The last bit of live-action Star Wars we’re going to get for many months is coming Friday: The Mandalorian season 2 finale. It’s felt like the sophomore season of the Disney+ has been focused on introducing new characters, new adventures, and new mysteries, rather than tying up threads or story lines. So there are all the more questions going into this last episode, which seems destined to largely leave us hanging until December 2021, when season 3 premieres.
Here are the biggest burning questions (spoiler-free) going into the finale:
Will any of the season’s big guest stars return?
Obviously, Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett is along for the ride (if for no other reason than Mando needs a ride). But previously, there was Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze, and Timothy Olyphant as Cobb Vanth. Will they remain relegated to their stand-alone-ish adventures (and/or eventual Disney+ spin-offs? The Frog Lady Chronicles, anyone?). Or will they return to help Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) rescue Grogu?
What will we learn about Grogu?
Baby Yoda was absent from the penultimate episode (was I the only one fine with this?) and is highly likely to figure prominently in the finale. My semi-joking “is Baby Yoda evil?” speculation from last year has now become a rather persistent fan theory given the number of Dark Side hints we’ve gotten about the Child. Mando is going all-out to rescue Grogu, but Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) seemingly has some information about the kid that’s relevant to the story. I expect there will be some bit of information that makes Grogu more complicated, such as how he survived Order 66, what Gideon is using his blood for, and what did Grogu see/or communicate with while sitting on the seeing stone on Tython.
Will anybody die?
Season 1 killed off Kuiil (Nick Nolte), in a rather terrifically edited shock reveal that had the moisture farmer cut down by a stormtrooper. The season also had IG-11 sacrifice himself to save our heroes. Season 2 has been more gun-shy so far, which makes me suspect that somebody is going to get it in the finale. Would the show dare kill off Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) for the second time? (Not before telling us how he survived the sarlacc pit, we hope). There’s also Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), who has been off screen for a bit, but presumably has something to do in the finale? What about Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen)? Or perhaps Moff Gideon — Esposito has teased learning more about the character in season 3, but could that be subterfuge? And there’s Cara Dune (Gina Carano), who is a particularly interesting case. The actresses’ social media posts have hugely controversial in recent months, and Disney announced a new show earlier this month called The Rangers of the New Republic as a Mandalorian spin-off without mentioning any cast members attached. Dune became a Ranger of the New Republic this season, which suggests the original idea was to put Dune into her own spi-noff, and perhaps it still is. The tricky part of predicting who will perish in major franchise component like The Mandalorian, or in the Marvel universe, is that every decision is not just a creative one but also of potentially huge financial significance.
Who will win the big fight?
Gideon is surely going to square off against Mando using that Darksaber, which we have yet to see do much of anything aside from cut open a TIE fighter. We know Mando has a Beskar spear that’s been established can hold off a lightsaber, and all that setup logically leads to a Beskar spear vs. Darksaber fight. It feels like there’s a fair chance Ahsoka could be involved in this battle as well, as that would give us some proper lightsaber-on-lightsaber action. This would make sense, too, with the Ahsoka spin-off coming, to give her a post-fight scene in the finale to help set up the new show.
What’s the Big Twist/Which surprising character will show up?
Some Jedi has to come to claim Baby Yoda after the seeing stone communion, right? The most popular fan theory is a live-action version of Ezra Bridger from Rebels. since the show has been pretty keen on giving life to animated favorites. Some have wondered if it could be Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu (as cool as that might sound, it would disappointingly walk back what was arguably the most effectively disturbing death scene in the franchise — Mace Windu concluded much more effectively than Boba Fett). I like the idea of a Dark Side Force-sensitive character unexpectedly showing up, such as Darth Maul. Speaking of which, there’s also the most obvious choice for a surprise cameo: Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was already name-dropped earlier this season.
Related content:
Here are five (spoiler-free) things we’re wondering about Friday’s final episode of ‘The Mandalorian’ season 2 on Disney+.
