Clockwise, from left: Cara Dune (Screenshot: The Mandalorian), Greef Karga (Screenshot: The Mandalorian), Moff Gideon (Screenshot: The Mandalorian), Boba Fett (Screenshot: Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back), The Mandalorian and The Child (Photo: Disney+/Lucasfilm)Graphic: Jimmy Hasse
Compared to the bitter arguments that surrounded the December 2019 release of Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise Of Skywalker, The Mandalorian felt like a port in a storm. Lucasfilm’s first foray into live-action television was popular with both critics and fans, who praised it as a return to the franchise’s roots. In practical terms, that meant embracing the samurai films, Westerns, and adventure serials that inspired George Lucas when he was creating Star Wars. It also meant a return to the (approximate—The Mandalorian picks up five years after the events of Return Of The Jedi) time period of the original trilogy, a setting that allowed the series to incorporate both official canon and winking references to fan lore.
Lucas wasn’t involved with creating the series, although he did drop by to bless the set. Instead, that task fell to Jon Favreau, who assembled a team of writers and directors that included Star Wars: The Clone Wars director Dave Filoni and Marvel’s Christopher Yost as well as Rick Famuyiwa, Taika Waititi, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Deborah Chow. Making a Star Wars series that everyone likes is a practically impossible achievement in itself, but The Mandalorian also works on multiple levels: You can watch it with a basic knowledge of the major players and get swept up into the adventure, or you can watch it with magnifying glass in hand to catch every Easter egg.
You’ll have to turn to The A.V. Club’s weekly recaps for the latter. But for the former, we’ve rounded up the series’ major characters, a handful of potential returning players, and two fan favorites from the Star Wars universe whose paths will cross with Mando and The Child in season two. This is the way.
The Mandalorian
Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian Photo Disney+/Lucasfilm
Much like the wandering samurai of Japanese legend who inspired him, The Mandalorian’s title character (Pedro Pascal) is a man of few words. But we still know quite a bit about him, including his real name (Din Djarin) and how he became part of the mystical martial creed from which he got his nickname. Little Din was an orphan, rescued by members of the Mandalorian Death Watch when his parents were killed in the war that marked the end of the Galactic Republic. (That trauma gave him a lifelong hatred of droids.) Raised as a Foundling (a.k.a., an adoptee) in a secret Mandalorian outpost on the planet Nevarro, he grew up to become a member of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild—as many Mandalorians are—and don the clan’s sacred helmet, which can never be taken off in the presence of others. Battle-hardened and adept in many weapons and fighting styles, he is an extremely skilled warrior who can take down most fighters with ease.As The Manadalorian kicked off its first season, Din (or Mando, as most call him) accepted an assignment to assassinate an unknown target, which turned out to be The Child. Unwilling to murder an innocent, Mando took the little guy with him instead; at first, Mando abandoned The Child, but memories of his own childhood made him change his mind and rescue The Child from The Client. Mando continued to work as a bounty hunter throughout season one of The Mandalorian, while simultaneously protecting The Child from the many mercenaries who wanted to kill him. The bond between reluctant father and Force-sensitive son was formalized at the end of season one, as Mando’s mentor The Armorer declared Mando and The Child to be a “clan of two” represented by the symbol of the Mudhorn. [Katie Rife]
All fine until it starts with star wars bullshit (“hey they appreciated the mention of a clone war and they appreciated that background boby fett character, how about making a full clone war film where all the soldiers are boba fett ?”).The worst part in star wars is star wars.
It’s not that she “isn’t perfect”, Pascal actively informed her how her actions are harmful to the trans community and instead of learning from this she doubled down on her disgusting (and hopefully soon to be outdated) beliefs and treated the entire thing like a joke. Nobody’s perfect, but Carano is awful.
Yeah, that was an unpleasant thing. Gonna ruin “Haywire” for me, rewatching it.At least Terrence Stamp and Luis Guzman both seem to be OK people, so I still have “The Limey.” Which was a better movie than “Haywire,” anyway.
Rosario Dawson physically assaulted a trans man while trying to forcibly evict him. She had allegedly verbally harassed him in the months leading up to it, and allegedly said things during the attack like, “Not much of a man now, are you?”
Yes, this is all alleged, but the man in question did call 911 and did receive treatment at a hospital.
I did not make any of that up, I know very well how the story goes. I left out details not pertaining to the assault so that the comment wasn’t too long. If you’d like to make corrections, I’m open to hearing them.
I thought I read that the trans man was a contractor who was doing some work on Dawson’s mom’s house? I could be wrong but I thought that’s what I read somewhere.
He was – he was working for Rosario’s mother to serve as a handyman and to help renovate Rosario’s house, and in return they had put him up in an apartment nearby. He The Dawsons were his landlords as well as employers. They were trying to evict him at the time, as he was no longer working for them. It’s unclear if he was fired or if he quit, but he alleges that he was regularly being harassed while working for them. He’s an old family friend who had worked for them in the past, but they hadn’t realized that he’d come out as trans until they brought him on for this job.
It’s probably not appropriate these days to make fun of someone’s personal identity. I think she’s great for the part and makes no matter if she’s a Terf.
