The Mandalorian ended with a bang on Friday when Din Djarin and his crew were saved from Moff Gideon's Dark Troopers by a surprise appearance from Luke Skywalker. Mark Hamill reprised the role of this younger version of the Jedi Knight, and the character made short work of those formidable droids in a sequence fans of this franchise have been dreaming of for decades.
Talking on Good Morning America, executive producer Jon Favreau (who is credited as the creator of The Mandalorian and the show's main writer) opened up about keeping that cameo secret.
"It was very tricky, because it’s very hard to keep a secret nowadays," Favreau admitted. "There are so many people involved with the process. Every piece of [Season 2] casting leaked, so we were so scared, right up until it aired, that our surprise cameo was going to leak, too."
A closer look at the credits revealed that Max Lloyd-Jones (War for the Planet of the Apes) played "Double for Jedi," but comments from the writer confirm that Mark Hamill was also on set.
"To have Mark Hamill on set filming and us using whatever technology we had available to de-age him and make him look like he did in the old films" - and kept secret - was very special," Favreau explained.
With any luck, we'll get to see how that sequence was shot in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian when it returns to Disney+ starting this Friday. Stay tuned, as we'll have more for you on The Mandalorian later today. For now, make sure to check out our full review of the show's second season by clicking here.
Click on the "Next" button below to check out some of
the questions we have after Friday's The Mandalorian finale!
10. Oh God, Kylo Ren Doesn't Kill Grogu, Does He?!
Look, we hate to kick things off on a borderline hysterical note, but we need to know. Now that Luke Skywalker has taken Grogu to train him in the ways of the Force, does that mean he was there when Ben Solo turned to the Dark Side? If so, he more than likely died alongside the rest of Luke's students.
We can't believe Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni would go to the effort of creating this wonderful character, only to have him die a number of years later while being trained alongside a new era of Jedi.
Something must have happened that led to Grogu being elsewhere when Ben Solo became Kylo Ren. We may end up spending years waiting to find out what, but this character's story should continue. We have some ideas on that front, but there are some other big questions to address first...
9. Did Din Djarin Give Grogu That Last Piece Of The Razor Crest?
The destruction of the Razor Crest hit us hard, and the only two things Din Djarin was able to recover from its charred remains were the Beskar spear and the control knob Grogu had such a love of.
However, in what has to be one of the biggest missed opportunities in this finale, we never actually get to see the bounty hunter give him that, It would have been a lovely memento, but perhaps Din wanted it as a reminder of the Child he clearly grew to care about deeply as time passed?
Perhaps this scene ended up on the cutting room floor, but we hope it's touched on at some point.
8. What Did Moff Gideon Mean By Restoring "Order"?
When Din Djarin confronts Moff Gideon, the villain allows the bounty hunter to leave with The Child, claiming he's taken everything he needs from him. Acknowledging that he has some extraordinary abilities, Gideon points out that the Force-sensitive creature will help him restore "order" to the Galaxy. That's a very interesting choice of wording, don't you think?
It feels a lot like whatever he had planned ties into either the First or Final Order. There's already evidence to suggest that Gideon and Doctor Pershing may have played a role in the creation of Supreme Leader Snoke, so perhaps these remnants of the Empire have been tasked with resurrecting their fallen Emperor? It makes a lot of sense when you stop and think about it.
After all, with Grogu now in Luke's care, Gideon probably never got chance to finish taking what he needed from Grogu. That's why Palpatine is never able to fully return to power. There are bound to be a lot of theories like this, but we'd love to get some official clarifications before too long.
7. Who Will Rule Over Mandalore?
After defeating Moff Gideon in combat, Din Djarin is now the rightful owner of the Darksaber. He doesn't want it, and was happy to hand it over to Bo-Katan Kryze; however, as Moff Gideon pointed out with great delight, it doesn't quite work like that, and Bo-Katan wants to earn it in combat.
That's the only way she can rightfully rule over Mandalore, a planet Din wants nothing to do with.
