'The Mandalorian' Season 3 Leaks Teases A Connection To 'The Last Jedi'
Since The Mandalorian premiered in 2019, it has slowly built its own story while connecting to and cross-referencing others. There have been connections to the original trilogy, prequels, and other stories in the same “Mando-verse” like Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett. However, the threads to the sequels are most intriguing, as it fills in nearly three decades’ worth of story possibilities. Season Two of The Mandalorian Chapter 12, The Siege, revealed what could be failed clones of Supreme Leader Snoke, but now there are new connections to The Last Jedi.
In Chapter Six of The Book of Boba Fett, Din Djarin gifts a set of chainmail to Grogu. It looks like the Foundling is going to need it, as the threats are reaching "final boss level" in Season Three of The Mandalorian. Djarin is also expected to wield the Darksaber more easily, as he becomes worthy of its reputation. Leaks for Season Three appear to confirm that facing the upgraded Din and Grogu are red stormtroopers with helmets resembling Mandalorian-style helmets, and joining these red troopers are the Praetorian Guards, last seen in The Last Jedi.
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Addressing the red stormtroopers first, at first impression, they sound incredibly similar to the Sith Troopers from The Rise of Skywalker, but the Mandalorian-style helmets betray that line of thinking. Mandalorians with red buckets probably refer to the Imperial Supercommandos, first introduced in Star Wars Rebels. They were called “Imperial” Supercommandos because they were Mandalorians loyal to the Empire, but served under Gar Saxon. All signs point to Din returning to Mandalore and being confronted by these troopers and members of the Imperial Remnant.
While Din should handle the troopers relatively easily, the Praetorian Guards are another story. In The Last Jedi, Ben and Rey, two very powerful Force-users, quite adept with a lightsaber, defeated Snoke’s guards pretty quickly (in one of the best scenes from the sequel trilogy). Even though Grogu has some Force ability, Din is not a Force-user and is not nearly as proficient with the Darksaber as Ben or Rey are with a lightsaber. In addition, Din had difficulty with one Dark Trooper; he will need outside help to survive against multiple Praetorian Guards. Despite failing miserably at protecting Snoke in The Last Jedi, they must have done an okay job until that point; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been assigned to defend him for two and half decades.
Speaking of Snoke, how much he will be in The Mandalorian remains to be seen, if he is at all. Despite his premature exit from the sequel trilogy, learning more of his story is important, since his backstory is not well known. All that's known about Snoke so far is that he was a clone, albeit not a very accurate one, which Palpatine controlled from afar. Regardless, Snoke believes he is the man in charge. That leaves Moff Gideon. It’s likely now that Gideon is working for Snoke. Even though it seemed Gideon wanted Grogu’s blood to create Snoke, that idea was nixed in Marvel’s Darth Vader #11 written by Greg Pak, where it implied that Luke’s hand was recovered at Cloud City and used to create Snoke.
Jon Favreau confirmed that The Mandalorian would leak into the sequel trilogy, which hasn’t happened yet, but if the Praetorian guards and Snoke appear, it would be a huge story thread as the sequel trilogy has gone largely untouched since 2020 with the end of Star Wars Resistance. Thus far, one of Snoke earliest appearances in the timeline is Marvel’s Age of Resistance: Supreme Leader Snoke (2019), where it shows Snoke mentoring/brainwashing a young Ben Solo. That could easily be changed with Mandalorian Season Three.
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Source(s): The Direct