Olly Dyche on The Mandalorian and its foreshadowing of the rise of The First Order…
The latest episode of The Mandalorian delivered a lot of surprising connections to the First Order. By reintroducing Moff Gideon to the Mandoverse, which didn’t necessarily come as a huge surprise, fans were treated to numerous hints and teases foreshadowing the rise of the Sequel Trilogy’s villainous faction.
Considering we spent three movies battling against the First Order, there is still a lot of grey areas as the for formation of the group, and who helped to build it from the ashes of the Empire. But with so many moments foreshadowing the First Order in this episode, it’s easy for some to miss a few connections. To that end, we have compiled a list of every moment in Chapter 23 of The Mandalorian that could be hinting at the introduction of the First Order.
Commandant Hux
The most obvious connection to the Sequel Trilogy and the First Order comes in the form of Commandant Hux, a member of Moff Gideon’s Shadow Council of the Imperial Remnant. Audiences should recognize the name Hux with the ruthless First Order Officer, General Hux from the sequel trilogy, played by Domhnall Gleeson. Well, as it so happens, Commandant Hux is actually General Hux’s father (and played by Domhnall’s brother Brian Gleeson), which not only explains how General Hux became a First Order Officer but also gives audiences hints that the Shadow Council will be the foundation of the First Order.
Stormtroopers
Moff Gideon’s newly designed army of Stormtroopers look incredibly cool, and we can’t help but draw many comparisons to the armor worn by First Order Stormtroopers. Sure, the armor may be in its early phases, as it doesn’t really cover much of their body (allowing for many opportunities to be shot around the Beskar), yet the helmet’s sleek design and costume’s higher percentage of black compared to original Stormtrooper armor make Moff Gideon’s new Stormtroopers look much like First Order Troopers.
Cloning
Cloning has been a deeply important part of Star Wars ever since the Prequel Trilogy, and The Rise of Skywalker and The Bad Batch really elevated the importance of the subject. The Mandalorian has slightly touched upon the topic before, with the big plot lines of season one and two being that the Empire were trying to capture Grogu and take his midichlorian-filled blood. Here in episode 23, after Moff Gideon’s reveal, we see him walk past many Bacta-esque tanks that we can assume have some sort of clones floating within them.
Project Necromancer
During the meeting of the Shadow Council, Captain Pellaeon mentions that Commandant Hux is working on “Project Necromancer”. Necromancy is the practice of communicating with the dead, and so who else could “Project Necromancer” be about, if not Emperor Palpatine? Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker was explained as “Dark Science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew”. It’s likely that “Project Necromancer” is an attempt to explain how “somehow Palpatine returned”, and the Shadow Council’s attempts to clone Palpatine and their failure could even explain how and why Snoke was created.
Moff Gideon’s Facility
This one may be a little loose, but Moff Gideon’s facility looks very much like the interior of Starkiller Base, the First Order Planet Destroyer from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The TIE Fighter docking bays, the walkways, the high construction and the base being built into the rock all resemble that of Starkiller Base.
Praetorian Guards
One of the most exciting moments of the latest episode was the reveal of the Praetorian Guards. The Praetorian Guards were first introduced in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and proved worthy adversaries to both Kylo Ren and Rey in the awesome throne room set piece. Along with their intimidatingly red armor design, The Praetorian Guards that sadly killed Paz Vizsla wield similar weapons as those in The Last Jedi, giving audiences another connection to the the First Order and the Sequel Trilog.
What did you make of this week’s episode of The Mandalorian? Are you excited to dive into the history of the First Order and Palpatine’s return? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Olly Dyche
