# The Mandalorian series on Disney+ (spoilers as it airs)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, disney-hulu\
**Created:** [October 29, 2019, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670 "2019-10-29T20:16:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 15

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/281 "2020-01-02T02:13:59Z")

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I like it when they point out what everyone else has already notuced, like the terrible aim of stormtroopers. And (minor spoiler) in a recent _Resistance_ episode, someone comments on how stormtrooper armor saved their life, and someone else said “Really? I’ve never heard of stormtrooper armor saving anyone from anything!”

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**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/282 "2020-01-02T14:38:36Z")

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I just watched this. I had little interest in paying for yet another streaming service, but not everyone in my household feels similarly. And I wasn’t going to not watch it if was on.

I liked it. Better than the movie they just made. I was worried that it was going to be “bounty hunter of the week” after episode 4. I prefer shows that are less episodic. But I guess there were only like three stand-alone adventures like that.

I’m probably fucking annoying to watch with. “What’s that alien? Have we seen that before? Do you know that planet? Is that like that thing in that other show/movie? Are you sure this isn’t Tatooine? Because that’s where those glowy-eye gnomes live. How did they get here? They don’t have space ships. What’s a Moth? The Mandalorean in that cartoon takes\* her\* helmet off! You’re so smoove, not like the sand.”

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**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/283 "2020-01-02T19:27:21Z")

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So were Jango and/or Boba Fett actual Madalorians or just wannabes who cooped the armor?

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**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/284 "2020-01-02T20:05:49Z")

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> [@Quimby](#):
>
> So were Jango and/or Boba Fett actual Madalorians or just wannabes who cooped the armor?

At this point, with all of the retconning and Disney disregarding so much of the Expanded Universe material, who knows?

But, in the early days of the Expanded Universe, Boba Fett was a Mandalorian. In fact, the term “Mandalorian” enters Star Wars canon specifically in reference to Boba Fett, in EU material expanding on his character and background.

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**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/285 "2020-01-02T20:11:46Z")

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From the wookiepedia:

> **[Jango Fett](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jango_Fett)**
>
> Jango Fett was a famed Mandalorian human male bounty hunter and the clone template of the Grand Army of the Republic. Known as the best bounty hunter in the galaxy during the final years of the Galactic Republic, Fett was proficient in marksmanship...

> [@](#):
>
> Jango Fett was born in the years prior to the Invasion of Naboo.[7] He claimed to have been born on the planet Concord Dawn, a Mandalorian world, but his exact history was unknown, much to Fett’s enjoyment. While he did wear Mandalorian armor,[1] officials of Mandalore disavowed any connection to Fett, claiming he was simply a bounty hunter who somehow stole an artifact from their planet’s troubled past.[8] However, Fett’s armor itself was fashioned from durasteel alloy, while most Mandalorian armor was made from beskar. In most other respects it was the same as the gear that had been designed hundreds of years prior.[1]

So… apparently wannabes.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/286 "2020-01-02T20:23:38Z")

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> [@ISiddiqui](#):
>
> From the wookiepedia:
> 
> [Jango Fett | Wookieepedia | Fandom](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jango_Fett)
> 
> So… apparently wannabes.

Apparently so, barring any canonical evidence one way or the other.

One should note that a lot of entries on Wookieepedia, like that one, are divided into two pages: “Canon” (which is the section from which you quoted) and “Legends” (information from now non-canonical or Expanded Universe sources, like old comic books, novels, etc.)

However, even on the “Canon” page, none of the “was Jango a Mandalorian or not” information is from the movies or TV shows themselves; they appear to be either from books published around the time of AotC, or maybe from the old [StarWars.com](http://StarWars.com). All of the above, of course, was published before Disney bought Lucasfilm (and de-canonized the Expanded Universe), and so, as **gdave** notes – unless and until Disney puts out something that establishes the answer to the question, one way or the other, “apparently” is still the best we know. 🙂

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**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/287 "2020-01-02T22:13:27Z")

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> [@Ruken](#):
>
> I just watched this. I had little interest in paying for yet another streaming service, but not everyone in my household feels similarly. And I wasn’t going to not watch it if was on.
> 
> I liked it. Better than the movie they just made. I was worried that it was going to be “bounty hunter of the week” after episode 4. I prefer shows that are less episodic. But I guess there were only like three stand-alone adventures like that.
> 
> I’m probably fucking annoying to watch with. “What’s that alien? Have we seen that before? Do you know that planet? Is that like that thing in that other show/movie? Are you sure this isn’t Tatooine? Because that’s where those glowy-eye gnomes live. How did they get here? They don’t have space ships. What’s a Moth? The Mandalorean in that cartoon takes\* her\* helmet off! You’re so smoove, not like the sand.”

