events of Return of The Jedi. This means that there’s a new ruling faction in the galaxy: the New Republic.
This is the government that took over after the Emperor was defeated by the rebels. The government was modeled after the Galactic Republic, and Mon Mothma was elected the first chancellor.
The New Republic has its headquarters in Coruscant, which is why we meet various former imperial officers, including Elia Kane, who double crosses Dr. Pershing in The Mandalorian Chapter 19, “The Convert.” The episode also introduces a new aspect of the new government: the New Republic amnesty program. It provides rehabilitation and what appears to be therapy (and torture) to former officers of the Empire.
The participants get numbers instead of names and feels a lot like a prison, and it’s unclear whether the people there are there of their own volition or not. Successful graduates of the program are allowed to reintegrate into society as workers for the New Republic.
In the episode, Pershing explains that the New Republic is in the process of decommissioning the Alliance Fleet. This is because in lore, Mon Mothma pushed through legislation that the new government was a democracy and not a military force, so the fleet was reduced by almost 90 percent after Endor.
Of course, once Pershing is outed as a traitor (after being encouraged to pursue his work by Kane), he is tortured with the mind flayer, which Kane uses to presumably erase his memory. While the New Republic is on its surface more docile than the previous administration, things like that illustrate that maybe things won’t be so different in some areas after all.
Published: Mar 15, 2023 09:24 pm