Disney had so much faith in The Mandalorian, the exclusive Star Wars series it used to sell its new streaming service Disney+ to potential subscribers, that it renewed the show for a second season before the first one had even premiered. When it did premiere, it was every bit the hit they were hoping for.
All Star Wars fans seem to agree that it’s a fantastic addition to the canon, unlike Disney’s sequel trilogy, which has torn the fanbase apart, seemingly irreparably. So, here are 10 Characters We Hope To See Return In The Mandalorian Season 2.
The Child
There’s absolutely no doubt that the Child will return alongside the titular bounty hunter in The Mandalorian’s second season, especially since he became the breakout character of the first season. The Armorer has tasked Mando with looking after the Child as though he were his own — which he’d pretty much been doing anyway — until he can figure out what his species is and return him to his home world.
That’ll make for a pretty heartbreaking farewell scene, so hopefully identifying the Child’s species will be a difficult task and we won’t have to deal with that emotional turmoil for a few years.
Greef Karga
Greef Karga, the leader of the bounty hunters’ guild, played by Carl Weathers, quickly became a fan favorite in The Mandalorian’s first season. Although he made some shaky moral decisions in the name of the bounty hunters’ code, like coming after Mando and the Child when the former broke that code to save the latter, he did the right thing in the end.
Karga owes a huge debt to the show’s central duo, after the Child used the Force to heal a mortal wound and saved Karga’s life. It’s almost a given that Greef Karga will return in Season 2, but perhaps in a smaller role than he had in Season 1.
Peli Motto
Peli Motto appeared in the fifth episode of The Mandalorian. While this was arguably the episode that was met with the least favorable response, Motto was a fun character. It was refreshing to see a character on the show whose personality couldn’t be summed up as “cold-blooded badass.”
Played by the great Amy Sedaris, Motto was a lot warmer than that. It would be great to see Mando return to Tatooine in the future, if only for more Easter eggs like the appearance of the gonk droids, and if this happens, he should visit Motto. Motto instantly adored the Child, so she’d surely welcome the pair back with open arms.
Sabine Wren
Star Wars fans would be ecstatic see a live-action appearance by Star Wars Rebels’ Sabine Wren, who is also a Mandalorian (one of the ones who was actually born on the planet Mandalore) and played an important role in the Rebels’ fight against the Galactic Empire. After the fall of the Empire, Sabine remained active as she traveled with Ahsoka Tano to bring Ezra home.
So, at the time that The Mandalorian is set, a few years after Return of the Jedi, Sabine’s still out and about in the galaxy, carrying out missions. A run-in with Sabine would make a terrific adventure-of-the-week in the second season of The Mandalorian.
The stranger from “Chapter 5: The Gunslinger”
In the fifth episode of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 5: The Gunslinger,” Toro Calican hires the Mandalorian to help him bring in Fennic Shand and earn a spot in the bounty hunters’ guild. However, when Shand tells Calican that the bounty on Mando and the Child is worth more than hers, he tries to turn on Mando.
Mando, obviously, kills Calican, and uses his money to compensate Peli Motto. In the episode’s final scene, a mysterious stranger wearing western-style spurs approaches. Some fans have speculated that this is Boba Fett. In Season 2, we’ll need some confirmation on this stranger’s identity.
Cad Bane
After Jango Fett was killed in the Battle of Geonosis, Cad Bane became the galaxy’s leading bounty hunter. He’d make quite some competition for the Mandalorian. If Bane appears, it would be great to see him in a multi-episode arc, rather than a one-and-done appearance that wouldn’t serve the character’s storied legacy.
With his droopy fedora and his pair of revolver-looking LL-30 blaster pistols, Bane would fit right in with the western aesthetic of The Mandalorian. The character was initially inspired by “Angel Eyes,” the nefarious gunslinger played by Lee Van Cleef in Sergio Leone’s seminal spaghetti western The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
Mayfield
Perhaps the Empire’s only soldier with good aim, Mayfield made for an interesting antihero in The Mandalorian’s first season. His sardonic attitude, played brilliantly by stand-up comic Bill Burr, paired with the droid arm operating a third blaster from his backpack, made him a character to remember.
His appearance in the ongoing storyline was all too brief, but the final moments of the sixth episode, “The Prisoner,” made sure to let viewers know that Mando had spared Mayfield’s life — along with his colleagues, Xi’an and Burg — and they were all locked in a prison transport, floating through space. There’s every chance that these characters could return for revenge in Season 2.
The Armorer
The last time we saw the Armorer, she was allowing her fellow Mandalorians to escape by staying behind to slaughter a platoon of Stormtroopers with the weapons she’d forged. In the season finale, she completed Mando’s arsenal by equipping him with a jetpack, allowing him to take on Moff Gideon, despite the fact he’d escaped in a TIE fighter.
We know very little about the Armorer beyond her ability to create incredible weapons and armor out of Beskar steel. The horns on her helmet seem to suggest she might be a Zabrak, a humanoid carnivorous species from the planet Iridonia.
Cara Dune
A battle-hardened badass who despises the Empire, it didn’t take long for Cara Dune to captivate Star Wars fans. As one of the only female Star Wars characters who actually gets in on the action (and one of the only female Star Wars characters, period), Cara has been praised as a feminist role model.
Gina Carano’s background in mixed martial arts meant that Cara’s hand-to-hand combat scenes have the intensity of a scene from John Wick. It would be interesting to explore her history of fighting as a shock trooper for the Rebel Alliance a little more in Season 2.
Moff Gideon
Played menacingly by Giancarlo Esposito, the guy you hire when you want to create an iconic TV villain, Moff Gideon emerged as a terrifying threat in the first season of The Mandalorian. There’s plenty to explore with this character in future storylines, like his pursuit of the Child (and why he wants the Child in the first place) and how he got a hold of the “Darksaber.”
Mando brought down Gideon’s TIE fighter in the thrilling Season 1 finale, but he was shown to have survived the crash. It will be interesting to see Gideon develop as a baddie throughout the show’s second season.