I don’t know how much of the above is tongue-in-cheek and how much is genuine curiosity, but…

“Are you sure this isn’t Tatooine? Because that’s where those glowy-eye gnomes live. How did they get here? They don’t have space ships.”

They’re Jawas. They do live on Tatooine - but so do humans, and going by the Mos Eisley canteen scene, so do a lot of other races. Other than the fact that we first see Jawas on Tatooine, there’s no particular reason to think they’re native to Tatooine, and no reason at all to assume they don’t have space ships, or that they can’t hitch a ride. They appear to be pretty wide spread in Expanded Universe material. But, no, that’s not Tatooine, just another desert planet in the middle of nowhere that happens to have some Jawas.

“What’s a Moth?”

It’s a _Moff_, which is an Imperial rank of some sort. The movies don’t establish much about how the Empire’s rank structure works, but Moff appears to be some sort of neo-aristocratic rank. The first movie features Grand Moff Tarken - he appears to outrank all of the other Imperial officers, and treats Darth Vader almost as a subordinate, or at least as more or less an equal. Vader’s position isn’t actually very clear in _Star Wars_, but by the end of _Return of the Jedi_, we know he’s Palpatine’s apprentice, commands a fleet of Star Destroyers, and seems to outrank everyone around him other than the Emperor himself, so if a Grand Moff is on more or less equal footing with him, a Moff is apparently a pretty high rank.

“The Mandalorean in that cartoon takes\* her\* helmet off!”

See my fanwank for this discrepancy (among many others) in post #274

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**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/288 "2020-01-03T00:40:42Z")

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> [@gdave](#):
>
> At this point, with all of the retconning and Disney disregarding so much of the Expanded Universe material, who knows?
> 
> But, in the early days of the Expanded Universe, Boba Fett was a Mandalorian. In fact, the term “Mandalorian” enters Star Wars canon specifically in reference to Boba Fett, in EU material expanding on his character and background.

True. I knew even as a kid that what he wore was called Mandalorian Armor but it was basically just a word. Like how Sith was just a word back then. None of that stuff got filled in until much later.

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/289 "2020-01-03T17:49:56Z")

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> [@Quimby](#):
>
> True. I knew even as a kid that what he wore was called Mandalorian Armor but it was basically just a word. Like how Sith was just a word back then. None of that stuff got filled in until much later.

I don’t have a site for this, and its possible that it’s a false memory, but I remember hearing when I was a kid (probably between the release of Empire and Jedi) that Boba Fett’s armor was from an extinct culture that had opposed the Jedi, and that his armor was specifically designed to let a non-Force user go toe-to-toe with a Jedi, but that Boba Fett himself wasn’t one of these “Mandalorians,” just a bounty hunter who found an antique suit of armor and started using it himself.

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**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/290 "2020-01-06T13:35:39Z")

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> [@Miller](#):
>
> I don’t have a site for this, and its possible that it’s a false memory, but I remember hearing when I was a kid (probably between the release of Empire and Jedi) that Boba Fett’s armor was from an extinct culture that had opposed the Jedi, and that his armor was specifically designed to let a non-Force user go toe-to-toe with a Jedi, but that Boba Fett himself wasn’t one of these “Mandalorians,” just a bounty hunter who found an antique suit of armor and started using it himself.

All I remember from that time is that if it wasn’t for the goddamn Micronauts, the Boba Fett action figure would have had a cool rocket launcher on the back.

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**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/291 "2020-01-06T13:50:41Z")

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Don’t go dissin’ the Micronauts, now. I loved them about 1981 or so.

Re: Sabine and the armor?

I’d include in gdave’s wankery, above, that Mandalore’s warrior ethos has people who subscribe to it in more and less ways.

However, with the destruction of Mandalore, those who are still out there have become radicalized and become the strictest of the strict in terms of the ‘old ways’ as such provides a higher survival rate.

In terms of the ‘Night of 1000 tears’? Let’s face it. The Mandalorians almost fought the Jedi to a standstill using nothing but good armor and high spirits. It makes perfect sense that the emperor would think that’s a culture one cannot leave lying around. They’re going to get up to no good - from the Empire’s point of view - and a preemptive strike is probably the best thing. The mopping up is apparently still going on but an overwhelming use of force is a good idea.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/292 "2020-01-06T16:11:15Z")

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> [@muldoonthief](#):
>
> All I remember from that time is that if it wasn’t for the goddamn Micronauts, the Boba Fett action figure would have had a cool rocket launcher on the back.