These two don't need to fight to the death, but there's something between them that's now unresolved. It would be a real shame to overlook this as the Darksaber has been established as being extremely important in Star Wars lore, and we can't help but wonder what might happen if Din wins this fight and finds himself with no other choice than to become the new, reluctant ruler of Mandalore.
6. Is That It For The Dark Troopers?
Is it just us, or does it feel a lot like Moff Gideon's Dark Troopers were only ever part of The Mandalorian to cement what a badass the post-Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker is?
Din Djarin barely managed to take one of them out, but Luke decimated an entire legion of them. A horrified, and clearly scared, Gideon saw all of this happen, but are these the only Dark Troopers in the Galaxy? It's ridiculous to think that the villain was working alone, as there must have been other members of the Empire out there also looking to potentially resurrect their Emperor.
If they were one and done, the Dark Troopers were still pretty cool, but we'd love to see them return.
5. Where Are The Other Mandalorians?
Din Djarin was part of a coven of Mandalorians, and it was the Armourer who set him on his path to return Grogu to a Jedi. She's got history with Bo-Katan Kryze, but is M.I.A., as are the others.
While it was only really the Armourer and the Jon Favreau-voiced "Heavy Duty Mandalorian" who resonated with fans, learning more about this group of apparent fanatics and the role they play in the Star Wars Universe would be welcomed. So too would seeing them get involved with retaking Mandalore.
After all, one of their own is now the planet's rightful ruler, but how would they feel upon learning that the Foundling they took in removed his helmet and broke that all-important creed of theirs?
4. Is Boba Fett The New Ruler Of Tatooine?
We have to talk about that surprise post-credits scene, of course, and while we know that The Book of Boba Fett is hitting Disney+ next year, we don't know exactly what that will look like.
It could be a miniseries, part of The Mandalorian season three (if there is one) or even a TV movie. However, after killing Bib Fortuna, it's now Boba who sits on the "throne" in Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine. What he wants with the planet remains to be seen, but it's worth noting that he is a bounty hunter and may very well have intentions to take charge of the Hutt's criminal empire.
We only have a year to wait, but we can't wait to see what The Book of Boba Fett actually entails.
3. What Is "The Way" For Din Djarin Now?
When we first met Din Djarin, he was a bounty hunter moving from job to job. However, everything changed for him when he made that fateful decision to stop IG-11 from killing The Child.
A bond was formed, and as time has passed, the Mandalorian has done everything within his power to protect his young ward. That included taking his helmet off - unwillingly - during last week's episode, and then again in the finale when he chose to show his face to Grogu during a tearful goodbye.
It's pretty clear that Din has abandoned his creed, and while he no doubt still has a belief system, we're not sure he still has a right to say, "This is the Way." Big changes are clearly coming for him.
2. Is There Going To Be A Season 3?
A third season of The Mandalorian was seemingly confirmed for next December during Disney's Investor Day, but we're now pretty sure that was actually The Book of Boba Fett.
As of right now, we don't know when or if we'll see another batch of episodes, and it wouldn't overly surprising for Lucasfilm to decide against it. After all, this season two finale felt like a pretty perfect end to the series, and Din's story can easily continue in another TV series or movie.
It would have been easy to stretch this story out over another eight episodes, with more Grogu cuteness along the way, but Lucasfilm deserve a lot of credit for not heading down that route. We definitely want a continuation of some sort, so here's hoping an official announcement is made soon.
1. Will Taika Waititi's Star Wars Movie Focus On Grogu?
During Disney's Investor Day, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy described Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie as "fresh, unexpected, and unique." Could that be because it focuses on, oh, we don't know, Grogu? The filmmaker is no stranger to The Mandalorian after working on season one, and could easily put the spotlight on an older version of the adorable Child.
Taking place a couple of hundred years after The Mandalorian, perhaps it could show us what the Galaxy looked like long after the final defeat of Emperor Palpatine...while also teasing Din Djarin's legacy and possibly filling in the gaps of how Grogu escaped Anakin Skywalker's wrath in the Jedi Temple all those years ago (and Ben Solo's when he fell under Snoke's spell).
Perhaps Waititi's movie will be something completely different, but we'd love it if it took place both in the world of The Mandalorian and a future timeline exploring an entirely new era.