After five months of waiting—and just a few more before it actually hits theaters—we finally got a brand new trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu today, and it gives us a much better picture of what the film is going to be about after last year’s vibes-heavy teaser. But beyond that better picture, it’s also filled with plenty of intriguing nods to the rest of Star Wars canon, as well as a few mandatory familiar faces making a surprise return. Here are all the things we spotted.
The trailer opens with a squadron of X-Wings and Y-Wings returning to Adelphi Base, the home of the New Republic ranger division that Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) signed up to be an independent contractor with at the end of The Mandalorian season three. Also based at Adelphi, we get to see a few shots of Din and Grogu getting seated in their new ride: a very familiar ST-70 Gunship.
Din’s old ride, the Razor Crest, was destroyed by Moff Gideon at the climax of the show’s second season, leading to him getting a Naboo N-1 Starfighter to fly throughout season three and his appearances in The Book of Boba Fett. This, however, is not a restored version of his old ride: director Jon Favreau confirmed in comments made at New York Toy Fair last week that this is a new ship of the same model—albeit one that has been re-christened Razor Crest, rather than being given a new name.
We cut to a cityscape at night on another planet as Din attempts to curry favor with a local street food vendor for information about a Hutt (presumably Jeremy Allen White’s Rotta the Hutt, who can be seen briefly on a holoscreen in the background of the scene). The vendor who immediately clams up despite Din’s offer of a New Republic credit is an Ardennian, the four-armed species introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story with the character of Rio Durant… who was, of course, voiced by Jon Favreau. Here, the voice is more surprising: Lucasfilm has confirmed that the alien is voiced by Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese.
But it could be another Hutt, considering we meet a further two right after, as Din walks into a large base to meet with a pair of lounging Hutts surrounded by beat-up bodyguard droids (one heavily uses Super Battle Droid parts). They are, in fact, based on the markings on their faces, the Hutt Twins first seen in The Book of Boba Fett. Described there as cousins of the late Jabba—as previously seen in the first teaser, the door leading to their room is emblazoned with the symbol of the Desilijic kajidic, Jabba’s Hutt crime family—they were last seen retreating from Tatooine and rescinding their claim to their cousin’s holdings on the planet.
We then cut to a room of people surrounding a large desk—judging by the flanking Snowtroopers we see, this is the same icy planet (potentially Hoth, if the film’s Tauntaun-filled Super Bowl ad was anything to go by) we previously saw Din fighting AT-AT Walkers on. The head figure at the desk proudly declares, “Long live the Empire,” firmly declaring his connection to the Imperial Remnant. The Mandalorian season three previously touched upon the concept of Warlordism, which was a prominent aspect of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe’s vision of the post-Endor Empire: the idea that senior officers and admirals took their forces and carved out their own personal kingdoms to rule over as a dying gasp for the Empire’s influence.
“We’ll take out every bad guy in your deck of cards,” Din tells Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) back at Adelphi base, as she hands him a sabacc card. A sabacc deck has 76 cards in it typically, which might mean that Ward has a lot of people to deal with on her to-do list.
It’s interesting to note that, as he snaps off a little salute, Grogu is now seen wearing the mudhorn beskar rondel forged for him by the Armorer in season three outside of his robes—a cute indicator of his embraced status as a Mandalorian foundling.
After a brief shot of Din walking into the same room we saw the Imperial remnant in earlier and promptly executing the two guarding Snowtroopers (and another of a U-Wing returning to Adelphi base), we return to more of the conversation between Ward and Din we saw briefly in the initial teaser. “This isn’t about revenge,” Ward tells Din, as we cut to another shot on the ice planet of Grogu using the Force on a mouse droid. “It’s about preventing another war.” The Mandalorian previously touched on the New Republic’s response to remnant holdouts, mostly from the perspective of how it treated defectors and prisoners of war, so it’ll be interesting to see what The Mandalorian and Grogu has to say further about the idea.
During this exchange, we also see a shot of another new world—this time an overgrown jungle environment, as droids race across an airfield while ships shoot into the sky from embedded hangars. Given we saw the Twins flanked by similar-looking droids and some of the architecture of the base, it’s reasonable to assume that these are forces affiliated with the Hutts, and if they are, this could be Nal Hutta, which has been portrayed in the past with a similar environment.