Just gonna remind everyone that pressuring people to adapt to your way of lifestyle and thinking is called fascism. She made it clear she didn’t want to put them in her bio, repeatedly, and people still insisted she do it and continued to call her out and hate on her for NOT putting them in. So she did. People get offended. Oh well, the only one wrong in that story are the people who continued to pressure her to add them after she said she was not going to and did not want to.
I must be turning into a Star Wars geek, because I disagree that there was anything romantic about Mando’s previous relationship with Xi’an. It *might* have been perfunctorily sexual. I’m more curious about what sort of brutality he had committed in the old days, according to her. I don’t know what nefarious actions Dr. Pershing is supposed to have committed against Baby Yoda, either.Of course I’m going to re-binge the entire series before season 2.
I think it’s worth mentioning that between the Imperial Materials (at least one AT-ST as far as we know) and her proficiency with weapons on an otherwise insanely peaceful backwater farming world that it’s plausible Omera may have been trying to leave life in the Empire behind.Then again, might be reading too much into it.
Hate to be the first to be *that* picky nerd but it wasn’t Darth Vader but Grand Moff Tarkin who ordered the destruction of Alderaan. Vader was pretty much just Tarkin’s underling.
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All fine until it starts with star wars bullshit (“hey they appreciated the mention of a clone war and they appreciated that background boby fett character, how about making a full clone war film where all the soldiers are boba fett ?”).The worst part in star wars is star wars.
Just gonna remind everyone that the actress playing Cara Dune is a TERF.
Tbh this doesn’t surprise me. UFC/WWE Fighters aren’t exactly the brightest.
but the second photo is dated previous the first photo… This is misleading.
Do you spend all day waiting for articles to post so you can be the first to shit on anyone mentioned who isn’t perfect?
It’s not that she “isn’t perfect”, Pascal actively informed her how her actions are harmful to the trans community and instead of learning from this she doubled down on her disgusting (and hopefully soon to be outdated) beliefs and treated the entire thing like a joke. Nobody’s perfect, but Carano is awful.
Yeah, that was an unpleasant thing. Gonna ruin “Haywire” for me, rewatching it.At least Terrence Stamp and Luis Guzman both seem to be OK people, so I still have “The Limey.” Which was a better movie than “Haywire,” anyway.
Rosario Dawson physically assaulted a trans man while trying to forcibly evict him. She had allegedly verbally harassed him in the months leading up to it, and allegedly said things during the attack like, “Not much of a man now, are you?”
Yes, this is all alleged, but the man in question did call 911 and did receive treatment at a hospital.
Huh, funny, that isn’t even how the story goes. But sure. Make shit up huh?
I did not make any of that up, I know very well how the story goes. I left out details not pertaining to the assault so that the comment wasn’t too long. If you’d like to make corrections, I’m open to hearing them.
I thought I read that the trans man was a contractor who was doing some work on Dawson’s mom’s house? I could be wrong but I thought that’s what I read somewhere.
He was – he was working for Rosario’s mother to serve as a handyman and to help renovate Rosario’s house, and in return they had put him up in an apartment nearby. He The Dawsons were his landlords as well as employers. They were trying to evict him at the time, as he was no longer working for them. It’s unclear if he was fired or if he quit, but he alleges that he was regularly being harassed while working for them. He’s an old family friend who had worked for them in the past, but they hadn’t realized that he’d come out as trans until they brought him on for this job.
Oh and it’s funny how didn’t Dawson just recently come out as bi? The irony…
It’s probably not appropriate these days to make fun of someone’s personal identity. I think she’s great for the part and makes no matter if she’s a Terf.
It’s a shame.
Also not going to stop me watching Mando. How about you?
Just gonna remind everyone that pressuring people to adapt to your way of lifestyle and thinking is called fascism. She made it clear she didn’t want to put them in her bio, repeatedly, and people still insisted she do it and continued to call her out and hate on her for NOT putting them in. So she did. People get offended. Oh well, the only one wrong in that story are the people who continued to pressure her to add them after she said she was not going to and did not want to.
My days of hating AV Club slideshows of things that could have been articles are certainly coming to a middle.
I must be turning into a Star Wars geek, because I disagree that there was anything romantic about Mando’s previous relationship with Xi’an. It *might* have been perfunctorily sexual. I’m more curious about what sort of brutality he had committed in the old days, according to her. I don’t know what nefarious actions Dr. Pershing is supposed to have committed against Baby Yoda, either.Of course I’m going to re-binge the entire series before season 2.
Baby Yoda is life. All praise Baby Yoda.
I love the part when Yoda lifts Luke’s space rocket out of the swamp.
Throw these fucking slideshows into the sarlacc pit already.
Considering how unbelievably underwritten this show is, this’ll be a short character guide!
I think it’s worth mentioning that between the Imperial Materials (at least one AT-ST as far as we know) and her proficiency with weapons on an otherwise insanely peaceful backwater farming world that it’s plausible Omera may have been trying to leave life in the Empire behind.Then again, might be reading too much into it.
Hate to be the first to be *that* picky nerd but it wasn’t Darth Vader but Grand Moff Tarkin who ordered the destruction of Alderaan. Vader was pretty much just Tarkin’s underling.