Heading into the first season of The Mandalorian, we didn't really know anything about the Disney+ series. A couple of trailers had hinted at the show's tone, but there were a lot of big questions, including who was beneath that mask. Initially, the prevailing theory was that it would be Boba Fett, but that was soon debunked, and the character's fate remains a mystery. Well, sort of.
The end of Chapter 5, "The Gunslinger," featured a mysterious figure wearing similar spurs to the ones Fett was known for in the original trilogy, and it's since been reported that the bounty hunter will be part of season two (even if someone else ends up wearing his Mandalorian armour for a time).
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dave Filoni explain the process behind including a tease like that. "We try to layer in things in the universe of Star Wars to make it feel authentic, but also to give a little nod, clues, whatever they may be. They can be small to large. Jon and I love that stuff because we are fans. We both keep our eyes open for things that we like or little connective things that might mean something to people like us."
He's not giving much away there, and that's no great surprise considering the fact that not even The Child was revealed until the end of that first episode. As a result, there was a notable lack of merchandise come Christmas, but Jon Favreau explains to the trade why he doesn't regret that decision.
"I thought it was very important to establish that there were going to be surprises. When you are promoting a film, you are putting your best stuff out there in the marketing campaign because you want everybody to show up that Friday. Television is different. You want to be able to build. You want word-of-mouth to spread. You want people to tune in and know that something is going to happen that they are going to want to talk about."
Finally, Filoni was asked whether, as George Lucas' "heir apparent," he received feedback from the Star Wars creator for season one. "Not a tremendous amount," he admits. "We talk about other stuff. When I talk with him, I like to get more knowledge. He's been very complimentary. I think he's enjoyed the show, and he said once [that] now he gets to watch it as a fan and watch it as a viewer."
Needless to say, season two of The Mandalorian really can't get here soon enough, and the hope is that a trailer will be released shortly. One thing we can be sure of is that more surprises are on the way, and when this next batch of episodes arrive in October, we're all likely going to be blown away...again.