The next major shot sees a svelte alien figure walking through a rain-soaked night towards a lone building in the distance. The structure and general environment look a lot like Din and Grogu’s house that we saw them retire to on Navarro at the very end of The Mandalorian season three, although it’s difficult to tell with the inclement weather.
After a brief cut back to Din being brought before the Twins (and getting his helmet yanked off—a big deal for Mandalorians from Din’s covert and the subject of a lot of his arc in season three trying to work himself back into their graces), we cut back to the alien figure, revealing that it is none other than Embo the bounty hunter. An irregular character who appeared throughout the Clone Wars animated series, Embo was a Kyuzo and took jobs with a whole host of allies, including the crew of a young Boba Fett and, perhaps more pertinent to this film, the Grand Hutt Council, the ruling body of the Hutt Clans. The small dog-like creature we saw beside him is presumably Marrok, Embo’s pet Anooba (not to be confused with Marrok the Imperial Inquisitor from Ahsoka and the upcoming Maul: Shadow Lord—the Anooba came first!).
“You will suffer,” the male Twin tells Din, as we cut back to Grogu on the same rain-soaked world Embo is on, “and then, it will be his turn.” But why do the Hutts have beef with Din and Grogu? Even though they divested from Jabba’s holdings on Tatooine, are they angry that they helped Boba Fett defend his own inheritance of Jabba’s rule?
We then get a fun little montage of Grogu shots—first, him preparing his armor and the little wrist-mounted blaster we saw him training with among the other Mandalorian foundlings, then riding with the Anzellans we saw in the past teaser, and then using a very Yoda-esque staff to navigate underneath some mossy tree roots before finding a place to sit and meditate. “The kid will live centuries beyond me,” Din says in a voiceover, as we also see him rescue Grogu out of a body of water. “I won’t always be around to protect him.”
We then cut back to the arena we saw a lot of in the initial teaser, and get our best look yet at Rotta the Hutt, looking very swole and wielding two large axes. The Mandalorian and Grogu is Rotta’s first prominent on-screen appearance since his debut in the 2008 Clone Wars movie, which revolved around his capture by the Separatists in an attempt to strong-arm Jabba the Hutt into declining Republic support in the Clone War.
Then, we see an unmasked Din square off against a giant, white-skinned serpent rising out of the water beside him (different from the water we see him rescue Grogu out of, where he was wearing his helmet). This beast looks a lot like the dragonsnake, a large serpentine creature previously seen in The Clone Wars that was native to Nal Hutta, lending further credence that some of these scenes are taking place on the Hutt homeworld.
A few more action shots later, we get our best look yet at Zeb’s return to Star Wars. After a brief cameo in The Mandalorian‘s third season, the Rebels stalwart (still voiced by Steve Blum) will have a more prominent role in the movie, teaming up directly with Din and Grogu.
A couple more action shots later (a ship crashing into the jungle base we saw earlier, Din fighting in those underground tunnels where the Twins are based), we get a brief but very fun shot of the arena monsters we saw Din wrestling with in the first teaser breaking out onto the streets.
We get to see the Mantellian Savrip again (best known as one of the creatures who appeared in holographic form on the dejarik board Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 play with in A New Hope) tear off the doorway to the arena—which appears to be, according to the Aurebesh sign above it, called “Weathers Apollo.” That, of course, is a nod to the late Carl Weathers and his role as Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies. Weathers played Navarro leader Greef Karga across the first three seasons of The Mandalorian before his passing in early 2024, and it’s unknown if he filmed any further footage as the character for the movie.
Baby Yoda? Out. Baby Greedo? In. The creature breakout creates havoc in the streets and conveniently leaves Grogu with a new hover pram to race around in as Din takes to the skies with his jetpack.
The trailer climaxes with one more cute nod back to the show—back on Nevarro and their little homestead, Din swipes a packet of those viral blue macarons out of Grogu’s hand, chiding the foundling for filling up before dinner. Can blue macarons trend again? We shall see.
While this new trailer does actually give us a few bones as to what The Mandalorian and Grogu is going to be about, it still plays a lot of cards close to its chest here, even as it sprinkles in a familiar face or two. It’s very much more of the same for The Mandalorian—Imperials and criminal underworlds to fight in equal measure, the growing bond between Din and his young ward, and that’s pretty much it. What the film will do to grow all that and make The Mandalorian and Grogu worth being its own theatrical adventure instead of a fourth season of the show remains to be seen, but no doubt we’ll find out more about that as we inch closer to its May 22 release.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Read the full article here