It wasn’t the fault of the Micronauts. It was due to several incidents in late 1978, in which small children had inhaled or swallowed toy rockets from Battlestar Galactica toy ships; one of the children had died as a result.

Link: [Boba Fett and Battlestar Galactica - The Firing Missile Crisis](http://theswca.com/textf/toydeath.html)

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**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/293 "2020-01-06T16:49:16Z")

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Huh, I stand corrected. I knew someone had died, but I always thought it was a Micronauts toy (which I also had a ton of).  
I have to say though, I don’t remember the Boba Fett mail in coupon being quite so… suggestive. Possibly because I was 11 at the time.

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/294 "2020-01-06T16:54:06Z")

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> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> It wasn’t the fault of the Micronauts. It was due to several incidents in late 1978, in which small children had inhaled or swallowed toy rockets from Battlestar Galactica toy ships; one of the children had died as a result.
> 
> Link: [Boba Fett and Battlestar Galactica - The Firing Missile Crisis](http://theswca.com/textf/toydeath.html)

Yeah, those were a bad idea. I had both of them as a kid and they were pretty cool, but the rockets were definitely small enough to be choking hazards.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/295 "2020-02-23T16:40:09Z")

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> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Also, a foldy Tie Fighter and an [Imperial Troop Transpor](https://www.starwars.com/news/an-iconic-star-wars-toy-the-imperial-troop-transport-returns-to-shelves-and-screen)t!

[Old and improved](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-toy-returning-stores-40-years-1276131).

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**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/296 "2020-03-21T20:24:18Z")

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Reportedly, Rosario Dawson will be playing Ahsoka Tano in season 2. [Rosario Dawson to Portray Ahsoka Tano in ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 | IndieWire](https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/rosario-dawson-ahsoka-tano-casting-the-mandalorian-1202219409/)

Spoiler from Rebels:

Last we saw her at the end of Rebels, she was cruising around the galaxy with that other famous Mandalorian, Sabine Wren. I wonder if we’ll be seeing Sabine too.

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**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/297 "2020-03-22T23:58:40Z")

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Ninja-Ed. I am looking forward to that spoiler.

Brian

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**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/298 "2020-03-23T01:16:11Z")

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I’m working my way through all of the episodes a second time. Something that really struck me the second time through is how _efficient_ they are. As a streaming series, it’s able to avoid network bloat. Each episode is as long as it needs to be, instead of needing to stretch to fill the time slot. And the season is as long as it needs to be, instead of needing to stretch to fill a network season. There are no filler episodes. No filler scenes. There aren’t even really any filler _shots_. Virtually every second of every show drives the story and the action forward. It’s also pretty much the opposite of the Netflix bloat approach.

I now really, _really_ want to see Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni show-run a Marvel TV series.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/299 "2020-03-23T04:05:21Z")

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> [@gdave](#):
>
> There are no filler episodes. No filler scenes.

Interesting that you say that. Many would disagree. They’d say the Cara Dune episode in the village, and the Tatooine episode with Amy Sedaris were both filler, maybe the Bill Burr ep in the prison ship too. Though they introduced a character or two, or expanded on lore, they otherwise had little bearing on the main arc.

I personally didn’t mind them, they did have a lot of great moments, and hey, it’s only season 1, they’re still finding their feet. I’ll cut them some slack as they figure out how this new frontier of Star Wars works best.

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**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mandalorian-series-on-disney-spoilers-as-it-airs/842670/300 "2020-03-23T04:14:37Z")

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> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#):
>
> Reportedly, Rosario Dawson will be playing Ahsoka Tano in season 2. [Rosario Dawson to Portray Ahsoka Tano in 'The Mandalorian' Season 2](https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/rosario-dawson-ahsoka-tano-casting-the-mandalorian-1202219409/)
> 
> Spoiler from Rebels:
> 
> Last we saw her at the end of Rebels, she was cruising around the galaxy with that other famous Mandalorian, Sabine Wren. I wonder if we’ll be seeing Sabine too.

Seems logical - she was _very_ connected to the Darksaber in _Rebels_.  
If Ahsoka and Sabine are still looking for Ezra, that would certainly give them a reason to be out on the Fringe, where _The Mandalorian_ is taking place.

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