Back when cameras were still rolling on The Mandalorian season 3, it was reported that Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon would, at some point, don a red and black horned Mandalorian helmet. We also heard that Praetorian guards would appear in some capacity, but Making Star Wars (via SFFGazette.com) has now shared new intel about some redesigned Stormtroopers.
Joining Gideon in battle, the design is said to be reminiscent of both the First Order's Stormtroopers and the second wave of Clone Troopers.
They're not entirely covered in armour and don't look too dissimilar to Scout Troopers.
The site goes on to point out that, "the new design is [most likely] ultimately riffing on the Imperial Super Commando with some slight differences from what we saw in Star Wars Rebels...I think the new design is the Super Commando but fully imperialized."
They even speculate that Gideon could have a history with Gar Saxon, tying him to Mandalore in a way we didn't expect. We know he was behind the planet's destruction during the Night of a Thousand Tears, but the villain might have a greater connection to Mandalorian culture than first expected.
You can take a look at fan-art renders of these new Stormtroopers by following the link in the Tweet below, but the site shares one final scoop that may change how you look at this expanding "Mando-verse."
"I do not believe we will see Thrawn in The Mandalorian this year," they tease, "but I do think we will learn what Thrawn thinks of Gideon and it isn’t much."
Despite this past Wednesday's unexpected diversion, we're definitely excited to see where The Mandalorian goes in the coming weeks and it definitely feels like Jon Favreau has plenty of huge surprises in store.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.